java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.portlet.RenderResponse after upgrading MyFaces from 1.1 to 2.2

Question

I have a web project using JSF 1.1 that I want to upgrade to version 2.2. I want to perform this upgrade step by step, first concentrating on upgrading JSF itself before replacing old taglibs (I plan to replace RichFaces and Ajax4JSF with PrimeFaces) and then the view technology from JSP to Facelets.

Generally, I have been following the advice by BalusC from Migrating from JSF 1.1 to JSF 1.2 and Migrating from JSF 1.2 to JSF 2.0 After updating the faces-config.xml and the web.xml they way described in that post, I wanted to update the JSF implementation itself. Since I use Maven I didn't drop the new jars into the WEB-INF/lib directory of the webapp manually but instead updated the corresponding part in the pom.xml like follows from

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.myfaces.core</groupId>
  <artifactId>myfaces-api</artifactId>
  <version>1.1.5</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.myfaces.core</groupId>
  <artifactId>myfaces-impl</artifactId>
  <version>1.1.5</version>
</dependency>

to

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.myfaces.core</groupId>
  <artifactId>myfaces-api</artifactId>
  <version>2.2.12</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.myfaces.core</groupId>
  <artifactId>myfaces-impl</artifactId>
  <version>2.2.12</version>
</dependency>

As webserver I use Tomcat 7 (which gets started via maven plugin from IntelliJ). After upgrading the MyFaces libraries this way, I now get the following NoClassDefFoundError with the following stack trace:

SEVERE: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.apache.myfaces.webapp.StartupServletContextListener
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/portlet/RenderResponse
    at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredMethods0(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredMethods(Class.java:2701)
    at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredMethods(Class.java:1975)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.Introspection.getDeclaredMethods(Introspection.java:127)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.populateAnnotationsCache(DefaultInstanceManager.java:342)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.newInstance(DefaultInstanceManager.java:161)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.newInstance(DefaultInstanceManager.java:155)
    at org.apache.myfaces.spi.impl.Tomcat7AnnotationInjectionProvider.postConstruct(Tomcat7AnnotationInjectionProvider.java:94)
    at org.apache.myfaces.config.FacesConfigurator.configureLifecycle(FacesConfigurator.java:1392)
    at org.apache.myfaces.config.FacesConfigurator.configure(FacesConfigurator.java:605)
    at org.apache.myfaces.webapp.AbstractFacesInitializer.buildConfiguration(AbstractFacesInitializer.java:416)
    at org.apache.myfaces.webapp.Jsp21FacesInitializer.initContainerIntegration(Jsp21FacesInitializer.java:73)
    at org.apache.myfaces.webapp.AbstractFacesInitializer.initFaces(AbstractFacesInitializer.java:172)
    at org.apache.myfaces.webapp.StartupServletContextListener.contextInitialized(StartupServletContextListener.java:121)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4937)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5434)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1559)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1549)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.portlet.RenderResponse
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1702)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1547)
    ... 23 more

Now, I have seen similar problems being posted on SO here and here, but it seems to me that my problem is somewhat different, since the webapp worked correctly - without manually providing the myfaces-jars but rather managing them via maven - with the given Tomcat before upgrading to MyFaces 2.2.

When builing the webapp, I also get the following output from maven:

INFORMATION: Artifact 'myfaces-api' was found in version '2.2.12' from path 'file:/C:/.m2/repository/org/apache/myfaces/core/myfaces-api/2.2.12/myfaces-api-2.2.12.jar'
INFORMATION: Artifact 'myfaces-impl' was found in version '2.2.12' from path 'file:/C:/.m2/repository/org/apache/myfaces/core/myfaces-impl/2.2.12/myfaces-impl-2.2.12.jar'

so I assume the Tomcat actually found those jars.

What else could be the reason for the error?

