Failed to Process Import Candidates for Configuration Class

Elena Rostova
Elena Rostova
• • 7 min read

I've a Spring Boot Project That I Can Run Successfully from Within Intellij, but When I Package an Executable Jar I Can No Longer Run It. Here Is the Stack...

Failed to Process Import Candidates for Configuration Class

I've a spring boot project that I can run successfully from within IntelliJ, but when I package an executable jar I can no longer run it. Here is the stack trace of the exception:

18:13:55.254 [main] INFO  o.s.c.a.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext - Refreshing org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext@b3d7190: startup date [Wed Sep 07 18:13:55 CEST 2016]; root of context hierarchy
18:13:55.403 [main] WARN  o.s.c.a.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext - Exception encountered during context initialization - cancelling refresh attempt: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to process import candidates for configuration class [el.dorado.App]; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: No auto configuration classes found in META-INF/spring.factories. If you are using a custom packaging, make sure that file is correct.
18:13:55.414 [main] ERROR o.s.boot.SpringApplication - Application startup failed
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to process import candidates for configuration class [el.dorado.App]; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: No auto configuration classes found in META-INF/spring.factories. If you are using a custom packaging, make sure that file is correct.
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.processDeferredImportSelectors(ConfigurationClassParser.java:489)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.parse(ConfigurationClassParser.java:191)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.processConfigBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:321)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.postProcessBeanDefinitionRegistry(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:243)
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanDefinitionRegistryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:273)
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:98)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:681)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:523)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:759)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:369)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:313)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1185)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1174)
    at dz.lab.jpmtask.App.main(App.java:33)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: No auto configuration classes found in META-INF/spring.factories. If you are using a custom packaging, make sure that file is correct.
    at org.springframework.util.Assert.notEmpty(Assert.java:276)
    at org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.EnableAutoConfigurationImportSelector.getCandidateConfigurations(EnableAutoConfigurationImportSelector.java:145)
    at org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.EnableAutoConfigurationImportSelector.selectImports(EnableAutoConfigurationImportSelector.java:84)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.processDeferredImportSelectors(ConfigurationClassParser.java:481)
    ... 13 common frames omitted

My configuration is something like:

@Configuration
@EnableAutoConfiguration
public class AppConfig {
  ... some beans
}

I've added META-INF/spring.factories under the project resources folder as described in 43.2 Locating auto-configuration candidates as follows But this didn't fix the problem:

org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.EnableAutoConfiguration=\
el.dorado.AppConfig

Here is the project pom.xml:

<project xmlns="" xmlns:xsi=""
  xsi:schemaLocation=" ">

  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

  <groupId>el.dorado</groupId>
  <artifactId>ElDorado</artifactId>
  <packaging>jar</packaging>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <name>ElDorado</name>
  <url>

  <properties>
     <junit.version>4.12</junit.version>
  </properties>

  <parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>1.4.0.RELEASE</version>
  </parent>

  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
      <artifactId>h2</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>${junit.version}</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

  </dependencies>

  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
          <archive>
            <manifest>
              <mainClass>el.dorado.App</mainClass>
              <addDefaultImplementationEntries>true</addDefaultImplementationEntries>
            </manifest>
          </archive>
          <descriptorRefs>
            <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
          </descriptorRefs>
        </configuration>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>make-assembly</id> <!-- this is used for inheritance merges -->
            <phase>package</phase> <!-- bind to the packaging phase -->
            <goals>
              <goal>single</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
        <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <!--<version>0.7.8-SNAPSHOT</version>-->
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>jacoco-initialize</id>
            <goals>
              <goal>prepare-agent</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
          <execution>
            <id>jacoco-site</id>
            <phase>verify</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>report</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>

</project>
7

6 Answers

I just figure it out, I should have been using Spring Boot maven plugin instead. Now the build section of my pom.xml looks like:

<build>
<plugins>
  <plugin>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <configuration>
      <fork>true</fork>
      <mainClass>dz.lab.jpmtask.App</mainClass>
    </configuration>
    <executions>
      <execution>
        <goals>
          <goal>repackage</goal>
        </goals>
      </execution>
    </executions>
  </plugin>
  <plugin>
    <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
    <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <!--<version>0.7.8-SNAPSHOT</version>-->
    <executions>
      <execution>
        <id>jacoco-initialize</id>
        <goals>
          <goal>prepare-agent</goal>
        </goals>
      </execution>
      <execution>
        <id>jacoco-site</id>
        <phase>verify</phase>
        <goals>
          <goal>report</goal>
        </goals>
      </execution>
    </executions>
  </plugin>
</plugins>
</build>

I build the project with mvn clean package and then java -jar target/myproject.jar and it works like a charm.

I think that you have forgotten to use Annotation in your AppConfig.

Add following three annotations to your AppConfig class: 

@Configuration
@EnableWebMvc
@ComponentScan("Scan_Package_Name") 
public class AppConfig {
  ... some beans
}

I've also gotten the

Failed to process import candidates for configuration class [...]; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalStateException: Unable to read meta-data for class ...

error due to a typo in my spring.factories file. In this case the root exception was

class path resource [...] cannot be opened because it does not exist.

This is an important spot to check since it can't be validated at compile time.

0

I switched from mvn clean compile assembly:single to mvn clean package and the error went away.

I solved it as follows:

  1. Delete the spring-boot-maven-plugin
  2. Config spring transformers in shade plugin please refer to spring parent pom

Got the same problem. If you are also using tomcat, cleaning it did the trick for me.

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Elena Rostova

Elena Rostova

Lead Health, Wellness & Medical Journalist
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Elena Rostova holds a Master's degree in Public Health Journalism. She covers groundbreaking medical research, holistic wellness trends, mental health awareness, and nutritional science.

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