NullPointerException when trying to deploy war to Wildfly 8 from Eclipse - eclipse

Question

When I try to deploy a war to WildFly directly from Eclipse I get an error. This only happens when I deploy the war from Eclipse, there is no problem, when I copy the war manually into standalone/deployments directory of Wildfly.
Yesterday it worked, no configuration changes in application has been made since then (no new maven dependencies, no changes in web.xml, persistence.xml etc), just some code modifications. There was some Java 8 code added, maybe that could be the problem. But we had Java 8 code in the project before, and it wasn't an issue.
Stacktrace:
12:13:38,595 INFO [org.jboss.as.jpa] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 228) JBAS011409: Starting Persistence Unit (phase 2 of 2) Service 'user-rest.war#mfss-user'
12:13:38,611 INFO [org.hibernate.dialect.Dialect] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 228) HHH000400: Using dialect: org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQL9Dialect
12:13:38,611 INFO [org.hibernate.engine.jdbc.internal.LobCreatorBuilder] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 228) HHH000424: Disabling contextual LOB creation as createClob() method threw error : java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
12:13:38,637 INFO [org.hibernate.hql.internal.ast.ASTQueryTranslatorFactory] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 228) HHH000397: Using ASTQueryTranslatorFactory
12:13:38,827 ERROR [org.jboss.msc.service.fail] (MSC service thread 1-7) MSC000001: Failed to start service jboss.deployment.unit."user-rest.war".WeldStartService: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit."user-rest.war".WeldStartService: Failed to start service
at org.jboss.msc.service.ServiceControllerImpl$StartTask.run(ServiceControllerImpl.java:1904) [jboss-msc-1.2.2.Final.jar:1.2.2.Final]
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142) [rt.jar:1.8.0_20]
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617) [rt.jar:1.8.0_20]
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745) [rt.jar:1.8.0_20]
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull(Preconditions.java:213)
at com.google.common.cache.LocalCache.get(LocalCache.java:3933)
at com.google.common.cache.LocalCache.getOrLoad(LocalCache.java:3938)
at com.google.common.cache.LocalCache$LocalLoadingCache.get(LocalCache.java:4821)
at org.jboss.weld.util.cache.LoadingCacheUtils.getCacheValue(LoadingCacheUtils.java:52)
at org.jboss.weld.resources.SharedObjectCache.getTypeClosureHolder(SharedObjectCache.java:98)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedParameter.initTypeClosure(BackedAnnotatedParameter.java:46)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotated.<init>(BackedAnnotated.java:19)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedParameter.<init>(BackedAnnotatedParameter.java:39)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedParameter.of(BackedAnnotatedParameter.java:32)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedMethod.initParameters(BackedAnnotatedMethod.java:51)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedMethod.initParameters(BackedAnnotatedMethod.java:27)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedCallable.<init>(BackedAnnotatedCallable.java:34)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedMethod.<init>(BackedAnnotatedMethod.java:38)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedMethod.of(BackedAnnotatedMethod.java:32)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedType$BackedAnnotatedMethods.computeValue(BackedAnnotatedType.java:193)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedType$BackedAnnotatedMethods.computeValue(BackedAnnotatedType.java:186)
at org.jboss.weld.util.LazyValueHolder.get(LazyValueHolder.java:35)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedType$EagerlyInitializedLazyValueHolder.<init>(BackedAnnotatedType.java:154)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedType$BackedAnnotatedMethods.<init>(BackedAnnotatedType.java:186)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedType$BackedAnnotatedMethods.<init>(BackedAnnotatedType.java:186)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedType.<init>(BackedAnnotatedType.java:66)