Edit: Here are the new dependencies that have been added via the upgrade to MyFaces 2.2:

myfaces-api:jar:2.2.12
- geronimo-atinject_1.0_spec:jar:1.0
myfaces-impl:jar:2.2.12
- commons-beanutils:jar:1.9.2

Edit 2: I just tried different version of MyFaces and it works up until the latest version of 2.1, which is 2.1.18! With the first version of 2.2 - 2.2.0 - the error described above occurs.

Is there any portlet related change between JSF 2.1 and JSF 2.2 that could cause this error?

Edit 3: The project consistes of several modules. I will list the complete list of imported dependencies here that I have after upgrading to MyFaces 2.2, as determined by executing the mvn dependency:list command in the root project:

ant:ant-optional:jar:1.5.1:compile
antlr:antlr:jar:2.7.7:compile
aopalliance:aopalliance:jar:1.0:compile
asm:asm:jar:3.1:compile
avalon-framework:avalon-framework:jar:4.1.5:compile
batik:batik-awt-util:jar:1.6-1:compile
batik:batik-ext:jar:1.6-1:compile
batik:batik-gui-util:jar:1.6-1:compile
batik:batik-util:jar:1.6-1:compile
bouncycastle:bcmail-jdk14:jar:138:compile
bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14:jar:138:compile
c3p0:c3p0-oracle-thin-extras:jar:0.9.5.2:compile
cglib:cglib:jar:2.2:compile
com.exadel.htmLib:htmLib:jar:1.0:compile
com.googlecode.json-simple:json-simple:jar:1.1.1:compile
com.h2database:h2:jar:1.4.193:test
com.ibm.icu:icu4j:jar:2.6.1:compile
com.keypoint:png-encoder:jar:1.5:compile
com.lowagie:itext:jar:2.1.5:compile
com.mchange:c3p0:jar:0.9.2.1:compile
com.mchange:c3p0:jar:0.9.5.2:compile
com.mchange:mchange-commons-java:jar:0.2.11:compile
com.mchange:mchange-commons-java:jar:0.2.3.4:compile
com.sun.jersey.contribs:jersey-multipart:jar:1.12:compile
com.sun.jersey:jersey-client:jar:1.12:compile
com.sun.jersey:jersey-core:jar:1.12:compile
com.sun.jersey:jersey-json:jar:1.12:compile
com.sun.jersey:jersey-server:jar:1.12:compile
com.sun.jersey:jersey-servlet:jar:1.12:compile
com.sun.medialib.codec:clibwrapper_jiio:jar:1.2-daily:compile
com.sun.xml.bind:jaxb-impl:jar:2.2.3-1:compile
com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream:jar:1.3.1:compile
commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils-core:jar:1.8.0:compile
commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.7.0:compile
commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.3:compile
commons-cli:commons-cli:jar:1.2:compile
commons-codec:commons-codec:jar:1.2:compile
commons-codec:commons-codec:jar:1.3:compile
commons-collections:commons-collections:jar:3.2.1:compile
commons-collections:commons-collections:jar:3.2.2:compile
commons-configuration:commons-configuration:jar:1.6:compile
commons-dbcp:commons-dbcp:jar:1.4:compile
commons-dbutils:commons-dbutils:jar:1.3:compile
commons-digester:commons-digester:jar:1.8:compile
commons-discovery:commons-discovery:jar:0.4:compile
commons-el:commons-el:jar:1.0:compile
commons-fileupload:commons-fileupload:jar:1.2.1:compile
commons-httpclient:commons-httpclient:jar:3.1:compile
commons-io:commons-io:jar:1.4:compile
commons-jxpath:commons-jxpath:jar:1.2:compile
commons-lang:commons-lang:jar:2.4:compile
commons-lang:commons-lang:jar:2.6:compile
commons-logging:commons-logging:jar:1.1.1:compile
commons-net:commons-net:jar:3.2:compile
commons-pool:commons-pool:jar:1.5.4:compile
commons-validator:commons-validator:jar:1.1.4:compile
commons-validator:commons-validator:jar:1.3.1:compile
de.schlichtherle.io:truezip:jar:6.6:compile
