[STR-2283] STRUTS Application still services requests although ActionServlet failed to initialize.

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 1.1.0
• Fix Version/s: 1.2 Family
• Component/s: Core
• Environment: Operating System: All; Platform: All
• Bugzilla Id: 32248
• Assignee: Donald J. Brown
• Reporter: Morgan Stanley
• Created: 16/Nov/04 00:31
• Updated: 04/Jul/07 05:30
• Resolved: 04/Jul/07 05:30

Description

I have a struts 1.1 app with a typical default index.jsp redirecting to the
entry point action:

<logic:redirect forward="/startForm3"/>

This was failing to because of the following NPE:

—
java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.apache.struts.util.RequestUtils.computeURL(RequestUtils.java:521)
at org.apache.struts.util.RequestUtils.computeURL(RequestUtils.java:436)
at org.apache.struts.util.RequestUtils.computeURL(RequestUtils.java:396)
at org.apache.struts.taglib.logic.RedirectTag.doEndTag(RedirectTag.java:294)
—

I can see from a quick google that this is a frequently experienced problem and
yet I have not seen a satisfactory solution.

If we look into the RequestUtils code we find that the problem is that the
ModuleConfig cannot be found on either the request or in the application
context. When the forward config for the string in the jsp is looked up we
therfore get the NPE.

If we look into the container logs we find the root cause: the ActionServlet
failed to load:

—
javax.servlet.ServletException: Error instantiating servlet class
org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.loadServlet(StandardWrapper.java:986)
...
----- Root Cause -----
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/sql/DataSource
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass0(Native Method)
—

One assumes that the ActionServlet did not load the ModuleConfig, and that the
application is not therefore really viable - although it seems to think it is...

My question is, should the application be attempting to service requests if its
central component failed to boot correctly?

The side effects this causes are hard to diagnose and I suggest that it would be
better if, in situations like this, all further requests were responded to with
an Error 500 and the stacktrace for the original problem - or something similar.