Spring-boot: Getting AbstractMethodErrorException when migrating from Spring Boot 2.0.5 to 2.1.0

[helpermethod]

When migrating my app from Spring Boot 2.0.5 to 2.1.0 my application doesn't start anymore.

This is the full stacktrace:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.AbstractMethodError: Receiver class org.springframework.boot.context.config.ConfigFileApplicationListener does not define or inherit an implementation of the resolved method abstract supportsSourceType(Ljava/lang/Class;)Z of interface org.springframework.context.event.SmartApplicationListener.
    at org.springframework.context.event.GenericApplicationListenerAdapter.supportsSourceType(GenericApplicationListenerAdapter.java:81)
    at org.springframework.context.event.AbstractApplicationEventMulticaster.supportsEvent(AbstractApplicationEventMulticaster.java:295)
    at org.springframework.context.event.AbstractApplicationEventMulticaster.retrieveApplicationListeners(AbstractApplicationEventMulticaster.java:225)
    at org.springframework.context.event.AbstractApplicationEventMulticaster.getApplicationListeners(AbstractApplicationEventMulticaster.java:196)
    at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:133)
    at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:127)
    at org.springframework.boot.context.event.EventPublishingRunListener.environmentPrepared(EventPublishingRunListener.java:75)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplicationRunListeners.environmentPrepared(SpringApplicationRunListeners.java:54)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.prepareEnvironment(SpringApplication.java:347)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:306)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1260)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1248)

[wilkinsona]

@mplanchant reported the same problem on Gitter. As @bclozel suspected there, this is probably caused by having mismatched versions of some dependencies. Do you have Spring Framework 5.1.2 on the classpath?

[helpermethod]

You're right, the class ConfigFileApplicationListener references the SmartApplicationListener interface from spring-context 5.0.8.RELEASE, which seems to be the problem. I'll investigate a little further.

[helpermethod]

It looks like the problem is spring-boot-starter-web.

Partial output of mvn dependency:tree:

[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web:jar:2.1.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter:jar:2.1.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot:jar:2.1.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-autoconfigure:jar:2.1.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-logging:jar:2.1.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  |  \- org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-to-slf4j:jar:2.11.1:compile
[INFO] |  |  |     \- org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-api:jar:2.10.0:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- javax.annotation:javax.annotation-api:jar:1.3.2:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.yaml:snakeyaml:jar:1.23:runtime
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-json:jar:2.1.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype:jackson-datatype-jdk8:jar:2.9.6:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype:jackson-datatype-jsr310:jar:2.9.6:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- com.fasterxml.jackson.module:jackson-module-parameter-names:jar:2.9.6:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-tomcat:jar:2.1.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core:jar:9.0.12:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-el:jar:9.0.12:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-websocket:jar:9.0.12:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.hibernate.validator:hibernate-validator:jar:6.0.13.Final:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- javax.validation:validation-api:jar:2.0.1.Final:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.jboss.logging:jboss-logging:jar:3.3.2.Final:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- com.fasterxml:classmate:jar:1.4.0:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework:spring-web:jar:5.0.8.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.springframework:spring-beans:jar:5.0.8.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-webmvc:jar:5.0.8.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |     +- org.springframework:spring-aop:jar:5.0.8.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |     +- org.springframework:spring-context:jar:5.0.8.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |     \- org.springframework:spring-expression:jar:5.0.8.RELEASE:compile

As you can see it transitively includes org.springframework:spring-web:jar:5.0.8.RELEASE:compile.

[wilkinsona]

Are you using spring-boot-starter-parent or importing spring-boot-dependencies? That dependency tree tells me that Boot's dependency management isn't in effect, or it's in effect but being overridden.

[helpermethod]

Ok, now I got it.

I have spring-boot-starter-parent included

    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>2.1.0.RELEASE</version>
        <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
    </parent>

but also

    <dependencyManagement>
        <dependencies>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-cloud-config</artifactId>
                <version>2.0.1.RELEASE</version>
                <type>pom</type>
                <scope>import</scope>
            </dependency>
        </dependencies>
    </dependencyManagement>

If I remove the dependencyManagement block the application starts.

[wilkinsona]

Thanks, so as suspected the dependency management is being overridden. For compatibility with Spring Boot 2.1, I believe you should be using Spring Cloud Greenwich. Creating a project on https://start.spring.io is a good way to see how to set things up.

[datamaskin]

I generated a SCCS server at https://start.spring.io as suggested but it still does not run.
No errors or exceptions.
Same thing when run from the IDE.

[wilkinsona]

@datamaskin If you are literally seeing no errors or exception then you have a different problem to the one described here. If you’re looking for some guidance, I’d recommend asking on Stack Overflow with a minimal example of how to reproduce the problem. If you believe you’ve found a big, please open a Spring Cloud issue. Either way, please comment here with a link so that others can follow the trail.

[granadacoder]

You can use something like the below to fish for discrepancies:

windows
mvn dependency:tree | findstr spring-core

linux

mvn dependency:tree | grep spring-core