dom4j:dom4j:jar:1.6.1:compile
gov.loc.mets:mets:jar:1.7:compile
gov.loc.mods:mods:jar:3.3:compile
javax.activation:activation:jar:1.1:compile
javax.mail:mail:jar:1.4.4:compile
javax.media:jai_codec:jar:1.1.2_01:compile
javax.media:jai_core:jar:1.1.2_01:compile
javax.media:jai_imageio:jar:1.0_01:compile
javax.servlet:jstl:jar:1.1.2:compile
javax.transaction:jta:jar:1.1:compile
javax.ws.rs:jsr311-api:jar:1.1.1:compile
javax.xml.bind:jaxb-api:jar:2.2.2:compile
javax.xml.stream:stax-api:jar:1.0-2:compile
jaxen:jaxen:jar:1.1.1:compile
jdom:jdom:jar:1.0:compile
jfree:jcommon:jar:1.0.0:compile
joda-time:joda-time:jar:2.3:compile
junit:junit:jar:4.10:compile
junit:junit:jar:4.3:test
log4j:log4j:jar:1.2.16:compile
mysql:mysql-connector-java:jar:5.1.38:compile
net.sf.barcode4j:barcode4j-fop-ext-complete:jar:2.0:compile
net.sf.ehcache:ehcache:jar:1.2:compile
net.sf.j2ep:j2ep:jar:1.0:compile
net.sf.jsfcomp.chartcreator:chartcreator:jar:RC1:1.2.0:compile
net.sf.jsfcomp.easysi:easysi:jar:0.9.0:compile
net.xeoh:plugins-base:jar:1.0.0:compile
opensymphony:oscache:jar:2.3:compile
opensymphony:quartz-all:jar:1.6.5:compile
org.apache.activemq.protobuf:activemq-protobuf:jar:1.1:compile
org.apache.activemq:activeio-core:jar:3.1.2:compile
org.apache.activemq:activemq-core:jar:5.5.1:compile
org.apache.activemq:kahadb:jar:5.5.1:compile
org.apache.avalon.framework:avalon-framework-api:jar:4.3.1:compile
org.apache.commons:commons-compress:jar:1.4:compile
org.apache.geronimo.specs:geronimo-j2ee-management_1.1_spec:jar:1.0.1:compile
org.apache.geronimo.specs:geronimo-jms_1.1_spec:jar:1.1.1:compile
org.apache.geronimo.specs:geronimo-stax-api_1.0_spec:jar:1.0:compile
org.apache.httpcomponents:httpasyncclient:jar:4.1.2:compile
org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:jar:4.5.2:compile
org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore-nio:jar:4.4.5:compile
org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:jar:4.4.5:compile
org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-api:jar:2.6.2:compile
org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-core:jar:2.6.2:compile
org.apache.lucene:lucene-analyzers:jar:3.0.2:compile
org.apache.lucene:lucene-core:jar:3.0.2:compile
org.apache.myfaces.core:myfaces-api:jar:2.1.18:compile
org.apache.myfaces.core:myfaces-impl:jar:2.1.18:compile
org.apache.myfaces.tomahawk:tomahawk-sandbox20:jar:1.1.10-SNAPSHOT:compile
org.apache.myfaces.tomahawk:tomahawk20:jar:1.1.14:compile
org.apache.pdfbox:fontbox:jar:1.7.1:compile
org.apache.pdfbox:jempbox:jar:1.7.1:compile
org.apache.pdfbox:pdfbox:jar:1.7.1:compile
org.apache.poi:poi-contrib:jar:3.6:compile
org.apache.poi:poi-ooxml-schemas:jar:3.6:compile
org.apache.poi:poi-ooxml:jar:3.6:compile
org.apache.poi:poi-scratchpad:jar:3.6:compile
org.apache.poi:poi:jar:3.6:compile
org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-servlet-api:jar:7.0.68:provided
org.apache.xmlbeans:xmlbeans:jar:2.4.0:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-anim:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-awt-util:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-bridge:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-css:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-dom:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-ext:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-extension:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-gvt:