at org.jboss.weld.annotated.slim.backed.BackedAnnotatedType.of(BackedAnnotatedType.java:47)
at org.jboss.weld.resources.ClassTransformer$TransformClassToBackedAnnotatedType.load(ClassTransformer.java:83)
at org.jboss.weld.resources.ClassTransformer$TransformClassToBackedAnnotatedType.load(ClassTransformer.java:80)
at com.google.common.cache.LocalCache$LoadingValueReference.loadFuture(LocalCache.java:3524)
at com.google.common.cache.LocalCache$Segment.loadSync(LocalCache.java:2317)
at com.google.common.cache.LocalCache$Segment.lockedGetOrLoad(LocalCache.java:2280)
at com.google.common.cache.LocalCache$Segment.get(LocalCache.java:2195)
at com.google.common.cache.LocalCache.get(LocalCache.java:3934)
at com.google.common.cache.LocalCache.getOrLoad(LocalCache.java:3938)
at com.google.common.cache.LocalCache$LocalLoadingCache.get(LocalCache.java:4821)
at org.jboss.weld.util.cache.LoadingCacheUtils.getCacheValue(LoadingCacheUtils.java:52)
at org.jboss.weld.util.cache.LoadingCacheUtils.getCastCacheValue(LoadingCacheUtils.java:80)
at org.jboss.weld.resources.ClassTransformer.getBackedAnnotatedType(ClassTransformer.java:175)
at org.jboss.weld.resources.ClassTransformer.getBackedAnnotatedType(ClassTransformer.java:194)
at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.BeanDeployer.loadAnnotatedType(BeanDeployer.java:119)
at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.BeanDeployer.addClass(BeanDeployer.java:96)
at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.ConcurrentBeanDeployer$1.doWork(ConcurrentBeanDeployer.java:62)
at org.jboss.weld.bootstrap.ConcurrentBeanDeployer$1.doWork(ConcurrentBeanDeployer.java:60)
at org.jboss.weld.executor.IterativeWorkerTaskFactory$1.call(IterativeWorkerTaskFactory.java:60)
at org.jboss.weld.executor.IterativeWorkerTaskFactory$1.call(IterativeWorkerTaskFactory.java:53)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266) [rt.jar:1.8.0_20]
... 3 more
12:13:38,832 ERROR [org.jboss.as.controller.management-operation] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 2) JBAS014613: Operation ("deploy") failed - address: ([("deployment" => "user-rest.war")]) - failure description: {"JBAS014671: Failed services" => {"jboss.deployment.unit.\"user-rest.war\".WeldStartService" => "org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit.\"user-rest.war\".WeldStartService: Failed to start service
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException"}}
12:13:38,845 INFO [org.jboss.as.server] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 2) JBAS018559: Deployed "user-rest.war" (runtime-name : "user-rest.war")
12:13:38,846 INFO [org.jboss.as.controller] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 2) JBAS014774: Service status report
JBAS014777: Services which failed to start: service jboss.deployment.unit."user-rest.war".WeldStartService: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit."user-rest.war".WeldStartService: Failed to start service
web.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd"
version="3.0">
</web-app>
beans.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/beans_1_0.xsd">
<alternatives>
</alternatives>
</beans>
persistence.xml:
<persistence version="2.1"
xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/persistence" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/persistence http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/persistence/persistence_2_1.xsd">
<persistence-unit name="mfss-user" transaction-type="JTA">
<description>Default Persistence Unit for mfss-user.</description>
<jta-data-source>java:jboss/datasources/mfss-user</jta-data-source>
<shared-cache-mode>ENABLE_SELECTIVE</shared-cache-mode>
<properties>
<property name="hibernate.cache.use_second_level_cache" value="false" />
<property name="hibernate.cache.use_query_cache" value="false" />
<property name="hibernate.show_sql" value="true"/>
</properties>
</persistence-unit>
</persistence>
I found that somebody else had a similar problem before, but I can't see any solution there:
https://developer.jboss.org/message/905207
I tried doing all kinds of Project->Clean, MavenProject->Clean, WildflyServer->Clean etc.
