Axon, Springboot and Postgres/JPA entityManagerFactory error on startup

Axon Framework
1

I’m just looking into the possibility of using Axon in a new project and for compliance reasons can’t use the AxonServer as the entity store.

In order to test things out I have checked out the FoodOrderingApplication repository and after testing successfully using the AxonServer, I switched to using Postgres with Flyway managing schema migrations.

When I try to run the app I get the following exception:-

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCurrentlyInCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'entityManagerFactory': Requested bean is currently in creation: Is there an unresolvable circular reference?
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.beforeSingletonCreation(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:355) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:227) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:333) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:208) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.isSingleton(AbstractBeanFactory.java:463) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.axonframework.spring.config.AbstractAnnotationHandlerBeanPostProcessor.postProcessAfterInitialization(AbstractAnnotationHandlerBeanPostProcessor.java:73) ~[axon-spring-4.5.1.jar:4.5.1]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyBeanPostProcessorsAfterInitialization(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:455) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1808) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:620) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:542) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.lambda$doGetBean$0(AbstractBeanFactory.java:335) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:234) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:333) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:208) ~[spring-beans-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.getBean(AbstractApplicationContext.java:1154) ~[spring-context-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:908) ~[spring-context-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:583) ~[spring-context-5.3.20.jar:5.3.20]
	at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.refresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:147) ~[spring-boot-2.7.0.jar:2.7.0]
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:734) [spring-boot-2.7.0.jar:2.7.0]
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:408) [spring-boot-2.7.0.jar:2.7.0]
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:308) [spring-boot-2.7.0.jar:2.7.0]
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1306) [spring-boot-2.7.0.jar:2.7.0]
	at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1295) [spring-boot-2.7.0.jar:2.7.0]
	at io.axoniq.foodordering.FoodOrderingApplication.main(FoodOrderingApplication.java:10) [classes/:na]

I am almost certainly doing something wrong but it just isn’t obvious to me what the configuration issue is, can anyone help? POM is below for reference.

<?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>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>2.7.0</version>
        <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
    </parent>

    <groupId>io.axoniq.food-ordering</groupId>
    <artifactId>food-ordering</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <name>Food Ordering</name>
    <description>Demo application focusing on the Food Ordering domain</description>

    <properties>
        <axon.version>4.5.1</axon.version>
        <java.version>1.8</java.version>
        <kotlin.version>1.6.21</kotlin.version>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.axonframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>axon-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
            <version>${axon.version}</version>
            <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                    <groupId>org.axonframework</groupId>
                    <artifactId>axon-server-connector</artifactId>
                </exclusion>
            </exclusions>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
            <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.flywaydb</groupId>
            <artifactId>flyway-core</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.jetbrains.kotlin</groupId>
            <artifactId>kotlin-maven-noarg</artifactId>
            <version>${kotlin.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.jetbrains.kotlin</groupId>
            <artifactId>kotlin-reflect</artifactId>
            <version>${kotlin.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.jetbrains.kotlin</groupId>
            <artifactId>kotlin-stdlib-jdk8</artifactId>
            <version>${kotlin.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Test Deps -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
            <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                    <groupId>org.junit.vintage</groupId>
                    <artifactId>junit-vintage-engine</artifactId>
                </exclusion>
            </exclusions>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.jetbrains.kotlin</groupId>
                <artifactId>kotlin-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <configuration>
                    <compilerPlugins>
                        <plugin>no-arg</plugin>
                        <plugin>jpa</plugin>
                    </compilerPlugins>
                </configuration>
                <dependencies>
                    <dependency>
                        <groupId>org.jetbrains.kotlin</groupId>
                        <artifactId>kotlin-maven-noarg</artifactId>
                        <version>${kotlin.version}</version>
                    </dependency>
                </dependencies>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>compile</id>
                        <phase>process-sources</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>compile</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <sourceDirs>
                                <source>src/main/java</source>
                                <source>src/main/kotlin</source>
                                <source>src/main/resources</source>
                            </sourceDirs>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                    <execution>
                        <id>test-compile</id>
                        <phase>process-test-sources</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>test-compile</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <sourceDirs>
                                <source>src/test/java</source>
                                <source>src/test/kotlin</source>
                                <source>src/test/resources</source>
                            </sourceDirs>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>
2

OK, answering my own question here.

After some digging I discovered this is a result of using a different springboot version locally to the version being referenced in axon-spring-boot-starter dependency. The difference meant that 2 different versions of the of hibernate entity manager were being pulled into the Spring ApplicationContext with the same name.

Excluding hibernate-core from the axon-spring-boot-starter dependency solved the issue for me, however it has left me wondering about the value of relying on axon-spring-boot-starter dependency. If I want to be in control of the Springboot version in use, I should probably look at doing things manually rather than relying on the starter module.

Anyways, I hope my struggles might help others in the future.

3

Hey there @andye2004! Thanks for posting your question here and answering your question yourself!

I wanted to try this out to fix the issue. However, I cannot reproduce it or find an explanation for why this happened. All dependencies Axon has to JPA, or database-related dependencies are optional or test-scoped. So this should not affect your runtime classpath the way you described.

Can you clarify something for me? Did the error occur while running the executable Spring Boot jar or during spring boot tests?
Can you also provide me the output of the following command using the wrong configuration?
mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.hibernate

Thanks!

4

Hi @Morlack, I was running the FoodCartApplication directly in IntelliJ, not running the tests. After your comment I reverted my change to exclude hibernate-core from the axon-spring-boot-starter and bizarely everything was still working!

So, I reverted all local changes back to where things stood when I posted the issue and thankfully I got the same exception as reported, so I’m really pleased to say I’m not going mad! It appears to be an issue with the Axon version 4.5.1, after I had reported the issue I upgraded to 4.5.10 and I don’t see the same issue as previously.

So, at 4.5.1 it requires the hibernate exclusion, at 4.5.10 it doesn’t. I have pushed the version at 4.5.1 to here, please feel free to check it out and have a play if you want to get to the bottom of it.

Cheers, Andy.

5

Hi @andye2004,

I can quote one of my own answers to this question which can probably help!

Basically it boils down to this PR which was part of AF 4.5.5

and that’s why you don’t see this problem on the newer version!

I haven’t tried your project nor to update it to 4.5.5 to see if the problem goes away but that would be my guess =)

KR,