Spring NoClassDefFoundError: JAXBException

If you facing this error:

Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/xml/bind/JAXBException
	at org.hibernate.boot.spi.XmlMappingBinderAccess.<init>(XmlMappingBinderAccess.java:43)
	at org.hibernate.boot.MetadataSources.getXmlMappingBinderAccess(MetadataSources.java:115)
	at org.hibernate.boot.model.process.spi.MetadataBuildingProcess.prepare(MetadataBuildingProcess.java:110)
	at org.hibernate.jpa.boot.internal.EntityManagerFactoryBuilderImpl.<init>(EntityManagerFactoryBuilderImpl.java:254)
	at org.hibernate.jpa.boot.internal.EntityManagerFactoryBuilderImpl.<init>(EntityManagerFactoryBuilderImpl.java:168)
	at org.springframework.orm.jpa.vendor.SpringHibernateJpaPersistenceProvider.createContainerEntityManagerFactory(SpringHibernateJpaPersistenceProvider.java:52)
	at org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean.createNativeEntityManagerFactory(LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean.java:365)
	at org.springframework.orm.jpa.AbstractEntityManagerFactoryBean.buildNativeEntityManagerFactory(AbstractEntityManagerFactoryBean.java:391)
	at org.springframework.orm.jpa.AbstractEntityManagerFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(AbstractEntityManagerFactoryBean.java:378)
	at org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean.java:341)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1858)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1795)
	... 98 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.xml.bind.JAXBException
	at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:581)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoaders.java:178)
	at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:522)
	... 110 more

Then the reason is Java XML Binding, it is a tool for mapping between XML documents and Java objects.

These classes has been removed from internal of JDK since 11 version and moved to Jakarta EE. This transition was happened with replacing javax to jakarta in package names. javax in your stacktrace tells us that you are using some old dependency, which utilizes old Java XML Binding classes.

Thus you have at least three solutions:

Find out, which dependency utilizes old classes and upgrade that dependency.
Switch to JDK 1.8, if it is ok for you. Remember the change JDK version in all places:
- JDK in PATH variable
- JDK in IntelliJ IDEA Project settings (File → Project Structure → Project → SDK)
- JDK in use by Gradle: Settings → Build, Execution, Deployment → Gradle → Gradle JVM. Details here:https://mchesnavsky.tech/gradle-use-specific-jdk/.
Explicitly include dependency javax.xml.bind:jaxb-api:2.3.0 to your project.

implementation 'javax.xml.bind:jaxb-api:2.3.0'

<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.xml.bind</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaxb-api</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.0</version>
</dependency>

That’s all.

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