Error: Could not find or load main class org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap

Question

I'm using cargo-maven2-plugin to run tomcat for integration tests. It worked fine when 7x container is used. I recently upgraded it to 9x and it works fine on a Ubuntu/Linux machine but doesn't work on a Mac (running the latest OS version).

When I peek into the container logs it lists the following logs:

Error: Could not find or load main class org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap
Listening for transport dt_socket at address: 7998
Error: Could not find or load main class org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap

When I peek into the cargo logs it lists the following logs:

The ' characters around the executable and arguments are
not part of the command.
[10:46:34.640][debug][talledLocalContainer]    +Task: java
[10:46:34.642][debug][talledLocalContainer] dropping /Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/bin/tomcat-juli.jar from path as it doesn't exist
[10:46:34.642][debug][talledLocalContainer] dropping /Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/bin/bootstrap.jar from path as it doesn't exist
[10:46:34.643][debug][talledLocalContainer] dropping /Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/bin/tomcat-juli.jar from path as it doesn't exist
[10:46:34.643][debug][talledLocalContainer] dropping /Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/bin/bootstrap.jar from path as it doesn't exist
[10:46:34.643][debug][talledLocalContainer] Executing '/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_172.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/bin/java' with arguments:
'-Xdebug'
'-Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=7998'
'-DprocessName=central'
'-Xms256m'
'-Xmx512m'
'-Dfile.encoding=utf-8'
'-Dhsqldb.database=/Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/tomcat/hsqldb/myprojectdbname'
'-Dhsqldb.dbname=myprojectdbname'
'-Dhsqldb.port=9001'
'-Duser.language=en'
'-Dcatalina.home=/Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22'
'-Dcatalina.base=/Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/tomcat'
'-Djava.io.tmpdir=/Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/tomcat/temp'
'-Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager'
'-Djava.util.logging.config.file=/Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/tomcat/conf/logging.properties'
'-classpath'
'/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_172.jdk/Contents/Home/lib/tools.jar'
'org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap'
'start'

Here's the configuration/setup for the plugin:

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.codehaus.cargo</groupId>
  <artifactId>cargo-maven2-plugin</artifactId>
  <configuration>
      <configuration>
          <properties>
              <cargo.wait>false</cargo.wait>
              <cargo.jvmargs>${jvm.debug.options} -DprocessName=central -Xms256m -Xmx512m -Dfile.encoding=utf-8 -Dhsqldb.database=${catalina.home}/hsqldb/myprojectdbname -Dhsqldb.dbname=myprojectdbname -Dhsqldb.port=9001 -Duser.language=en</cargo.jvmargs>
          </properties>
      </configuration>
      <deployables>
      ....
      </deployables>
      </configuration>
  <executions>
      <execution>
          <id>start-container</id>
          <phase>package</phase>
          <goals>
              <goal>start</goal>
          </goals>
      </execution>
      <execution>
          <id>stop-container</id>
          <phase>post-integration-test</phase>
          <goals>
              <goal>stop</goal>
          </goals>
      </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

<profile>
    <id>tomcat9x</id>
    <activation>
        <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
    </activation>
    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.codehaus.cargo</groupId>
                <artifactId>cargo-maven2-plugin</artifactId>
                <configuration>
                    <container>
                        <containerId>tomcat9x</containerId>
                        <artifactInstaller>
                            <groupId>com.mycomapany.tomcat</groupId>
                            <artifactId>tomcat</artifactId>
                            <version>${catalina.version}</version>
                            <type>zip</type>
                            <extractDir>${project.build.directory}</extractDir>
                        </artifactInstaller>
                        <output>${project.build.directory}/container.log</output>
                        <append>false</append>
                        <log>${project.build.directory}/cargo.log</log>
                        <timeout>600000</timeout>
                    </container>
                    <configuration>
                        <type>existing</type>
                        <home>${catalina.home}</home>
                        <properties>
                            <cargo.servlet.port>${catalina.port}</cargo.servlet.port>
                            <cargo.logging>high</cargo.logging>
                        </properties>
                    </configuration>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</profile>
</profiles>
<properties>
<catalina.port>12345</catalina.port>
<catalina.home>${project.build.directory}/tomcat-${catalina.version}/tomcat</catalina.home>
<jvm.debug.options>-Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=7998</jvm.debug.options>
</properties>

Answer 1

I found solution to the problem.

As per cargo logs, both tomcat-juli and bootstrap jars from the classpath are dropped. That's excellent. Why to add a non-existent jar? i.e. these jars don't reside at location: /Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/bin

But where do they reside then? Well, they are located at: /Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/tomcat/bin

Looking further into the cargo logs, the java task was executed using these jvm args, among others:

-Dcatalina.home=/Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22
-Dcatalina.base=/Users/myprojectpath/target/tomcat-9.0.22/tomcat

Now connecting the dots, tomcat-juli and bootstrap jars were assumed to be located at catalina.home but they are residing at catalina.base, isn't it? Easy fix, right?

How to set catalina.home then? add an extra argument to cargo.jvm.args? Nää, didn't work. What then? since it's a maven cargo plugin/container there might be a configuration? and yes, there is one, called <home> under <container>. Finally!

Still, I am ignorant about why a ubuntu/linux machine didn't need this configuration to run a local tomcat container for integration tests.

But I do understand the purpose of catalina.base and catalina.home :)

Answer 2

I cleaned the project and it started working again.

Project -> Clean will remove any existing class files and completely rebuild the project. There's more information on Eclipse's clean function here.