After upgrading spring version getting java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:

I'm trying to upgrade spring from 2.1.1 to 2.2.0 in multiple projects that we have. I already done it in a few projects and all went smooth.

In the current project, I did the same changes :

<parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>2.2.0.RELEASE</version>
        <relativePath/>
</parent>

<properties>
        <spring-cloud.version>Hoxton.RELEASE</spring-cloud.version>
        <spring.boot.version>2.2.0.RELEASE</spring.boot.version>
    ...
    ...

</properties>

<dependencyManagement>
        <dependencies>
            <dependency>
                <!-- Import dependency management from Spring Boot -->
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-dependencies</artifactId>
                <version>${spring.boot.version}</version>
            </dependency>
        .....
        .....
</dependencyManagement>

<dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
        </dependency>
...
</dependencies>

Now when I try to start my app I'm getting the following error :

Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/springframework/core/annotation/MergedAnnotations$SearchStrategy

I checked and according to the doc this class should be available in my current spring-core version : https://docs.spring.io/spring/docs/5.2.0.RELEASE/javadoc-api/org/springframework/core/annotation/MergedAnnotations.SearchStrategy.html

stack trace :

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/springframework/core/annotation/MergedAnnotations$SearchStrategy
        at org.springframework.boot.BeanDefinitionLoader.isComponent(BeanDefinitionLoader.java:279) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.BeanDefinitionLoader.load(BeanDefinitionLoader.java:156) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.BeanDefinitionLoader.load(BeanDefinitionLoader.java:136) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.BeanDefinitionLoader.load(BeanDefinitionLoader.java:128) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.load(SpringApplication.java:691) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.prepareContext(SpringApplication.java:392) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:314) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.builder.SpringApplicationBuilder.run(SpringApplicationBuilder.java:140) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.cloud.bootstrap.BootstrapApplicationListener.bootstrapServiceContext(BootstrapApplicationListener.java:197) ~[spring-cloud-context-2.0.0.RELEASE.jar:2.0.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.cloud.bootstrap.BootstrapApplicationListener.onApplicationEvent(BootstrapApplicationListener.java:104) ~[spring-cloud-context-2.0.0.RELEASE.jar:2.0.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.cloud.bootstrap.BootstrapApplicationListener.onApplicationEvent(BootstrapApplicationListener.java:70) ~[spring-cloud-context-2.0.0.RELEASE.jar:2.0.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.doInvokeListener(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:172) ~[spring-context-5.1.3.RELEASE.jar:5.1.3.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.invokeListener(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:165) ~[spring-context-5.1.3.RELEASE.jar:5.1.3.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:139) ~[spring-context-5.1.3.RELEASE.jar:5.1.3.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:127) ~[spring-context-5.1.3.RELEASE.jar:5.1.3.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.context.event.EventPublishingRunListener.environmentPrepared(EventPublishingRunListener.java:76) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplicationRunListeners.environmentPrepared(SpringApplicationRunListeners.java:53) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.prepareEnvironment(SpringApplication.java:345) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:308) ~[spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.support.SpringBootServletInitializer.run(SpringBootServletInitializer.java:152) [spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.support.SpringBootServletInitializer.createRootApplicationContext(SpringBootServletInitializer.java:132) [spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.support.SpringBootServletInitializer.onStartup(SpringBootServletInitializer.java:92) [spring-boot-2.2.0.RELEASE.jar:2.2.0.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.web.SpringServletContainerInitializer.onStartup(SpringServletContainerInitializer.java:171) [spring-web-5.1.3.RELEASE.jar:5.1.3.RELEASE]

maven dependencies tree, all spring occurrences :

[INFO] +- org.springframework.security:spring-security-config:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.security:spring-security-config:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.security:spring-security-core:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.security:spring-security-core:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework:spring-aop:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework:spring-aop:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework:spring-beans:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework:spring-beans:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-context:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-context:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.security:spring-security-web:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.security:spring-security-web:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework:spring-expression:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework:spring-expression:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-web:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-web:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-tomcat:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:provided
[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-tomcat:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:provided
[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jpa:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jpa:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-aop:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-aop:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-jdbc:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-jdbc:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.springframework:spring-jdbc:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.springframework:spring-jdbc:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.data:spring-data-jpa:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.data:spring-data-jpa:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework:spring-orm:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework:spring-orm:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.springframework:spring-tx:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.springframework:spring-tx:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-aspects:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-aspects:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.apache.cxf:cxf-spring-boot-starter-jaxrs:jar:3.2.5:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-logging:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-logging:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.apache.cxf:cxf-spring-boot-autoconfigure:jar:3.2.5:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-actuator:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-actuator:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-actuator-autoconfigure:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-actuator-autoconfigure:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-actuator:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-actuator:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:test
[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:test
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-test:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:test
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-test:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:test
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-test-autoconfigure:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:test
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-test-autoconfigure:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:test
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework:spring-test:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:test
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework:spring-test:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:test
[INFO] +- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-config-client:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-config-client:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-autoconfigure:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-autoconfigure:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-commons:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-commons:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.springframework.security:spring-security-crypto:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  |  \- org.springframework.security:spring-security-crypto:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-context:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-context:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.retry:spring-retry:jar:1.2.4.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.retry:spring-retry:jar:1.2.4.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-json:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-json:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-validation:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  +- org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-validation:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-webmvc:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-webmvc:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework:spring-core:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] +- org.springframework:spring-core:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-jcl:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.springframework:spring-jcl:jar:5.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]    \- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-starter-openfeign:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]    \- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-starter-openfeign:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       +- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-starter:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       +- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-starter:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       |  \- org.springframework.security:spring-security-rsa:jar:1.0.7.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       |  \- org.springframework.security:spring-security-rsa:jar:1.0.7.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       +- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-openfeign-core:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       +- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-openfeign-core:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       |  +- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-netflix-ribbon:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       |  +- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-netflix-ribbon:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       |  |  \- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-netflix-archaius:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       |  |  \- org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-netflix-archaius:jar:2.2.0.RELEASE:compile
[INFO]       |  \- io.github.openfeign.form:feign-form-spring:jar:3.8.0:compile

Solution

Reference : Documentation

When artifacts that are part of the Spring IO Platform are declared without a version , a predefined version of the dependency will be used and for spring-core it is

org.springframework spring-core 5.0.13.RELEASE

https://docs.spring.io/spring/docs/5.0.13.RELEASE/javadoc-api/org/springframework/core/annotation/ is missing the MergedAnnotations class.

Declare the dependency with the version of your choice

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
        <version>5.2.0.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>

Update (My earlier answer appears a bit misleading )

Explictly declaring the version is not required . Dependency Management section of the documentation mentions the following.

Each release of Spring Boot provides a curated list of dependencies that it supports. In practice, you do not need to provide a version for any of these dependencies in your build configuration, as Spring Boot manages that for you. When you upgrade Spring Boot itself, these dependencies are upgraded as well in a consistent way.

Also , the upgrade modifications required when inherting the starter parent is explained here