Java Spring Boot: Unable to create application context & run integration suite

Question

The context

I'm currently building an Spring boot application (Version 2.6.6) that is meant as a middle-man between an SPA and another platform. This application doesn't use any database, it communicates between the services by using their respective REST api's.

The problem

The initial incident

When started normally, the applications runs and operates normally, but when trying to start the application for running tests, the application will always fail for some reason. This test classes doesn't include any tests, but has a contextLoads() in order to validate that the context is loaded, as detailed in the Spring Boot testing guide. Here's my test class as reference:

package com.company.it.gdppwaapi;

import com.company.it.gdppwaapi.controllers.DashboardReporter;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
import org.mockito.junit.jupiter.MockitoExtension;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit.jupiter.SpringExtension;

import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;

@SpringBootTest
@ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)
class GdpPwaApiApplicationTests {
    @Autowired
    private DashboardReporter reporter;

    @Test
    void contextLoads() {
        assertThat(reporter).isNotNull();
    }
}

This has turned into a wild goose chase, trying to find the actual bug that causes this, because whenever the integration suite is runned, we get this exception thrown our way:

java.lang.StackOverflowError
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.(ThrowableProxy.java:78)
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.(ThrowableProxy.java:89)
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.(ThrowableProxy.java:89)
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.(ThrowableProxy.java:89)
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.(ThrowableProxy.java:89)
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.(ThrowableProxy.java:89)
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.(ThrowableProxy.java:89)
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.(ThrowableProxy.java:89)

(The at ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.(ThrowableProxy.java:89) is repeated continuously)

I've narrowed it down that one of our Maven dependencies is causing the issue, written for handling authorization and authentication. This version is written in a older version of Spring boot (to be specific: 2.1.6.RELEASE). This dependency makes use of Aspects in order to achieve this. This is the main Startup class as reference:

package com.company.it.gdppwaapi;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication(scanBasePackages = {"com.company.it.security", "com.company.it.gdppwaapi"})
public class GdpPwaApiApplication {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(GdpPwaApiApplication.class, args);
    }
}

(scanBasePackages is needed in order to pick up the component of the Maven dependency)

Steps taken to discover more error information

Turning Logback off

Because of the StackOverflow we get, I decided to turn logback off to see what this does by introducing a XML file:


    
        
            %-5level %logger{20} %mdc{username} - %msg%n%ex{full}

This gave me some more information about what is happening:

Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object

Because of this and the fact that the Maven dependency in question has a @Transactional annotation on a certain class, I thought it might have been related to this post, called "Spring Bean Injection Failing Due To Proxy". Unfortunately, after applying the suggested solution, this didn't solve my issue.

Setting the Logback to Debug

Because the previous log didn't gave us a lot of info, I decided to maybe try the opposite and set the log level to debug in order to see if this gave me some more clarity:


    
        
            %-5level %logger{20} %mdc{username} - %msg%n%ex{full}

This gave us a lot more info about what Spring Boot does when starting up, but I noticed that there's an error thrown my way while Spring Boot tries to build the Application Context:

