webxml attribute is required error in Maven

Question

I am getting the following error       Error assembling WAR  webxml attribute is required  or pre-existing WEB-INF web xml if executing in update mode    I have got web xml in right place which is projectname src main webapp WEB-INF web xml  What could be causing this

User · Answer

I have had the same error on the test server but not in local  After a few minutes  I discovered that the IDE wasn t synchronized with the pom xml  Here is how I solve it   Re-Generate the deployment descriptor with Eclipse   Right click on your project folder In the contextual menu  choose  Java EE Tools  then  Generate Deployment Descriptor Stub   It will create the web xml      Re-Generate the deployment descriptor with IntelliJ   Right click on your project folder In the contextual menu  choose  Open Module Settings   then click on the   to add the web deployment descriptor   Then your can change the path to your descriptor or the Web Ressource Directoriesand the  on the right side  Then you will get something like

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lt plugin gt       lt artifactId gt maven-war-plugin lt  artifactId gt       lt version gt 2 4 lt  version gt       lt configuration gt           lt failOnMissingWebXml gt false lt  failOnMissingWebXml gt       lt  configuration gt   lt  plugin gt   This solution works for me  I was using 2 2 before   Also  I am using Java Based Configuration for Servlet 3 0 and no need to have web xml file

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failOnMissingWebXml since 2020  All other answers about might be obsolete because the default value used by the maven-war-plugin changed      Starting with 3 1 0  this property defaults to false if the project depends on the Servlet 3 0 API or newer    So the ONLY thing you have to do is to add    lt dependency gt       lt groupId gt javax servlet lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt javax servlet-api lt  artifactId gt       lt version gt 3 1 0 lt  version gt   lt  dependency gt    Example    lt 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  gt        lt modelVersion gt 4 0 0 lt  modelVersion gt       lt groupId gt foo lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt bar lt  artifactId gt       lt version gt 0 0 1-SNAPSHOT lt  version gt       lt properties gt           lt tomcat ignorePackaging gt true lt  tomcat ignorePackaging gt       lt  properties gt       lt dependencies gt           lt dependency gt               lt groupId gt javax servlet lt  groupId gt               lt artifactId gt javax servlet-api lt  artifactId gt               lt version gt 3 1 0 lt  version gt           lt  dependency gt       lt  dependencies gt       lt build gt           lt pluginManagement gt               lt plugins gt                   lt plugin gt                       lt artifactId gt maven-war-plugin lt  artifactId gt                       lt version gt 3 1 0 lt  version gt                   lt  plugin gt               lt  plugins gt           lt  pluginManagement gt       lt  build gt   lt  project gt

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Make sure to run mvn install before you compile your war

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Make sure pom xml is placed properly in Project folder  and not inside target folder or any where else    Looks like pom xml is not relatively aligned

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It worked for me too   lt plugin gt       lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt maven-war-plugin lt  artifactId gt       lt configuration gt           lt webXml gt WebContent WEB-INF web xml lt  webXml gt       lt  configuration gt   lt  plugin gt

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I had the exact same problem and i solved it like this    Make a new folder named WEB-INF under src main webbapp then   Right Click on your Project -  Java EE Tools -  Generate Deployment Descriptor Stub  This should generate your web xml  I hope this helps by solving your problem  D

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The value of my webXml tag needed to look like this in order to work    lt webXml gt   project basedir  src main webapp WEB-INF web xml lt  webXml gt

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If you change the default project path  you must specify the location of the web xml file  for example            lt plugin gt               lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt               lt artifactId gt maven-war-plugin lt  artifactId gt               lt version gt 2 5 lt  version gt               lt configuration gt                   lt webXml gt src main web WEB-INF web xml lt  webXml gt               lt  configuration gt           lt  plugin gt

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This is because you have not included web xml in your web project and trying to build war using maven  To resolve this error  you need to set the failOnMissingWebXml to false in pom xml file   For example    lt properties gt       lt failOnMissingWebXml gt false lt  failOnMissingWebXml gt      lt  properties gt    Please see the blog for more details  https   ankurjain26 blogspot in 2017 05 error-assembling-war-webxml-attribute html

