Spring Java configuration: deploying Tomcat without web.xml

Question

I built a Spring MVC Java application without XML. I can deploy and run the application on my laptop without any problems. But as soon as I try to deploy my application on my testerver server (tomcat 7), I get the following message:

HTTP Status 404 - The requested resource (/[application context]/) is not available. 

I create my applications using the Eclipse Maven plugin. Is it possible to deploy the application without web.xml, and if not, is this the basic web.xml I really need?

Maven WAR Plugin:

 <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId> <version>${maven.war.plugin.version}</version> <configuration> <failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml> </configuration> </plugin> 

WebAppInitializer:

 @Order(value = 1) public class WebAppInitializer extends AbstractAnnotationConfigDispatcherServletInitializer { @Override public void onStartup(ServletContext servletContext) throws ServletException { super.onStartup(servletContext); } @Override protected Class<?>[] getRootConfigClasses() { return new Class[] { HibernateConfig.class, SecurityConfig.class, HibernateDaoConfig.class }; } @Override protected Class<?>[] getServletConfigClasses() { return new Class[] { WebAppConfig.class }; } @Override protected String[] getServletMappings() { return new String[] { "/" }; } @Override protected Filter[] getServletFilters() { return new Filter[]{}; } } 

Update: catalina.out

 Feb 3, 2014 4:18:32 PM org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader clearReferencesThreads SEVERE: The web application [/[appname]] appears to have started a thread named [Abandoned connection cleanup thread] but has failed to stop it. This is very likely to create a memory leak. Feb 3, 2014 4:18:33 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig checkResources INFO: Undeploying context [/[appname]] Feb 3, 2014 4:18:45 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployWAR INFO: Deploying web application archive [appname].war 

Answer 1

If this has not been decided yet, it may be due to the version of Servlet. The Servlet 3.x API should be able to customize the java web application by writing a Java class instead of having the web.xml file inside the WEB-INF folder.

see here for a complete example.

Answer 2

I would upgrade to the latest version of Tomcat and see if this works (to isolate your problem). There are many problems using the new spring features (for example: java config, etc.) with old Tocmat servers. For example, see http://docs.spring.io/autorepo/docs/spring-framework/3.1.x/javadoc-api/org/springframework/web/WebApplicationInitializer.html

Display in '/' under Tomcat

Apache Tomcat maps its internal DefaultServlet to the name "/", and in versions of Tomcat <= 7.0.14 this → servlet mapping cannot be overridden programmatically. 7.0.15 fixes this problem. Overriding the "/" → servlet display has also been successfully tested in GlassFish 3.1.