Injecting EJBs using @Inject in class library

I have a full-fledged Java EE application using GlassFish Server 4.1 / Java EE 7. It is a standard NetBeans project i.e. it does not use Apache Maven.

The application contains a class library named "ProjectLibrary" which is added to both the modules namely the EE module and the web module. The IDE shows the basic tree structure diagrammatically as follows.

There is a requirement to inject an EJB into a JPA entity listener as follows.

@ApplicationScoped
public class EntityListener {

    @Inject
    private Event<EntityChangeEvent> event;

    @EJB
    private UserService service;

    @PostPersist
    @PostUpdate
    @PostRemove
    public void onEntityChange(Entity entity) {
        event.fire(new EntityChangeEvent(Collections.singleton(service.getOwner(entity))));
    }
}

This listener is present in the EE project and the class library as well.

UserService is a stateless local EJB. This works coherently unless the annotation @EJB is replaced by @Inject in which case, the following exception is thrown.

Severe:   Exception during lifecycle processing
org.glassfish.deployment.common.DeploymentException: CDI deployment failure:WELD-001408: Unsatisfied dependencies for type UserService with qualifiers @Default
  at injection point [BackedAnnotatedField] @Inject private entity.listeners.EntityListener.service
  at entity.listeners.EntityListener.service(EntityListener.java:0)
    at org.glassfish.weld.WeldDeployer.event(WeldDeployer.java:234)
    at org.glassfish.kernel.event.EventsImpl.send(EventsImpl.java:131)
    at org.glassfish.internal.data.ApplicationInfo.load(ApplicationInfo.java:328)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.server.ApplicationLifecycle.deploy(ApplicationLifecycle.java:496)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.server.ApplicationLifecycle.deploy(ApplicationLifecycle.java:219)
    at org.glassfish.deployment.admin.DeployCommand.execute(DeployCommand.java:491)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$2$1.run(CommandRunnerImpl.java:539)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$2$1.run(CommandRunnerImpl.java:535)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at javax.security.auth.Subject.doAs(Subject.java:360)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$2.execute(CommandRunnerImpl.java:534)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$3.run(CommandRunnerImpl.java:565)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$3.run(CommandRunnerImpl.java:557)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at javax.security.auth.Subject.doAs(Subject.java:360)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl.doCommand(CommandRunnerImpl.java:556)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl.doCommand(CommandRunnerImpl.java:1464)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl.access$1300(CommandRunnerImpl.java:109)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$ExecutionContext.execute(CommandRunnerImpl.java:1846)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$ExecutionContext.execute(CommandRunnerImpl.java:1722)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.AdminAdapter.doCommand(AdminAdapter.java:534)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.AdminAdapter.onMissingResource(AdminAdapter.java:224)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.StaticHttpHandlerBase.service(StaticHttpHandlerBase.java:189)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper$HttpHandlerCallable.call(ContainerMapper.java:459)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:167)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpHandler.runService(HttpHandler.java:201)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpHandler.doHandle(HttpHandler.java:175)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpServerFilter.handleRead(HttpServerFilter.java:235)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.ExecutorResolver$9.execute(ExecutorResolver.java:119)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.executeFilter(DefaultFilterChain.java:284)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.executeChainPart(DefaultFilterChain.java:201)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.execute(DefaultFilterChain.java:133)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.process(DefaultFilterChain.java:112)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.ProcessorExecutor.execute(ProcessorExecutor.java:77)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.nio.transport.TCPNIOTransport.fireIOEvent(TCPNIOTransport.java:561)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.AbstractIOStrategy.fireIOEvent(AbstractIOStrategy.java:112)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy.run0(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:117)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy.access$100(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:56)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy$WorkerThreadRunnable.run(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:137)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.threadpool.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:565)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.threadpool.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:545)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.jboss.weld.exceptions.DeploymentException: WELD-001408: Unsatisfied dependencies for type UserService with qualifiers @Default
  at injection point [BackedAnnotatedField] @Inject private entity.listeners.EntityListener.service
  at entity.listeners.EntityListener.service(EntityListener.java:0)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateInjectionPointForDeploymentProblems(Validator.java:370)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateInjectionPoint(Validator.java:291)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateGeneralBean(Validator.java:134)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateRIBean(Validator.java:165)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateBean(Validator.java:529)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateBeans(Validator.java:515)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateDeployment(Validator.java:490)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.WeldStartup.validateBeans(WeldStartup.java:419)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.WeldBootstrap.validateBeans(WeldBootstrap.java:90)
    at org.glassfish.weld.WeldDeployer.event(WeldDeployer.java:225)
    ... 41 more

