I have a very simple WAR file that I'm trying to deploy on JBoss 5.0.0.Beta3.

I'm using:
* Java VM: Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM 1.6.0_03-b05,Sun Microsystems Inc.
* OS-System: Windows XP 5.1,x86
I am using the -Dsun.lang.ClassLoader.allowArraySyntax=true option for the JVM for Java 6 with JBoss 5 as described in JBAS-4491.

Intermittently, when I deploy the WAR file, I get a NullPointerException in org.jboss.virtual.VFSUtils.readManifest():

2008-01-24 18:48:53,624 DEBUG [org.jboss.deployers.plugins.main.MainDeployerImpl] Add deployment: vfsfile:/C:/java/jboss/jboss-5.0.0.Beta3/server/orgmob/deploy/orgmobilist.war
2008-01-24 18:48:53,624 DEBUG [org.jboss.deployers.plugins.main.MainDeployerImpl] Removing previous deployment: vfsfile:/C:/java/jboss/jboss-5.0.0.Beta3/server/orgmob/deploy/orgmobilist.war
2008-01-24 18:48:53,624 DEBUG [org.jboss.deployers.plugins.main.MainDeployerImpl] Scheduling undeployment: vfsfile:/C:/java/jboss/jboss-5.0.0.Beta3/server/orgmob/deploy/orgmobilist.war parent=null
2008-01-24 18:48:53,624 WARN [org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.hotdeploy.HDScanner] Scan failed
org.jboss.deployers.spi.DeploymentException: Error populating deployment vfsfile:/C:/java/jboss/jboss-5.0.0.Beta3/server/orgmob/deploy/orgmobilist.war
 at org.jboss.deployers.spi.DeploymentException.rethrowAsDeploymentException(DeploymentException.java:49)
 at org.jboss.deployers.structure.spi.helpers.AbstractStructureBuilder.populateContext(AbstractStructureBuilder.java:77)
 at org.jboss.deployers.structure.spi.helpers.AbstractStructuralDeployers.determineStructure(AbstractStructuralDeployers.java:89)
 at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.main.MainDeployerImpl.determineStructure(MainDeployerImpl.java:743)
 at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.main.MainDeployerImpl.addDeployment(MainDeployerImpl.java:280)
 at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.main.MainDeployerImpl.addDeployment(MainDeployerImpl.java:237)
 at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.hotdeploy.HDScanner.scan(HDScanner.java:270)
 at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.hotdeploy.HDScanner.run(HDScanner.java:221)
 at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:441)
 at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRunAndReset(FutureTask.java:317)
 at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.runAndReset(FutureTask.java:150)
 at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.access$101(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:98)
 at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.runPeriodic(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:181)
 at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:205)
 at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:885)
 at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:907)
 at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
 at org.jboss.virtual.VFSUtils.readManifest(VFSUtils.java:208)
 at org.jboss.virtual.VFSUtils.getManifest(VFSUtils.java:187)
 at org.jboss.virtual.VFSUtils.addManifestLocations(VFSUtils.java:106)
 at org.jboss.deployers.vfs.plugins.structure.VFSStructureBuilder.applyContextInfo(VFSStructureBuilder.java:155)
 at org.jboss.deployers.structure.spi.helpers.AbstractStructureBuilder.populateContext(AbstractStructureBuilder.java:73)
 ... 15 more

Sometimes it works without complaint. I haven't been able to figure out exactly which conditions tickle this. I had suspicions that it might have to do with whether it was a hot deploy or on the existence of the properties file, but I wasn't able to prove it consistently. It did seem that if there was previously no properties file and I then did a hot deploy with a properties file, then I got the exception. I was able to deploy successfully to 4.2.2.GA. The structure of the WAR is:

META-INF/
META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
WEB-INF/
WEB-INF/web.xml
WEB-INF/classes/
WEB-INF/classes/com/
WEB-INF/classes/com/orgmob/
WEB-INF/classes/com/orgmob/orgmobilist/
WEB-INF/classes/com/orgmob/orgmobilist/server/
WEB-INF/classes/com/orgmob/orgmobilist/orgmob.properties
WEB-INF/classes/com/orgmob/orgmobilist/server/FooServlet.class

The manifest is:

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Ant-Version: Apache Ant 1.7.0
Created-By: 1.6.0_03-b05 (Sun Microsystems Inc.)

The web.xml file is:

<?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_2_5.xsd"
 version="2.5">

 <servlet>
 <servlet-name>foo</servlet-name>
 <servlet-class>com.orgmob.orgmobilist.server.FooServlet</servlet-class>
 </servlet>

 <servlet-mapping>
 <servlet-name>foo</servlet-name>
 <url-pattern>/foo</url-pattern>
 </servlet-mapping>

</web-app>

The servlet code is:

package com.orgmob.orgmobilist.server;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

public class FooServlet extends HttpServlet {

 private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

 private void doGetPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
 throws ServletException, IOException {
 String userid = req.getParameter("userid");
 resp.setContentType("text/html");
 resp.setCharacterEncoding("UTF-8");
 PrintWriter pw = resp.getWriter();
 pw.println("<html>");
 pw.println(" <head>");
 pw.println(" <title>foo servlet</title>");
 pw.println(" </head>");
 pw.println(" <body>");
 pw.println(" <p>userid: ");
 pw.println(userid);
 pw.println(" </p>");
 pw.println(" <p>");
 pw.println(" </p>");
 pw.println(" </body>");
 pw.println("</html>");
 pw.flush();
 pw.close();
 resp.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_OK);
 }

 @Override
 public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
 throws ServletException, IOException {
 doGetPost(req,resp);
 }

 @Override
 public void doPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
 throws ServletException, IOException {
 doGetPost(req,resp);
 }
}

The properties file is:

# orgmob
# Copyright 2007-2008 David B. Bernstein

# major.minor.patch versioning scheme for orgmob
orgmob.major.version=0
orgmob.minor.version=0
orgmob.patch.version=0

#
orgmob.copyright.year=2007-2008

Apologies in advance if there's an obvious problem, a missed bug, or a missed post.

Thanks.