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Published Jun. 30, 2025

The Liferay Server Cannot Start Up After Installing a Hotfix

Written By

Laura Li

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Issue

  • The Liferay server cannot start up after installing the hotfix (For example, hotfix-8495).
  • In a Tomcat server, the following error occurs:
    ERROR [main][PortalContextLoaderListener:114] java.lang.NullPointerException
java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.servlet.DirectServletRegistryUtil.clearServlets(DirectServletRegistryUtil.java:25)
        at com.liferay.portal.spring.context.PortalContextLoaderListener.contextDestroyed(PortalContextLoaderListener.java:137)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStop(StandardContext.java:4816)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.stopInternal(StandardContext.java:5477)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.stop(LifecycleBase.java:257)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:187)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:726)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:698)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:696)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:690)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployDescriptor.run(HostConfig.java:1889)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:515)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.InlineExecutorService.execute(InlineExecutorService.java:75)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.AbstractExecutorService.submit(AbstractExecutorService.java:118)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptors(HostConfig.java:583)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:473)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1618)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:319)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:123)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.setStateInternal(LifecycleBase.java:423)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.setState(LifecycleBase.java:366)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:946)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:835)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1396)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1386)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.InlineExecutorService.execute(InlineExecutorService.java:75)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.AbstractExecutorService.submit(AbstractExecutorService.java:140)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:919)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:265)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:432)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:930)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:772)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
        at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:566)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:342)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:473)
  • In JBoss server, the following error occurs:
    ERROR [org.jboss.msc.service.fail] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 79) MSC000001: Failed to start service jboss.undertow.deployment.default-server.default-host./: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.undertow.deployment.default-server.default-host./: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at org.wildfly.extension.undertow.deployment.UndertowDeploymentService$1.run(UndertowDeploymentService.java:85)
	at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
	at org.jboss.threads.JBossThread.run(JBossThread.java:320)
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at io.undertow.servlet.core.DeploymentManagerImpl.deploy(DeploymentManagerImpl.java:231)
	at org.wildfly.extension.undertow.deployment.UndertowDeploymentService.startContext(UndertowDeploymentService.java:100)
	at org.wildfly.extension.undertow.deployment.UndertowDeploymentService$1.run(UndertowDeploymentService.java:82)
	... 6 more
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at com.liferay.portal.spring.context.PortalContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(PortalContextLoaderListener.java:314)
	at io.undertow.servlet.core.ApplicationListeners.contextInitialized(ApplicationListeners.java:187)
	at io.undertow.servlet.core.DeploymentManagerImpl.deploy(DeploymentManagerImpl.java:198)
	... 8 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at com.liferay.portal.bootstrap.ModuleFrameworkImpl._isFragmentBundle(ModuleFrameworkImpl.java:1179)
	at com.liferay.portal.bootstrap.ModuleFrameworkImpl._setUpInitialBundles(ModuleFrameworkImpl.java:1497)
	at com.liferay.portal.bootstrap.ModuleFrameworkImpl.startFramework(ModuleFrameworkImpl.java:407)
	at com.liferay.portal.module.framework.ModuleFrameworkUtilAdapter.startFramework(ModuleFrameworkUtilAdapter.java:100)
	at com.liferay.portal.spring.context.PortalContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(PortalContextLoaderListener.java:309)
	... 10 more

 

Environment

  • Liferay DXP 7.1, Liferay DXP 7.2

 

Resolution

  • This issue may caused by duplicate jars in {Liferay_Home}/osgi/marketplace. To check if duplicate jars exist, use the following command:
    for f in *.lpkg; do echo "$f: "; unzip -l "$f" | grep hotfix; done
  • If duplicate jars do exist, for example, jars ending with "hotfix-4483" and "hotfix-8495", use the below command to remove the ones ending with "hotfix-4483" or delete them manually so that only one version remains (the one which ends with "hotfix-8495"):
    for f in *.lpkg; do echo "$f: "; unzip -l "$f" | grep 4483| xargs zip -d "$f";done
  • Delete the usual directories {Liferay_Home}/osgi/state, {Tomcat_Home}/temp and {Tomcat_Home}/work
  • Restart the server

 

 

 

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