org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer ClassNotFoundException

I have been getting a ClassNotFoundException with org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer but it peculiarly started last night when I tried to start/re-start my Tomcat server (v7) with Eclipse Juno.

Not sure what is going on. What's bizarre is that it just started happening last night while it was working perfectly well before that.

Here is the stacktrace:

Feb 25, 2014 11:11:19 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: Marking servlet com.att.ucomm.admin.UCommAdminFunctions as unavailable
Feb 25, 2014 11:11:19 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext loadOnStartup
SEVERE: Servlet /UCommAdminFunctions threw load() exception
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1671)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1516)
at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.loadClass(DefaultInstanceManager.java:415)
at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.loadClassMaybePrivileged(DefaultInstanceManager.java:397)
at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.newInstance(DefaultInstanceManager.java:118    )
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.loadServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1048)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.load(StandardWrapper.java:996)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup(StandardContext.java:4762)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5045)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:140)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.reload(StandardContext.java:3670)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappLoader.backgroundProcess(WebappLoader.java:424)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.backgroundProcess(ContainerBase.java:1207)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1393)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1403)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1403)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.run(ContainerBase.java:1382)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Feb 25, 2014 11:11:19 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext reload
INFO: Reloading Context with name [/UCommAdminFunctions] is completed
Feb 25, 2014 11:13:33 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve invoke
INFO: Servlet com.att.ucomm.admin.UCommAdminFunctions is currently unavailable

Here is my web.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app version="2.5"
    xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd">

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>com.att.ucomm.admin.UCommAdminFunctions</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer</servlet-class>

    <!-- Register JAX-RS Application, if needed. -->
    <init-param>
        <param-name>com.att.ucomm.admin.UCommAdminFunctions</param-name>
        <param-value>my.package.MyApplication</param-value>
    </init-param>

    <!-- Register resources and providers under my.package. -->
    <init-param>
        <param-name>jersey.config.server.provider.packages</param-name>
        <param-value>com.att.ucomm.admin</param-value>
    </init-param>

    <!-- Register my custom provider (not needed if it's in my.package) AND LoggingFilter. -->
    <init-param>
        <param-name>jersey.config.server.provider.classnames</param-name>
        <param-value>com.att.ucomm.admin.SecurityRequestFilter;org.glassfish.jersey.filter.LoggingFilter</param-value>
    </init-param>

    <!-- Enable Tracing support. -->
    <init-param>
        <param-name>jersey.config.server.tracing</param-name>
        <param-value>ALL</param-value>
    </init-param>

    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>com.att.ucomm.admin.UCommAdminFunctions</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/rest/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<welcome-file-list>
    <welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>index.htm</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>default.html</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>default.htm</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>default.jsp</welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>
</web-app>

I made sure that the jar files for jersey were still there in WEB-INF/lib:

The problem:

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer

indicates that you try to use the Jersey 2.x servlet, but you are supplying the Jersey 1.x libs.

For Jersey 1.x you have to do it like this:

<servlet>
  <servlet-name>Jersey REST Service</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>
  com.sun.jersey.spi.container.servlet.ServletContainer
</servlet-class>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>com.sun.jersey.config.property.packages</param-name>
    <param-value>sample.hello.resources</param-value>
  </init-param>
  <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>Jersey REST Service</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/rest/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

For more information check the Jersey 1.x documentation.

If you instead want to use Jersey 2.x then you'll have to supply the Jersey 2.x libs. In a maven based project you can use the following:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.containers</groupId>
    <artifactId>jersey-container-servlet</artifactId>
    <version>2.xx</version>
</dependency>
<!-- if you are using Jersey client specific features without the server side -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.core</groupId>
    <artifactId>jersey-client</artifactId>
    <version>2.xx</version>
</dependency>

For Jersey 2.x you don't need to setup anything in your web.xml, it is sufficient to supply a class similar to this:

import javax.ws.rs.ApplicationPath;
import javax.ws.rs.core.Application;

@ApplicationPath("rest")
public class ApplicationConfig extends Application {

}

For more information, check the Jersey documentation.

See also:

• java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.sun.jersey.spi.container.servlet.ServletContainer

• Jersey Services with Tomcat and Eclipse

• ClassNotFoundException when starting tomcat

It's an eclipse setup issue, not a Jersey issue.

From this thread ClassNotFoundException: org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer

Right click your eclipse project Properties -> Deployment Assembly -> Add -> Java Build Path Entries -> Gradle Dependencies -> Finish.

So Eclipse wasn't using the Gradle dependencies when Apache was starting .

If you are using Jersey 2.x use following dependency:

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.containers</groupId>
   <artifactId>jersey-container-servlet-core</artifactId>
   <version>2.XX</version>
</dependency>  

Where XX could be any particular version you look for. Jersey Containers.

I agree with the accepted answer. But for me, the issue was not that, instead I had to modify my Servlet-Class name from:-

<servlet-class>org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer.class</servlet-class> 

To:

<servlet-class>org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer</servlet-class>

So, removing .class worked fine in my case. Hope it will help somebody!

Below code work for me in web.xml file

<servlet>
	<servlet-name>WebService</servlet-name>
	<servlet-class>org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer</servlet-class>
	<init-param>
		<param-name>jersey.config.server.provider.packages</param-name>
		<param-value>com.example.demo.webservice</param-value>
		//Package
	</init-param>
	<init-param>
		<param-name>unit:WidgetPU</param-name>
		<param-value>persistence/widget</param-value>
	</init-param>
	<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
	<servlet-name>WebService</servlet-name>
	<url-pattern>/webservices/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

The jersey-container-servlet actually uses the jersey-container-servlet-core dependency. But if you use maven, that does not really matter. If you just define the jersey-container-servlet usage, it will automatically download the dependency as well.

But for those who add jar files to their project manually (i.e. without maven) It is important to know that you actually need both jar files. The org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer class is actually part of the core dependency.

If you not use maven, try to put your jars to WEB-INF/lib, it worked for me.

Suppose you are usin Jersey 2.25.1, this worked for me - I am using Apache Tomcat web container:

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.core</groupId>
        <artifactId>jersey-server</artifactId>
        <version>2.25.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.containers</groupId>
        <artifactId>jersey-container-servlet</artifactId>
        <version>2.25.1</version>
    </dependency>

NB: Replace version with the version you are using

I had the same problem with eclipse, the WA solution was to copy the libs to WEB-INF/lib

For me it seems like the issue was Eclipse not recognizing the Maven dependencies of my project.

What I did:

Right click on project > Configure > Convert to Maven Project