I am using Ubuntu 14.04, Wildfly 8, Java 8 (Oracle JDK), Eclipse Luna, Maven
EDIT:
mvn dependency:tree
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-dependency-plugin:2.1:tree (default-cli) # user-rest ---
[INFO] com.domainname.user:user-rest:war:1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] +- com.domainname.user:user-common:jar:1.0-SNAPSHOT:compile
[INFO] | +- com.intdomainname.ihg:constituent-api:jar:14.6.0-SNAPSHOT:compile
[INFO] | | +- commons-lang:commons-lang:jar:2.6:compile (version managed from 2.4)
[INFO] | | +- org.jvnet.jaxb2_commons:jaxb2-basics-runtime:jar:0.5.2:compile
[INFO] | | \- org.codehaus.jackson:jackson-core-asl:jar:1.9.2:compile
[INFO] | +- com.intdomainname.ihg:constituent-utils:jar:14.6.0-SNAPSHOT:compile
[INFO] | | +- com.intdomainname.qhg.hub.schemas:Messages:jar:14.6.0-SNAPSHOT:compile
[INFO] | | +- commons-vfs:commons-vfs:jar:1.0:compile
[INFO] | | | \- commons-logging:commons-logging:jar:1.1.1:compile
[INFO] | | +- commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0:compile
[INFO] | | +- com.sun.jersey:jersey-client:jar:1.15:compile
[INFO] | | +- com.sun.jersey:jersey-core:jar:1.15:compile
[INFO] | | +- com.sun.jersey:jersey-json:jar:1.15:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.codehaus.jettison:jettison:jar:1.1:compile
[INFO] | | | +- com.sun.xml.bind:jaxb-impl:jar:2.2.3-1:compile
[INFO] | | | | \- javax.xml.bind:jaxb-api:jar:2.2.2:compile
[INFO] | | | | \- javax.xml.stream:stax-api:jar:1.0-2:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.codehaus.jackson:jackson-mapper-asl:jar:1.9.2:compile
[INFO] | | | \- org.codehaus.jackson:jackson-xc:jar:1.9.2:compile
[INFO] | | +- com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream:jar:1.4.2:compile
[INFO] | | | +- xmlpull:xmlpull:jar:1.1.3.1:compile
[INFO] | | | \- xpp3:xpp3_min:jar:1.1.4c:compile
[INFO] | | +- apache-log4j:log4j:jar:1.2.14:compile
[INFO] | | +- org.codehaus.jackson:jackson-jaxrs:jar:1.9.2:compile
[INFO] | | +- org.apache.activemq:activemq-core:jar:5.5.0:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.apache.geronimo.specs:geronimo-jms_1.1_spec:jar:1.1.1:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.apache.activemq:activeio-core:jar:3.1.2:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.apache.activemq:kahadb:jar:5.5.0:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.apache.activemq.protobuf:activemq-protobuf:jar:1.1:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.osgi:org.osgi.core:jar:4.1.0:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.apache.geronimo.specs:geronimo-j2ee-management_1.1_spec:jar:1.0.1:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.springframework:spring-context:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] | | | | +- org.springframework:spring-aop:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] | | | | | \- aopalliance:aopalliance:jar:1.0:compile
[INFO] | | | | +- org.springframework:spring-beans:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] | | | | +- org.springframework:spring-core:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] | | | | +- org.springframework:spring-expression:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] | | | | \- org.springframework:spring-asm:jar:3.0.3.RELEASE:compile
[INFO] | | | +- commons-net:commons-net:jar:2.0:compile
[INFO] | | | \- org.jasypt:jasypt:jar:1.7:compile
[INFO] | | \- org.apache.activemq:activemq-pool:jar:5.5.0:compile
[INFO] | | \- commons-pool:commons-pool:jar:1.5.4:compile
[INFO] | \- javax:javaee-api:jar:7.0:compile
