java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/slf4j/LoggerFactory even though I have the right dependencies

Question

I'm really in a crunch here. I tried to copy some code for encryption from one project to another - one actually just being a branch of the other. There are minimal changes to the project (some style and formatting changes), and yet one works, and the other presents with this error:

HTTP Status 500 - Request processing failed; nested exception is java.lang.NullPointerException

type Exception report

message Request processing failed; nested exception is java.lang.NullPointerException

description The server encountered an internal error that prevented it from fulfilling this request.

exception

org.springframework.web.util.NestedServletException: Request processing failed; nested exception is java.lang.NullPointerException
    org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:981)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:871)
    javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:648)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:845)
    javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:729)
    org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
root cause

java.lang.NullPointerException
    com.grandcircus.spring.util.GateKeeper.getSecretKey(GateKeeper.java:47)
    com.grandcircus.spring.util.GateKeeper.setLock(GateKeeper.java:28)
    com.grandcircus.spring.controller.HomeController.registerChaplainSubmit(HomeController.java:157)
    sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.doInvoke(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:222)
    org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.invokeForRequest(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:137)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.invokeAndHandle(ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.java:110)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.invokeHandlerMethod(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:814)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.handleInternal(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:737)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.handle(AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.java:85)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:959)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:893)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:969)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:871)
    javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:648)
    org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:845)
    javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:729)
    org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)

I have received this warning in my deployment terminal:

log4j:WARN No appenders could be found for logger (org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet).
log4j:WARN Please initialize the log4j system properly.
log4j:WARN See http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/faq.html#noconfig for more info.
[2017-06-21 01:17:58,132] Artifact SpringTemplate:war exploded: Artifact is deployed successfully
[2017-06-21 01:17:58,132] Artifact SpringTemplate:war exploded: Deploy took 4,536 milliseconds
21-Jun-2017 13:18:03.131 INFO [localhost-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectory Deploying web application directory C:\Program Files\Apache\apache-tomcat-8.0.43\webapps\manager
21-Jun-2017 13:18:03.178 INFO [localhost-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectory Deployment of web application directory C:\Program Files\Apache\apache-tomcat-8.0.43\webapps\manager has finished in 47 ms

SLF4J: Failed to load class "org.slf4j.impl.StaticLoggerBinder".
SLF4J: Defaulting to no-operation (NOP) logger implementation
SLF4J: See http://www.slf4j.org/codes.html#StaticLoggerBinder for further details.

Here is a list of my dependencies:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.grandcircus.spring</groupId>
    <artifactId>first-time-out-program</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <packaging>war</packaging>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
            <version>4.2.4.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-aop</artifactId>
            <version>4.2.4.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
            <version>4.2.4.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
            <version>4.2.4.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
            <version>4.2.9.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
            <version>1.2</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
            <version>1.1.3</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>mysql</groupId>
            <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
            <version>5.1.6</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javassist</groupId>
            <artifactId>javassist</artifactId>
            <version>3.12.1.GA</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-core</artifactId>
            <version>3.6.3.Final</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
            <version>5.2.4.Final</version>
        </dependency>

        <!--below are fixes for 500 error -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.taglibs</groupId>
            <artifactId>taglibs-standard-spec</artifactId>
            <version>1.2.5</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.taglibs</groupId>
            <artifactId>taglibs-standard-impl</artifactId>
            <version>1.2.5</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet.jsp</groupId>
            <artifactId>jsp-api</artifactId>
            <version>2.1</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-c3p0</artifactId>
            <version>3.6.3.Final</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Dependencies needed for email validation API -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
            <artifactId>httpclient</artifactId>
            <version>4.5.1</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.googlecode.json-simple</groupId>
            <artifactId>json-simple</artifactId>
            <version>1.1</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.json</groupId>
            <artifactId>json</artifactId>
            <version>20090211</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
            <version>2.5</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
            <version>1.7.22</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
</project>

This has been driving me absolutely mad for hours now, and any answers found here must require a higher IQ than I have because it's all Greek to me. What on earth is happening, and why am I the only person with this issue, having this issue only on this specific branch of the project? This makes no sense!

Have you cleaned and rebuild your Project after adding the dependency of slf4j? — Jens, Jun 21 '17 at 07:14
@Jens: No. You need both of them. SLF4j is a facade. You need to bind to a logging framework. @Sarah: Why do you have bindings to multiple logging frameworks (`log4j` and `logback-classic`) ? — Shashwat Mishra, Jun 21 '17 at 07:30
I did it like this because many of the similar questions I googled had answers saying to have all of these in. When none of them worked alone or together, I just left them there. — Sarah Guarino, Jun 21 '17 at 16:20

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 21 '17 at 08:18

The classloader of your apache/tomcat(catalina) don't find the LoggerFactory by reflection, mybe this caused by the multitude of logging dependencies that was in your classpath.

please try to REMOVE this from your POM

<dependency>
        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.7.5</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
        <version>1.7.5</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
        <version>1.7.6</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
        <artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
        <version>1.1.3</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
        <artifactId>logback-core</artifactId>
        <version>1.1.3</version>
    </dependency>

And replace it just with

<dependency>
<groupId><org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
<version>1.7.22</version>
</dependency>

I hope that will work for you.

I have done as you asked an got a different error message. I've updated my OP. — Sarah Guarino, Jun 21 '17 at 17:00
@Sarah Guarino, why you don't create another ticket for this new issue in a new question? — Yugerten, Jun 22 '17 at 07:52
@SarahGuarino: if you are in **Servlet 2.X** context add this to your Deployement descriptor **( web.xml )**: ` org.springframework.web.util.Log4jConfigListener log4jConfigLocation classpath:log4j.properties `. and create the file log4j.properties in the resources folder — Yugerten, Jun 22 '17 at 08:04

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/slf4j/LoggerFactory even though I have the right dependencies

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