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-js:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-parser:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-script:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-svg-dom:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-svggen:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-transcoder:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-util:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-xml:jar:1.7:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:fop:jar:0.95:compile
org.apache.xmlgraphics:xmlgraphics-commons:jar:1.3.1:compile
org.codehaus.jackson:jackson-core-asl:jar:1.9.2:compile
org.codehaus.jackson:jackson-jaxrs:jar:1.9.2:compile
org.codehaus.jackson:jackson-mapper-asl:jar:1.9.2:compile
org.codehaus.jackson:jackson-xc:jar:1.9.2:compile
org.codehaus.jettison:jettison:jar:1.1:compile
org.elasticsearch.client:rest:jar:5.1.1:compile
org.freemarker:freemarker:jar:2.3.10:compile
org.hamcrest:hamcrest-core:jar:1.1:compile
org.hibernate.common:hibernate-commons-annotations:jar:4.0.5.Final:compile
org.hibernate.javax.persistence:hibernate-jpa-2.1-api:jar:1.0.0.Final:compile
org.hibernate:hibernate-c3p0:jar:4.3.11.Final:compile
org.hibernate:hibernate-core:jar:4.3.11.Final:compile
org.jasypt:jasypt:jar:1.7:compile
org.javassist:javassist:jar:3.18.1-GA:compile
org.jboss.logging:jboss-logging-annotations:jar:1.2.0.Beta1:compile
org.jboss.logging:jboss-logging:jar:3.1.0.GA:compile
org.jboss.logging:jboss-logging:jar:3.1.3.GA:compile
org.jboss.spec.javax.transaction:jboss-transaction-api_1.2_spec:jar:1.0.0.Final:compile
org.jboss:jandex:jar:1.1.0.Final:compile
org.jenia.faces:jenia4faces:jar:1.2.1:compile
org.jfree:jcommon:jar:1.0.23:compile
org.jfree:jfreechart:jar:1.0.19:compile
org.jvnet:mimepull:jar:1.6:compile
org.marc4j:marc4j:jar:1.0:compile
org.mockito:mockito-all:jar:2.0.2-beta:test
org.osgi:org.osgi.core:jar:4.1.0:compile
org.richfaces.framework:richfaces-api:jar:3.1.6.GA:compile
org.richfaces.framework:richfaces-impl:jar:3.1.6.GA:compile
org.richfaces.ui:richfaces-ui:jar:3.1.6.GA:compile
org.saxon:saxon9-dom:jar:9.0.0.4:compile
org.saxon:saxon9:jar:9.0.0.4:compile
org.slf4j:slf4j-api:jar:1.7.21:compile
org.slf4j:slf4j-simple:jar:1.7.21:compile
org.springframework:spring-aop:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
org.springframework:spring-asm:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
org.springframework:spring-beans:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
org.springframework:spring-context:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
org.springframework:spring-core:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
org.springframework:spring-expression:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
org.springframework:spring:jar:2.0.1:compile
org.tukaani:xz:jar:1.0:compile
oro:oro:jar:2.0.8:compile
poi:poi:jar:2.5.1-final-20040804:compile
stax:stax-api:jar:1.0.1:compile
taglibs:standard:jar:1.1.2:compile
xalan:xalan:jar:2.6.0:compile
xerces:xercesImpl:jar:2.6.2:compile
xerces:xercesImpl:jar:2.9.1:compile
xerces:xmlParserAPIs:jar:2.6.2:compile
xml-apis:xml-apis-ext:jar:1.3.04:compile
xml-apis:xml-apis:jar:1.0.b2:compile
xml-apis:xml-apis:jar:1.3.02:compile
xml-apis:xmlParserAPIs:jar:2.0.2:compile
xml-resolver:xml-resolver:jar:1.1:compile
xmlbeans:xbean_xpath:jar:2.4.0:compile
xom:xom:jar:1.0:compile
xpp3:xpp3:jar:1.1.3.3:compile
xpp3:xpp3_min:jar:1.1.4c:compile

