Spring context initialization failed with java.lang.IllegalArgumentException while deploying to Apache 7.0.54 and java 8

Question

Environment: Applciation server: Apache 7.0.54 Java: \"1.8.0_05\" OS: Mac OS X 10.9.3

Libraries: Spring 3.2 REST application

Following is the error I receive

Answer 1

You need to upgrade to spring 4 release to support java 1.8 byte code format

Answer 2

If you can't go Spring 4 just upgrade to 3.2.16 will solved the problem.

Thanks to Tom Saleeba

Answer 3

In my case my application runs with java8 and jetty, uses spring 3.1.4 and can't not be upgraded.

The problem appeared after the use of a lambda function inside a bean definition. Removing it solved my problem.

Answer 4

Upgrading to spring 3.2.16 resolved the problem. Looks like older version of spring does not like java 1.8.xxx