[INFO] | \- com.sun.mail:javax.mail:jar:1.5.1:compile (version managed from 1.5.0)
[INFO] | \- javax.activation:activation:jar:1.1.1:compile
[INFO] +- com.domainname.user:user-ejb:jar:1.0-SNAPSHOT:compile
[INFO] | +- com.domainname.user:user-jpa:jar:1.0-SNAPSHOT:compile
[INFO] | | +- org.mockito:mockito-all:jar:1.9.5:compile
[INFO] | | +- com.h2database:h2:jar:1.4.181:compile
[INFO] | | +- org.hibernate:hibernate-entitymanager:jar:4.3.1.Final:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.jboss.logging:jboss-logging:jar:3.1.1.GA:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.jboss.logging:jboss-logging-annotations:jar:1.2.0.Beta1:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.hibernate:hibernate-core:jar:4.3.1.Final:compile
[INFO] | | | | +- antlr:antlr:jar:2.7.7:compile
[INFO] | | | | \- org.jboss:jandex:jar:1.1.0.Final:compile
[INFO] | | | +- dom4j:dom4j:jar:1.6.1:compile
[INFO] | | | | \- xml-apis:xml-apis:jar:1.0.b2:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.hibernate.common:hibernate-commons-annotations:jar:4.0.4.Final:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.hibernate.javax.persistence:hibernate-jpa-2.1-api:jar:1.0.0.Final:compile
[INFO] | | | +- org.jboss.spec.javax.transaction:jboss-transaction-api_1.2_spec:jar:1.0.0.Final:compile
[INFO] | | | \- org.javassist:javassist:jar:3.18.1-GA:compile
[INFO] | | \- org.hibernate:hibernate-annotations:jar:3.4.0.GA:compile
[INFO] | | +- org.hibernate:ejb3-persistence:jar:1.0.2.GA:compile
[INFO] | | \- org.hibernate:hibernate-commons-annotations:jar:3.1.0.GA:compile
[INFO] | +- com.intdomainname.health:identity-api:jar:14.6.0-SNAPSHOT:compile
[INFO] | \- com.intdomainname.health:identity-client-helper:jar:14.6.0-SNAPSHOT:compile
[INFO] | \- apache-codec:commons-codec:jar:1.2:compile
[INFO] +- com.domainname.mfss.common:mfss-common-rest:jar:1.1.0-SNAPSHOT:compile
[INFO] | \- com.domainname.mfss.common:mfss-common-api:jar:1.1.0-SNAPSHOT:compile
[INFO] +- org.jboss.resteasy:jaxrs-api:jar:3.0.6.Final:provided
[INFO] +- org.jboss.spec.javax.ejb:jboss-ejb-api_3.2_spec:jar:1.0.0.Final:provided
[INFO] +- javax.enterprise:cdi-api:jar:1.1:provided
[INFO] | \- javax.inject:javax.inject:jar:1:provided
[INFO] +- org.jboss.resteasy:resteasy-hibernatevalidator-provider:jar:3.0.8.Final:provided
[INFO] | +- org.hibernate:hibernate-validator:jar:5.0.3.Final:provided (version managed from 4.3.1.Final)
[INFO] | | +- javax.validation:validation-api:jar:1.1.0.Final:provided
[INFO] | | \- com.fasterxml:classmate:jar:1.0.0:provided
[INFO] | \- org.jboss.weld.se:weld-se:jar:2.1.0.Final:provided
[INFO] +- org.jboss.resteasy:resteasy-jaxrs:jar:3.0.8.Final:provided
[INFO] | +- org.jboss.spec.javax.annotation:jboss-annotations-api_1.1_spec:jar:1.0.1.Final:provided
[INFO] | +- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:jar:4.2.1:provided
[INFO] | | +- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:jar:4.2.1:provided
[INFO] | | \- commons-codec:commons-codec:jar:1.6:provided
[INFO] | +- commons-io:commons-io:jar:2.1:provided
[INFO] | \- net.jcip:jcip-annotations:jar:1.0:provided
[INFO] +- junit:junit:jar:4.11:test
[INFO] | \- org.hamcrest:hamcrest-core:jar:1.3:test
[INFO] +- org.mockito:mockito-core:jar:1.9.5:test
[INFO] | \- org.objenesis:objenesis:jar:1.0:test
[INFO] +- org.powermock:powermock-module-junit4:jar:1.5.4:test
[INFO] | \- org.powermock:powermock-module-junit4-common:jar:1.5.4:test
[INFO] | +- org.powermock:powermock-core:jar:1.5.4:test
[INFO] | \- org.powermock:powermock-reflect:jar:1.5.4:test
