This tip is for folks installing Contour using the production steps (separate Tomcat and database). After installing Tomcat and placing the Contour application in the webapps directory, Tomcat starts but when going to Contour you get a blank page or a 404 error.

JAXB Version Conflict

Problem description

Some version of Java come with an embeded verion of JAXB. This is necessary for Contour Web Services to work. THe problem is that the version is an older version where Contour uses the latest. So we include the file in our application which then causes the conflict. (Java has since removed this file as it is preferred that applications provide the file as Contour does)

Steps to determine is this is your issue

Go to the Java installation directory for JDK 1.6 into the bin and look for xjc.exe from a console (Cygwin or DOS) run the exe with the param -version

xjc -version
You should see this:
xjc version "JAXB 2.1.3 in JDK 1.6"

If you do see this then every thing should work. It is possible to have multiple Java versions so makes sure your JAVA_HOME variable is pointing to this JDK.

If you see an older version such as this:

xjc version “JAXB 2.0 in JDK 1.6”

This will cause the conflict to occur preventing Contour from starting.
 

The Fix

There are two options to fix this:

1. Downloading the latest Java 1.6 which does not include the JAXB.
2. Place the jaxb-api-2.2.jar in your $JRE_HOME/lib/endorsed or in the Tomcat/lib/endorsed.