DEBUG o.s.v.b.OptionalValidatorFactoryBean  - Failed to set up a Bean Validation provider
javax.validation.NoProviderFoundException: Unable to create a Configuration, because no Jakarta Bean Validation provider could be found. Add a provider like Hibernate Validator (RI) to your classpath.
    at javax.validation.Validation$GenericBootstrapImpl.configure(Validation.java:291)
    at org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.LocalValidatorFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(LocalValidatorFactoryBean.java:259)
    at org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.OptionalValidatorFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(OptionalValidatorFactoryBean.java:40)
    at org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.validation.ValidatorAdapter.afterPropertiesSet(ValidatorAdapter.java:84)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1863)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1800)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:620)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:542)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.lambda$doGetBean$0(AbstractBeanFactory.java:335)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:234)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:333)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:208)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.config.DependencyDescriptor.resolveCandidate(DependencyDescriptor.java:276)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.doResolveDependency(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:1389)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.resolveDependency(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:1309)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.resolveAutowiredArgument(ConstructorResolver.java:887)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.createArgumentArray(ConstructorResolver.java:791)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.instantiateUsingFactoryMethod(ConstructorResolver.java:541)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.instantiateUsingFactoryMethod(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1352)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1195)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:582)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:542)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.lambda$doGetBean$0(AbstractBeanFactory.java:335)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:234)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:333)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:208)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:953)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:918)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:583)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:740)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:415)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:303)
    at org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootContextLoader.loadContext(SpringBootContextLoader.java:136)
    at org.springframework.test.context.cache.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContextInternal(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:99)
    at org.springframework.test.context.cache.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContext(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:124)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.DefaultTestContext.getApplicationContext(DefaultTestContext.java:124)
    at org.springframework.test.context.web.ServletTestExecutionListener.setUpRequestContextIfNecessary(ServletTestExecutionListener.java:190)
    at org.springframework.test.context.web.ServletTestExecutionListener.prepareTestInstance(ServletTestExecutionListener.java:132)
    at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.prepareTestInstance(TestContextManager.java:248)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit.jupiter.SpringExtension.postProcessTestInstance(SpringExtension.java:138)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.ClassBasedTestDescriptor.lambda$invokeTestInstancePostProcessors$8(ClassBasedTestDescriptor.java:363)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.ClassBasedTestDescriptor.executeAndMaskThrowable(ClassBasedTestDescriptor.java:368)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.ClassBasedTestDescriptor.lambda$invokeTestInstancePostProcessors$9(ClassBasedTestDescriptor.java:363)
    at java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline$3$1.accept(ReferencePipeline.java:193)
    at java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline$2$1.accept(ReferencePipeline.java:175)
    at java.util.ArrayList$ArrayListSpliterator.forEachRemaining(ArrayList.java:1384)
    at java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.copyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:482)
    at java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.wrapAndCopyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:472)
    at java.util.stream.StreamSpliterators$WrappingSpliterator.forEachRemaining(StreamSpliterators.java:313)
    at java.util.stream.Streams$ConcatSpliterator.forEachRemaining(Streams.java:743)
    at java.util.stream.Streams$ConcatSpliterator.forEachRemaining(Streams.java:742)
    at java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline$Head.forEach(ReferencePipeline.java:647)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.ClassBasedTestDescriptor.invokeTestInstancePostProcessors(ClassBasedTestDescriptor.java:362)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.ClassBasedTestDescriptor.lambda$instantiateAndPostProcessTestInstance$6(ClassBasedTestDescriptor.java:283)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.ClassBasedTestDescriptor.instantiateAndPostProcessTestInstance(ClassBasedTestDescriptor.java:282)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.ClassBasedTestDescriptor.lambda$testInstancesProvider$4(ClassBasedTestDescriptor.java:272)
    at java.util.Optional.orElseGet(Optional.java:267)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.ClassBasedTestDescriptor.lambda$testInstancesProvider$5(ClassBasedTestDescriptor.java:271)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.TestInstancesProvider.getTestInstances(TestInstancesProvider.java:31)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.lambda$prepare$0(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:102)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.prepare(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:101)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.prepare(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:66)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$prepare$2(NodeTestTask.java:123)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.prepare(NodeTestTask.java:123)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.execute(NodeTestTask.java:90)
    at java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1259)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.invokeAll(SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.java:41)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$6(NodeTestTask.java:155)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$8(NodeTestTask.java:141)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.Node.around(Node.java:137)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$9(NodeTestTask.java:139)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.executeRecursively(NodeTestTask.java:138)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.execute(NodeTestTask.java:95)
    at java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1259)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.invokeAll(SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.java:41)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$6(NodeTestTask.java:155)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$8(NodeTestTask.java:141)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.Node.around(Node.java:137)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.lambda$executeRecursively$9(NodeTestTask.java:139)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:73)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.executeRecursively(NodeTestTask.java:138)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.NodeTestTask.execute(NodeTestTask.java:95)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.submit(SameThreadHierarchicalTestExecutorService.java:35)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor.execute(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:57)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestEngine.execute(HierarchicalTestEngine.java:54)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.EngineExecutionOrchestrator.execute(EngineExecutionOrchestrator.java:107)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.EngineExecutionOrchestrator.execute(EngineExecutionOrchestrator.java:88)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.EngineExecutionOrchestrator.lambda$execute$0(EngineExecutionOrchestrator.java:54)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.EngineExecutionOrchestrator.withInterceptedStreams(EngineExecutionOrchestrator.java:67)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.EngineExecutionOrchestrator.execute(EngineExecutionOrchestrator.java:52)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncher.java:114)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncher.java:86)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncherSession$DelegatingLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncherSession.java:86)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.SessionPerRequestLauncher.execute(SessionPerRequestLauncher.java:53)
    at com.intellij.junit5.JUnit5IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit5IdeaTestRunner.java:57)
    at com.intellij.rt.junit.IdeaTestRunner$Repeater$1.execute(IdeaTestRunner.java:38)
    at com.intellij.rt.execution.junit.TestsRepeater.repeat(TestsRepeater.java:11)
    at com.intellij.rt.junit.IdeaTestRunner$Repeater.startRunnerWithArgs(IdeaTestRunner.java:35)
    at com.intellij.rt.junit.JUnitStarter.prepareStreamsAndStart(JUnitStarter.java:235)
    at com.intellij.rt.junit.JUnitStarter.main(JUnitStarter.java:54)