[INFO] +- org.powermock:powermock-api-mockito:jar:1.5.4:test
[INFO] | \- org.powermock:powermock-api-support:jar:1.5.4:test
[INFO] \- org.slf4j:slf4j-api:jar:1.7.6:compile
pom.xml without dependencies:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<parent>
<artifactId>mfss-user</artifactId>
<groupId>com.domainname.user</groupId>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
</parent>
<artifactId>user-rest</artifactId>
<packaging>war</packaging>
<name>user-rest</name>
<description>REST resources for mfss-user</description>
<dependencies>
...
dependencies
...
</dependencies>
<build>
<finalName>user-rest</finalName>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.1.1</version>
<configuration>
<webResources>
<resource>
<!-- this is relative to the pom.xml directory -->
<directory>target/apidocs</directory>
</resource>
</webResources>
<archive>
<manifestEntries>
<Dependencies>org.codehaus.jackson.jackson-mapper-asl</Dependencies>
</manifestEntries>
</archive>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>generate-service-docs</id>
<phase>generate-resources</phase>
<configuration>
<show>private</show>
<doclet>com.hypnoticocelot.jaxrs.doclet.ServiceDoclet</doclet>
<docletArtifact>
<groupId>com.hypnoticocelot</groupId>
<artifactId>jaxrs-doclet</artifactId>
<version>0.0.2</version>
</docletArtifact>
<reportOutputDirectory>${project.build.directory}</reportOutputDirectory>
<useStandardDocletOptions>false</useStandardDocletOptions>
<additionalparam>-apiVersion 1.0 -docBasePath ./ -apiBasePath
services</additionalparam>
<tags>
<tag>
<name>errorResponse</name>
<!-- Http error code for method and type -->
<placement>tm</placement>
<head>Http error code:</head>
</tag>
</tags>
</configuration>
<goals>
<goal>javadoc</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>

Answer 1

With your comments above it seems to be the same issue that I've seem several times. I will try to explain you:
You are using maven to build your project and package the WAR. In case of using maven to build and deploy the WAR package, everything is fine and your application runs as expected on the server. In case of using the 'Run on Server' feature of eclipse you always get exceptions which might also differ depending on the state of your project (built with maven, changed some things in eclipse, cleaned the project and built with eclipse, ...) This is probably caused by the incompatibility of the build steps performed by eclipse and those done by maven. I think it's likely that you have some build steps in your pom which are not covered by the eclipse "builders" and are thus missing which results in different errors depending on whether you've built the project with maven prior to the deployment or not and the type of changes you allied.
Sorry if this sounds a bit confusing but its hard to explain this behavior. Best is to try some different workflows like:
build with maven
deploy with maven (everything should work)
undeploy and change some source code
deploy with eclipse (may work)
And analyse your pom(s) if there are some build steps that look like these cannot be covered by eclipse without maven.

Answer 2

I also faced the same issue, it seems that there is some mismatch between the Maven build and the way Eclipse deploy it. The deployment in some way got corrupted and did not allow to re-deploy again and giving NullPointer. I solved it by removing JBoss from Eclipse and adding it back again, updated some of my custom configuration again and started. It worked. Its a workaround but solved my issue.