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This is an old question  and there are many answers  most of which will be more or less helpful  however  there is one  very important and still relevant point  which none of the answers touch  providing  instead  different hacks to make build possible   and which  I think  in no way has a less importance   on the contrary   According to your log message  you are using Maven  which is a Project Management tool  firmly following the conventions  over configuration principle  When Maven builds the project   it expects your project to have a particular directory structure  so that it knows where to expect what  This is called a Maven s Standard Directory Layout  during the build  it creates also proper directory structure and places files into corresponding locations directories  and this  in compliance with the Sun Microsystems Directory Structure Standard for Java EE  web  applications   You may incorporate many things  including maven plugins  changing reconfiguring project root directory  etc   but better and easier is to follow the default conventions over configuration  according to which   now is the answer to your problem  there is one simple step that can make your project work  Just place your web xml under src main webapp WEB-INF  and try to build the project with mvn package

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This error occurs because you tell to Maven to pakage files to war    lt packaging gt war lt  packaging gt    Do you really need war  If not  put jar there   Here is full code    lt 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  gt        lt modelVersion gt 4 0 0 lt  modelVersion gt       lt version gt 1 0-SNAPSHOT lt  version gt        lt groupId gt com your groupid lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt artifactid lt  artifactId gt       lt packaging gt jar lt  packaging gt

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It would be helpful if you can provide a code snippet of your maven-war-plugin  Looks like the web xml is at right place  still you can try and give the location explicitly   lt plugin gt                 lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt     lt artifactId gt maven-war-plugin lt  artifactId gt     lt configuration gt       lt webXml gt src main webapp WEB-INF web xml lt  webXml gt             lt  configuration gt   lt  plugin gt

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If you are migrating from XML-based to Java-based configuration and you have removed the need for web xml by implementing WebApplicationInitializer  simply remove the requirement for the web xml file to be present    lt plugin gt       lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt maven-war-plugin lt  artifactId gt       lt version gt 2 6 lt  version gt       lt configuration gt           lt failOnMissingWebXml gt false lt  failOnMissingWebXml gt                    lt  configuration gt

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Was your folder structure altered so the file is no-longer at  src main webapp WEB-INF web xml    To resolve this issue  I gave my web folder the name webapp and placed it inside the src main  Maven seems to look for web xml by default at  src main webapp WEB-INF web xml  If you do this then you don t need to explicitly tell maven where web xml is  And if you ve altered your folder structure and your build recently stopped working  this could be why   Note  This is an old post but the posted solutions don t point out why a working build would suddenly stop working

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It does look like you have web xml in the right location  but even so  this error is often caused by the directory structure not matching what Maven expects to see  For example  if you start out with an Eclipse webapp that you are trying to build with Maven   If that is the issue  a quick fix is to create a src main java and a src main webapp directory  and other directories if you need them  and just move your files   Here is an overview of the maven directory layout  http   maven apache org guides introduction introduction-to-the-standard-directory-layout html

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As per the documentation  it says   Whether or not to fail the build if the web xml file is missing  Set to false if you want you WAR built without a web xml file  This may be useful if you are building an overlay that has no web xml file  Default value is  true  User property is  failOnMissingWebXml   lt plugin gt       lt artifactId gt maven-war-plugin lt  artifactId gt       lt version gt 2 1 1 lt  version gt       lt extensions gt false lt  extensions gt       lt configuration gt           lt failOnMissingWebXml gt false lt  failOnMissingWebXml gt       lt  configuration gt   lt  plugin gt   Hope it makes more clear

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mvn-war-plugin 2 3 fixes this    lt build gt       lt plugins gt           lt plugin gt               lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt               lt artifactId gt maven-war-plugin lt  artifactId gt               lt version gt 2 3 lt  version gt           lt  plugin gt

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It works perfectly for me too    lt project gt               lt build gt           lt plugins gt               lt plugin gt                   lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt                   lt artifactId gt maven-war-plugin lt  artifactId gt                   lt configuration gt                       lt webXml gt WebContent WEB-INF web xml lt  webXml gt                   lt  configuration gt               lt  plugin gt           lt  plugins gt       lt  build gt   lt  project gt

[maven] "webxml attribute is required" error in Maven

Re-Generate the deployment descriptor with Eclipse

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