How to Resolve java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: javax.persistence.Persistence.getPersistenceUtil()Ljavax/persistence/PersistenceUtil?

I had a chance to have a look the new features of Spring 3.0 today. The validation and formatting that is implemented as a part of JSR-303 implementation seems to be very exciting and interesting. Of course, it made me feel that we are moving towards codeless web based applications sooner or later!

I was very much curious to do a proof-of-concept application for this implementation. So I downloaded the Spring3.0 jars and made use of Hibernate Validator 4.0.2 GA version and validation-api-1.0.0 GA version.I had been using java 1.5

After removing all the old jars and even after implementing everything whatever was required, I was stuck with the following error

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: javax.persistence.Persistence.getPersistenceUtil()Ljavax/persistence/PersistenceUtil

Please find the stack trace below:

<br />SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet springapp threw exception<br />java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: javax.persistence.Persistence.getPersistenceUtil()Ljavax/persistence/PersistenceUtil;<br /> at org.hibernate.validator.engine.resolver.JPATraversableResolver.isReachable(JPATraversableResolver.java:33)<br /> at org.hibernate.validator.engine.resolver.DefaultTraversableResolver.isReachable(DefaultTraversableResolver.java:95)<br /> at org.hibernate.validator.engine.resolver.SingleThreadCachedTraversableResolver.isReachable(SingleThreadCachedTraversableResolver.java:47)<br /> at org.hibernate.validator.engine.ValidatorImpl.isValidationRequired(ValidatorImpl.java:761)<br /> at org.hibernate.validator.engine.ValidatorImpl.validateConstraint(ValidatorImpl.java:331)<br /> at org.hibernate.validator.engine.ValidatorImpl.validateConstraintsForRedefinedDefaultGroup(ValidatorImpl.java:278)<br /> at org.hibernate.validator.engine.ValidatorImpl.validateConstraintsForCurrentGroup(ValidatorImpl.java:260)<br /> at org.hibernate.validator.engine.ValidatorImpl.validateInContext(ValidatorImpl.java:213)<br /> at org.hibernate.validator.engine.ValidatorImpl.validate(ValidatorImpl.java:119)<br /> at org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.SpringValidatorAdapter.validate(SpringValidatorAdapter.java:74)<br /> at org.springframework.validation.DataBinder.validate(DataBinder.java:684)<br /> at org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.support.HandlerMethodInvoker.doBind(HandlerMethodInvoker.java:746)<br /> at org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.support.HandlerMethodInvoker.resolveHandlerArguments(HandlerMethodInvoker.java:296)<br /> at org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.support.HandlerMethodInvoker.invokeHandlerMethod(HandlerMethodInvoker.java:163)<br /> at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.annotation.AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter.invokeHandlerMethod(AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter.java:414)<br /> at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.annotation.AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter.handle(AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter.java:402)<br /> at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:771)<br /> at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:716)<br /> at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:647)<br /> at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:563)<br /> at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:637)<br /> at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)<br /> at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)<br /> at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)<br /> at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)<br /> at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)<br /> at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:128)<br /> at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)<br /> at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)<br /> at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:293)<br /> at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:849)<br /> at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:583)<br /> at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:454)<br /> at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595)<br />

It was almost 6-8 hours, I kept trying to do away with this problem since a colleague of mine seemed to get away with it in java 1.5. The following were the pointers that I understood as a result of my research googling the Internet!

• The org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.LocalValidatorFactoryBean while calling the SpringValidatorAdapter's validate(), invokes the Hibernate validator's ValidatorImpl.validate() method.
• The hibernate validoator 4.0.2 GA version has a very strong dependency on JDK6 which contains the Persistence class with javax.persistence.Persistence.getPersistenceUtil()
  

So,I finally upgraded my machine to Java 6. It was just a miracle. Everything started working without problems and errors disappeared!!!