Severe:   Exception while loading the app
Severe:   Undeployment failed for context /Project-war
Finer:   initialize identitymaps
Warning:   session_manager_no_partition
Info:   No timers to be deleted for id: 94539334950977536
Info:   No timers to be deleted for id: 94539334950977536
Severe:   Exception while loading the app : CDI deployment failure:WELD-001408: Unsatisfied dependencies for type UserService with qualifiers @Default
  at injection point [BackedAnnotatedField] @Inject private entity.listeners.EntityListener.service
  at entity.listeners.EntityListener.service(EntityListener.java:0)
org.jboss.weld.exceptions.DeploymentException: WELD-001408: Unsatisfied dependencies for type UserService with qualifiers @Default
  at injection point [BackedAnnotatedField] @Inject private entity.listeners.EntityListener.service
  at entity.listeners.EntityListener.service(EntityListener.java:0)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateInjectionPointForDeploymentProblems(Validator.java:370)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateInjectionPoint(Validator.java:291)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateGeneralBean(Validator.java:134)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateRIBean(Validator.java:165)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateBean(Validator.java:529)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateBeans(Validator.java:515)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.Validator.validateDeployment(Validator.java:490)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.WeldStartup.validateBeans(WeldStartup.java:419)
    at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.WeldBootstrap.validateBeans(WeldBootstrap.java:90)
    at org.glassfish.weld.WeldDeployer.event(WeldDeployer.java:225)
    at org.glassfish.kernel.event.EventsImpl.send(EventsImpl.java:131)
    at org.glassfish.internal.data.ApplicationInfo.load(ApplicationInfo.java:328)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.server.ApplicationLifecycle.deploy(ApplicationLifecycle.java:496)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.server.ApplicationLifecycle.deploy(ApplicationLifecycle.java:219)
    at org.glassfish.deployment.admin.DeployCommand.execute(DeployCommand.java:491)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$2$1.run(CommandRunnerImpl.java:539)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$2$1.run(CommandRunnerImpl.java:535)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at javax.security.auth.Subject.doAs(Subject.java:360)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$2.execute(CommandRunnerImpl.java:534)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$3.run(CommandRunnerImpl.java:565)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$3.run(CommandRunnerImpl.java:557)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at javax.security.auth.Subject.doAs(Subject.java:360)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl.doCommand(CommandRunnerImpl.java:556)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl.doCommand(CommandRunnerImpl.java:1464)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl.access$1300(CommandRunnerImpl.java:109)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$ExecutionContext.execute(CommandRunnerImpl.java:1846)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.CommandRunnerImpl$ExecutionContext.execute(CommandRunnerImpl.java:1722)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.AdminAdapter.doCommand(AdminAdapter.java:534)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.AdminAdapter.onMissingResource(AdminAdapter.java:224)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.StaticHttpHandlerBase.service(StaticHttpHandlerBase.java:189)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper$HttpHandlerCallable.call(ContainerMapper.java:459)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:167)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpHandler.runService(HttpHandler.java:201)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpHandler.doHandle(HttpHandler.java:175)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpServerFilter.handleRead(HttpServerFilter.java:235)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.ExecutorResolver$9.execute(ExecutorResolver.java:119)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.executeFilter(DefaultFilterChain.java:284)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.executeChainPart(DefaultFilterChain.java:201)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.execute(DefaultFilterChain.java:133)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.process(DefaultFilterChain.java:112)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.ProcessorExecutor.execute(ProcessorExecutor.java:77)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.nio.transport.TCPNIOTransport.fireIOEvent(TCPNIOTransport.java:561)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.AbstractIOStrategy.fireIOEvent(AbstractIOStrategy.java:112)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy.run0(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:117)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy.access$100(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:56)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy$WorkerThreadRunnable.run(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:137)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.threadpool.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:565)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.threadpool.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:545)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Is it officially disallowed to inject EJBs using @Inject in class libraries?

GlassFish 4.1 uses Weld 2.2.2 final as the CDI implementation.

Solution

If you fail to include a beans.xml in your application library, none of the components within it will be eligible for CDI injection, either as receiving injection points or as being injectable in to other components. When you added your beans.xml you made it so that your library could be injected into and its classes were now eligible to be injected using @Inject

It's a catch 22. The purpose of a library is that it has little outside dependency and has no knowledge of how its being used, so you wouldn't typically have CDI related code in it.