Weblogic 10.3.5: <prefer-web-inf-classes> in weblogic.xml not working VS. server classpath JAR files

Question

Weblogic version: 10.3.5

JSF version (interfaces, impl) : Mojarra 2.0.3

I have a JSF EAR application which is made up of a WAR file and a JAR file.

The WAR file contains the following two Maven dependencies:

 <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.faces</groupId>
        <artifactId>jsf-api</artifactId>
        <version>2.0.3</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.sun.faces</groupId>
        <artifactId>jsf-impl</artifactId>
        <version>2.0.3</version>
    </dependency>

When running, the following code snippet correctly reports the current in-service version of Mojarra as v2.0.3:

public void getMojarraVersion() {
    Package p = FacesContext.class.getPackage();
    System.out.println("Mojarra version: " + p.getImplementationTitle() + " " + p.getImplementationVersion());
}

The weblogic startup log, however reports that a different, far older version provided by the container, is used when the application is started:

INFO: Initializing Sun's JavaServer Faces implementation (1.2_03-b04-FCS) for context '/myApp'

This is despite the following weblogic.xml configuration, deployed alongside the WAR file's web.xml file in WEB-INF, which inverts the classloader:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<wls:weblogic-web-app xmlns:wls="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-web-app" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/ejb-jar_3_0.xsd http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-web-app http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-web-app/1.4/weblogic-web-app.xsd">
     <wls:container-descriptor>
        <wls:prefer-web-inf-classes>true</wls:prefer-web-inf-classes>
     </wls:container-descriptor>
</wls:weblogic-web-app>

After a couple of days of digging, I discovered the following two JAR Files are being included in the server classpath:

${WEBLOGIC_HOME}/wlserver_10.3/server/lib/consoleapp/webapp/WEB-INF/lib/jsf-api.jar

${WEBLOGIC_HOME}/wlserver_10.3/server/lib/consoleapp/webapp/WEB-INF/lib/jsf-impl.jar

These files are provided by a vanilla install of Weblogic 10.3.5.

Temporarily removing these two JAR files and restarting the server caused the log to start reporting that the new version is in use:

INFO: Initializing Mojarra 2.0.3 for context '/myApp'

The above evidence therefore demonstrates that Weblogic configuration to subvert the classloader hierarchy does not work for any resources that are provided by the server classpath (i.e. ${WEBLOGIC_HOME}/wlserver_10.3/server/lib) when an application is loaded.

As an interesting aside, I can delete the weblogic.xml file and I find that:

1. The wrong version of the dependency continues to be reported in the startup log.
2. The correct version of the dependency continues to be used at runtime.

Answer 1

Sometime <wls:prefer-web-inf-classes>true</wls:prefer-web-inf-classes> can't specify the lib. You need to use: <wls:prefer-application-packages> and <wls:prefer-application-resources>. Below is an example (remove wls: for old weblogic version):

<wls:container-descriptor>
    <wls:prefer-application-packages>
        <wls:package-name>META-INF/services/javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext</wls:package-name>
        <wls:package-name>com.google.common.*</wls:package-name>
        <wls:package-name>org.slf4j.*</wls:package-name>
        <wls:package-name>org.apache.logging.log4j.*</wls:package-name>
    </wls:prefer-application-packages>
    <wls:prefer-application-resources>
        <wls:resource-name>META-INF/services/javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext</wls:resource-name>
        <wls:resource-name>com.google.common.*</wls:resource-name>
        <wls:resource-name>org.slf4j.*</wls:resource-name>
        <wls:resource-name>org.apache.logging.log4j.*</wls:resource-name>
    </wls:prefer-application-resources>
</wls:container-descriptor>

On top of weblogic.xml use this: <wls:weblogic-web-app xmlns:wls="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-web-app" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-web-app http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-web-app/1.2/weblogic-web-app.xsd">