This was quite interesting, as my project doesn't use Hibernate as a dependency, but the problematic dependency does. As the error message says, I try installing the Hibernate validator in 2 different methods:

By adding the hibernate-validator dependency to my pom.xml and rerunning the application, as detailed in the Hibernate documentation
By explicitly including the spring-boot-starter-validatorin my pom.xml and rerun the application, as here it's detailed that it needs to be included after Spring Boot 2.3

But with both of these, the same issue is thrown.

What I already tried:

Based on `ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.(ThrowableProxy.java:89)` issue

Setting the SpringBootTest annotation as follows:

    @SpringBootTest(classes = GdpPwaApiApplication.class, webEnvironment = SpringBootTest.WebEnvironment.RANDOM_PORT)

Extending the Application context with @ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class) in the test file
Extending the Application context with @ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class) in the test file
Adding the component scan that is in the main startup class to the test class.
Changing the spring-aspects dependency to spring-boot-starter-aop instead.
Annotating the main application class with @EnableAspectJAutoProxy

Based on the `Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object`

Unwraping the proxy object, as described here.

Based on the `javax.validation.NoProviderFoundException` exception

Add the hibernate-validator dependency to my pom.xml and rerunning the application, as detailed in the Hibernate documentation
Explicitly include the spring-boot-starter-validatorin my pom.xml and rerun the application, as here it's detailed that it needs to be included after Spring Boot 2.3

My questions

I have now several questions:

Relating to the javax.validation.NoProviderFoundException, what is the correct way to install and configure the hibernate-provider so that this exception doesn't get thrown anymore?
Has somebody has a similar issue like this and found a solution for this?

Code references I can share

Main Startup class

package com.company.it.gdppwaapi;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication(scanBasePackages = {"com.company.it.security", "com.company.it.gdppwaapi"})
public class GdpPwaApiApplication {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(GdpPwaApiApplication.class, args);
    }
}

Main Test class

package com.company.it.gdppwaapi;

import com.company.it.gdppwaapi.controllers.DashboardReporter;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
import org.mockito.junit.jupiter.MockitoExtension;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit.jupiter.SpringExtension;

import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;

@SpringBootTest
@ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)
class GdpPwaApiApplicationTests {
    @Autowired
    private DashboardReporter reporter;

    @Test
    void contextLoads() {
        assertThat(reporter).isNotNull();
    }
}

Current `pom.xml`

    
        
        
            org.springframework.boot
            spring-boot-starter-web
        
        
            org.springframework.boot
            spring-boot-starter-test
            test
        
        
            org.springdoc
            springdoc-openapi-ui
            1.6.4
        
        
            org.springframework.security.oauth
            spring-security-oauth2
            2.2.1.RELEASE
        
        
            org.springframework.security
            spring-security-jwt
            1.0.9.RELEASE
        
        
            org.springframework.boot
            spring-boot-starter-aop
        
        
            org.springframework.boot
            spring-boot-starter-actuator
            provided
        
        
            org.springframework.security
            spring-security-test
            test
        
        
            org.springframework.boot
            spring-boot-starter-validation
        

        
        
            com.company.it
            copmany-utilities
            RELEASE
            
                
                    com.company.it.copilot
                    babel-base-jpa2.1

Java Spring Boot: Unable to create application context & run integration suite

The context

The problem

The initial incident

Steps taken to discover more error information

Turning Logback off

Setting the Logback to Debug

What I already tried:

Based on `ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.<init>(ThrowableProxy.java:89)` issue

Based on the `Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object`

Based on the `javax.validation.NoProviderFoundException` exception

My questions

Code references I can share

Main Startup class

Main Test class

Current `pom.xml`

0 Answers

Java Spring Boot: Unable to create application context & run integration suite

The context

The problem

The initial incident

Steps taken to discover more error information

Turning Logback off

Setting the Logback to Debug

What I already tried:

Based on ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.<init>(ThrowableProxy.java:89) issue

Based on the Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object

Based on the javax.validation.NoProviderFoundException exception

My questions

Code references I can share

Main Startup class

Main Test class

Current pom.xml

0 Answers

Based on `ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ThrowableProxy.<init>(ThrowableProxy.java:89)` issue

Based on the `Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to unwrap proxied object`

Based on the `javax.validation.NoProviderFoundException` exception

Current `pom.xml`