Consistently handle NoClassDefFoundError in BeanUtils and related places

Issue: SPR-16369

spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/BeanUtils.java

@@ -107,9 +107,10 @@ public abstract class BeanUtils {
 	 * @return the new instance
 	 * @throws BeanInstantiationException if the bean cannot be instantiated.
 	 * The cause may notably indicate a {@link NoSuchMethodException} if no
-	 * primary/default constructor was found - or an exception thrown from
+	 * primary/default constructor was found, a {@link NoClassDefFoundError}
-	 * the constructor invocation attempt, including a runtime-generated
+	 * or other {@link LinkageError} in case of an unresolvable class definition
-	 * {@link NoClassDefFoundError} in case of an unresolvable dependency.
+	 * (e.g. due to a missing dependency at runtime), or an exception thrown
+	 * from the constructor invocation itself.
 	 * @see Constructor#newInstance
 	 */
 	public static <T> T instantiateClass(Class<T> clazz) throws BeanInstantiationException {
@@ -125,6 +126,9 @@ public abstract class BeanUtils {
 		catch (NoSuchMethodException ex) {
 			throw new BeanInstantiationException(clazz, "No default constructor found", ex);
 		}
+		catch (LinkageError err) {
+			throw new BeanInstantiationException(clazz, "Unresolvable class definition", err);
+		}
 	}
 
 	/**

spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/support/AbstractBeanFactory.java

@@ -1379,8 +1379,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractBeanFactory extends FactoryBeanRegistrySupport imp
 		catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
 			throw new CannotLoadBeanClassException(mbd.getResourceDescription(), beanName, mbd.getBeanClassName(), ex);
 		}
-		catch (LinkageError ex) {
+		catch (LinkageError err) {
-			throw new CannotLoadBeanClassException(mbd.getResourceDescription(), beanName, mbd.getBeanClassName(), ex);
+			throw new CannotLoadBeanClassException(mbd.getResourceDescription(), beanName, mbd.getBeanClassName(), err);
 		}
 	}
 

spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/xml/DefaultNamespaceHandlerResolver.java

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -137,12 +137,12 @@ public class DefaultNamespaceHandlerResolver implements NamespaceHandlerResolver
 				return namespaceHandler;
 			}
 			catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
-				throw new FatalBeanException("NamespaceHandler class [" + className + "] for namespace [" +
+				throw new FatalBeanException("Could not find NamespaceHandler class [" + className +
-						namespaceUri + "] not found", ex);
+						"] for namespace [" + namespaceUri + "]", ex);
 			}
 			catch (LinkageError err) {
-				throw new FatalBeanException("Invalid NamespaceHandler class [" + className + "] for namespace [" +
+				throw new FatalBeanException("Unresolvable class definition for NamespaceHandler class [" +
-						namespaceUri + "]: problem with handler class file or dependent class", err);
+						className + "] for namespace [" + namespaceUri + "]", err);
 			}
 		}
 	}

spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/ClassUtils.java

@@ -298,11 +298,10 @@ public abstract class ClassUtils {
 			return forName(className, classLoader);
 		}
 		catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
-			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot find class [" + className + "]", ex);
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Could not find class [" + className + "]", ex);
 		}
-		catch (LinkageError ex) {
+		catch (LinkageError err) {
-			throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unresolvable class definition for class [" + className + "]", err);
-					"Error loading class [" + className + "]: problem with class file or dependent class.", ex);
 		}
 	}
 

spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/config/WebFluxConfigurationSupport.java

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -355,11 +355,8 @@ public class WebFluxConfigurationSupport implements ApplicationContextAware {
 					String name = "org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.OptionalValidatorFactoryBean";
 					clazz = ClassUtils.forName(name, getClass().getClassLoader());
 				}
-				catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
+				catch (ClassNotFoundException | LinkageError ex) {
-					throw new BeanInitializationException("Could not find default validator class", ex);
+					throw new BeanInitializationException("Failed to resolve default validator class", ex);
-				}
-				catch (LinkageError ex) {
-					throw new BeanInitializationException("Could not load default validator class", ex);
 				}
 				validator = (Validator) BeanUtils.instantiateClass(clazz);
 			}

spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/DispatcherServlet.java

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -850,12 +850,12 @@ public class DispatcherServlet extends FrameworkServlet {
 				catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
 					throw new BeanInitializationException(
 							"Could not find DispatcherServlet's default strategy class [" + className +
-									"] for interface [" + key + "]", ex);
+							"] for interface [" + key + "]", ex);
 				}
 				catch (LinkageError err) {
 					throw new BeanInitializationException(
-							"Error loading DispatcherServlet's default strategy class [" + className +
+							"Unresolvable class definition for DispatcherServlet's default strategy class [" +
-									"] for interface [" + key + "]: problem with class file or dependent class", err);
+							className + "] for interface [" + key + "]", err);
 				}
 			}
 			return strategies;

spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/annotation/WebMvcConfigurationSupport.java

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -662,7 +662,7 @@ public class WebMvcConfigurationSupport implements ApplicationContextAware, Serv
 					clazz = ClassUtils.forName(className, WebMvcConfigurationSupport.class.getClassLoader());
 				}
 				catch (ClassNotFoundException | LinkageError ex) {
-					throw new BeanInitializationException("Could not find default validator class", ex);
+					throw new BeanInitializationException("Failed to resolve default validator class", ex);
 				}
 				validator = (Validator) BeanUtils.instantiateClass(clazz);
 			}