Tomcat Exception : Unable to access servlets

[Thillai Sakthi]

Dear All:
I am using jdk1.3 and Tomcat 4.1.29, I have an application deployed in tomcat, but on accessing the application it throws an error like this:
(The example servlets are okay)

javax.servlet.ServletException: Error allocating a servlet instance
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.allocate(StandardWrapper.java:672)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:210)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.invoke(StandardContext.java:2417)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:180)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorDispatcherValve.invoke(ErrorDispatcherValve.java:171)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:172)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:174)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.coyote.tomcat4.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:193)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:781)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.processConnection(Http11Protocol.java:549)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.TcpWorkerThread.runIt(PoolTcpEndpoint.java:589)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:666)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:534)
----- Root Cause -----
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/servlet/http/HttpServlet
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass0(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:537)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:123)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:251)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:55)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:194)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:187)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:289)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:274)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:235)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1355)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1289)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.loadServlet(StandardWrapper.java:885)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.allocate(StandardWrapper.java:668)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:210)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.invoke(StandardContext.java:2417)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:180)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorDispatcherValve.invoke(ErrorDispatcherValve.java:171)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:172)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:174)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.coyote.tomcat4.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:193)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:781)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.processConnection(Http11Protocol.java:549)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.TcpWorkerThread.runIt(PoolTcpEndpoint.java:589)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:666)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:534)

It looks like tomcat does not recognise servlet.jar which is in tomcat/common/lib dir.
Can anyone pls help?
TIA

[William Brogden]

That sure sounds odd alright. You say:

I am using jdk1.3 and Tomcat 4.1.29

You didn't download the version that requires jdk1.4 did you? The zip file would have jdk14 in the name.
Bill

[Thillai Sakthi]

Sorry I messed it up. Its jdk 1.4.2_02 with tomcat 4.1.29

Originally posted by William Brogden:
That sure sounds odd alright. You say:

You didn't download the version that requires jdk1.4 did you? The zip file would have jdk14 in the name.
Bill

[William Brogden]

Did you change the standard server.xml at all?
Is this web application you wrote in its own directory under webapps?
If so, what does the web.xml look like, and what does the URL you are using to address it look like?
Bill