Edit 4: I added the portlet-api via maven and now the error does not occur anymore. This is probably not a good solution but rather a workaround, but it alleviates the problem for now.

It looks like Maven has added a transitive dependency, which in turn depends on the Portlet api. Can you add the list of jars in your classpath? To get the effective list you can f.e. use Eclipse, by clicking the pom.xml and search the tabs in the opening window. — Stefan, Mar 27 '17 at 19:31
Indeed, Tomcat is not a portlet container, it's a servlet container. — BalusC, Mar 28 '17 at 06:38
I just compared the dependency tree generated by Maven before and after I added primefaces to the pom.xml and the only new dependency is org.primefaces:primefaces:jar:1.1. (no other transitive dependencies have been added, apparently) The project contains a lot of other jars which all have been part of the prior, working version using MyFaces 1.1, so I'd guess those jars didn't have any unsatisfiable portlet dependencies, right? — scholt, Mar 28 '17 at 07:40
I just tried running the webapp with MyFaces 2.2 and _without_ Primefaces, and it still raises the same error, so I guess it's not the primefaces artifacts fault either. — scholt, Mar 28 '17 at 08:31
Sorry, I made a mistake when comparing the dependency trees before and after upgrading MyFaces to version 2.2. Added the new dependencies that were included after the upgrade to the main post. — scholt, Mar 28 '17 at 09:19
where did you get your portlet library from? It is not part of jsf, nor the basic jdk so you must have something in maven. Try to upgrade that one to — Kukeltje, Apr 11 '17 at 09:03
@Kukeltje thanks for your response. I added the complete list of dependencies in our project in it's old form to the main post. I can't tell where the `portlet` library comes from, but the error only occurs when using MyFaces >= 2.2 (it didn't not occur with MyFaces 1.1 or MyFaces 2.1) — scholt, Apr 11 '17 at 13:06
With a good ide you can easily find in which jar the javax.portal classes are... No need to post such full extensive lists — Kukeltje, Apr 11 '17 at 13:09
And did you also do this: https://www.google.com/search?q=myfaces+javax.portlet.RenderResponse+classes (in the links I see 'deprecated' and 'replaced by' etc... — Kukeltje, Apr 11 '17 at 13:16
And it might just be that with the newer JSF 2.2 version (that starts loading more things dynamically) this error occurs since it tries to load something that was annotated that was not loaded before... — Kukeltje, Apr 11 '17 at 13:23
Sorry for including the whole list. I hesitated to do so but didn't know how to determine how a specific library ended up in the project with the IDE I use, which is IntelliJ. I do guess `portlet` was imported due to the "MyFaces Portlet Bridge" of MyFaces 2.2, but I can't tell for sure. I would also expect that the needed dependencies would get imported automatically via maven, so that such a error shouldn't occur. — scholt, Apr 11 '17 at 13:25
They are optional, but maybe a (newer) CDI impl gets loaded to which causes certain annotated classes in the portletbridge to be processed which should not occur here. Try excluding the portledbridge via maven (the very first comment here was fully correct!) — Kukeltje, Apr 11 '17 at 13:36
I just found this page: https://www.infragistics.com/community/forums/t/13076.aspx where someone stumbled upon the same error and solved it by just adding "portlet-api" to the project. I did the same via maven and sure enough, the error disappears. But accoding to @Stefan above JSF shouldn't depend on portlets, should it? (btw., including or excluding the portlet bridge api via maven didn't have any effect) — scholt, Apr 11 '17 at 13:40

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.portlet.RenderResponse after upgrading MyFaces from 1.1 to 2.2

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