Bug 623465 - tomcat5 upgrade to tomcat5 causes exception at start
Summary: tomcat5 upgrade to tomcat5 causes exception at start
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED ERRATA
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Classification: Red Hat
Component: tomcat5
Version: 5.5.z
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
high
urgent
Target Milestone: rc
: ---
Assignee: David Knox
QA Contact: qe-baseos-daemons
URL:
Whiteboard:
: 623813 (view as bug list)
Depends On: 659287
Blocks: 627507
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2010-08-11 20:25 UTC by James E. Blair
Modified: 2018-11-14 18:58 UTC (History)
11 users (show)

Fixed In Version: tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.16.el5
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Still has startup issues (http404) on first request. The second request will return http200.See comment 15. We will continue to track this down.
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2011-01-14 00:09:36 UTC
Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
dknox: needinfo+
pm-rhel: needinfo+


Attachments (Terms of Use)
context.xml that triggers problem (1.09 KB, text/xml)
2010-08-11 23:56 UTC, James E. Blair
no flags Details


Links
System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Red Hat Bugzilla 623254 0 urgent CLOSED upgrade to tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.9.el5_5 causes StackOverflowError 2021-02-22 00:41:40 UTC
Red Hat Product Errata RHBA-2011:0138 0 normal SHIPPED_LIVE tomcat5 bug fix update 2011-01-12 19:26:40 UTC

Internal Links: 623813

Description James E. Blair 2010-08-11 20:25:53 UTC
Description of problem:

Upgraded to tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.9.el5_5, and on restart, the following is logged:

Aug 11, 2010 12:13:54 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase
addChildInternal
SEVERE: ContainerBase.addChild: start:
LifecycleException:  Error initializaing :  java.lang.NullPointerException
       at
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:3986)
       at
org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:760)
       at
org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:740)
       at
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:544)
...

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

 tomcat5-5.5.23-0jpp.9.el5_5

Comment 1 David Knox 2010-08-11 21:01:08 UTC
Please see rhbz#623254 

RHEL-5-5-Z:

https://brewweb.devel.redhat.com//taskinfo?taskID=2676377

cvs tag: tomcat5-5_5_23-0jpp_10_el5_5

Comment 2 James E. Blair 2010-08-11 23:56:18 UTC
Created attachment 438310 [details]
context.xml that triggers problem

Comment 3 James E. Blair 2010-08-11 23:59:40 UTC
I don't think it's the same as the StackOverflow problem, since this is a NullPointerException.

We have tomcat running several applications, and we're only seeing this on ones that use a $THOME/conf/Catalina/localhost/<context>.xml file to set database connection information, etc.  I attached a sample (with passwords redacted).

Comment 4 David Knox 2010-08-12 15:37:21 UTC
Thanks. Could you also attach a complete log file including the exception, please?

Comment 5 David Knox 2010-08-12 21:12:37 UTC
Confirmed. the problem is related to the existence of a $CAT_HOME/conf/Catalina/localhost/context.xml. 

Any empty context.xml in that specific location will cause the same problem. The same context.xml in /etc/tomcat5/ will not produce the problem. Changing the context path (path="/foo") also produces the problem.

Comment 6 Jim Roland, RHCE 2010-08-20 17:41:55 UTC
Same issue here with context tags but in a different file.  I'm an RHCE and have worked with 2 other RHCEs at RH ending up with the same result.  32-bit or 64-bit system, using GCJ Java or our requirement for Sun Java 1.6.0.

I have RH case # 2050882 open as well.  This problem is not specific to the webapp's context.xml either, if you put in a global context in /usr/share/tomcat5/conf/server.xml, 0.jpp9 and 0.jpp10 will also crash, remove the context tags and tomcat starts up.  The crash on startup leaves the ports open, but tomcat is unresponsive on his http port.  A ps listing shows tomcat running but it does not respond when you post a "GET /webapplication/ HTTP/1.0" when attempting a connection to port 8080.

Thanks,
Jim Roland, RHCE

Comment 7 David Knox 2010-08-20 18:01:01 UTC
FYI, a Context element in server.xml is no longer considered appropriate. The recommendation is to put a <context>.xml in conf (for a default) or in Catalina/<host>/<context>.xml 

That said, it doesn't change the issue, which has been narrowed down to a particular place. I don't have an eta yet, but am working on it.

Comment 8 Jeff Bastian 2010-08-20 18:24:47 UTC
*** Bug 623813 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 17 Jim Roland, RHCE 2010-08-25 15:06:01 UTC
What is the status on fixing this issue?

Comment 21 Jim Roland, RHCE 2010-09-29 13:45:43 UTC
Are you guys waiting on me to QA this or are you in QA yourselves?  Just asking if you need anything from me in the next several days?

Comment 25 David Knox 2010-12-01 19:39:39 UTC
    Technical note added. If any revisions are required, please edit the "Technical Notes" field
    accordingly. All revisions will be proofread by the Engineering Content Services team.
    
    New Contents:
Still has startup issues (http404) on first request. The second request will return http200.See comment 15. 

We will continue to track this down.

Comment 30 errata-xmlrpc 2011-01-14 00:09:36 UTC
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem
described in this bug report. This report is therefore being
closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information
on therefore solution and/or where to find the updated files,
please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report
if the solution does not work for you.

http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2011-0138.html


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