NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/http/client/methods/HttpUriRequest when running standalone script

[pixeline]

Description

When executing the Oxalis-NG standalone script (/oxalis-ng/bin-standalone/run-docker.sh) via docker exec, the application fails to initialize with a NoClassDefFoundError for Apache HttpClient classes. The error occurs during the initialization of the main class network.oxalis.ng.Main, indicating that required dependencies are not available on the classpath.

Error Message:

Error: Unable to initialize main class network.oxalis.ng.Main
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/http/client/methods/HttpUriRequest

This suggests that the standalone script's classpath configuration is missing the Apache HttpClient library (httpclient), which is required by Oxalis-NG for HTTP operations.

Reproduce

1. Start Oxalis-NG container using Docker image norstella/oxalis-ng:1.2.0
2. Write a valid PEPPOL document (SBDH XML) to the outbound directory: /oxalis-ng/outbound/{document_id}.xml
3. Execute the standalone script via docker exec:

   docker exec oxalis-ap /oxalis-ng/bin-standalone/run-docker.sh -f /oxalis-ng/outbound/{document_id}.xml

4. Observe the NoClassDefFoundError in the command output

Example command:

docker exec oxalis-ap /oxalis-ng/bin-standalone/run-docker.sh -f /oxalis-ng/outbound/46a1ab0e-a38b-476f-8000-0b22c1dcf897.xml

Expected Output:
The script should successfully process the document and send it via the PEPPOL network.

Actual Output:

Error: Unable to initialize main class network.oxalis.ng.Main
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/http/client/methods/HttpUriRequest

Expected behavior

The standalone script should:

1. Successfully initialize the network.oxalis.ng.Main class
2. Load all required dependencies, including Apache HttpClient
3. Process the document and send it via the PEPPOL network
4. Return exit code 0 on success

The classpath should include all necessary JAR files, including:

• httpclient-*.jar (Apache HttpClient)
• All other Oxalis-NG dependencies

Oxalis-NG version

**Version:** `1.2.0`. (also tried with version 1.1.0)
**Docker Image:** `norstella/oxalis-ng:1.2.0`

JDK version

Not explicitly set (using default from Docker image)

Additional Info

Environment

• JDK Version: Not explicitly set (using default from Docker image)
• Container Runtime: Docker
• Execution Method: Via docker exec from external service

Context

This issue occurs when integrating Oxalis-NG with an external gateway service that invokes the standalone script programmatically. The gateway writes PEPPOL documents to the outbound directory and then executes the standalone script to trigger document transmission.

Workaround Attempts

• Verified that the document XML is valid and properly formatted
• Confirmed that the file path is correct and accessible within the container
• Checked that the Oxalis container is running and healthy
• tried using 1.1.0

Related Configuration

The issue appears to be related to how the standalone script (run-docker.sh) constructs the Java classpath. The script may need to explicitly include Apache HttpClient JAR files or ensure they are available in the expected location.

[phax]

That clearly indicates a dependency management issue - some parts may use httpclient 5.4.x and others may use 5.5.x

[aaron-kumar]

Oxalis-NG 1.2.0 is built exclusively against Apache HttpClient 5.x (httpclient5 5.4.4 and httpcore5 5.3.4). The reported exception (NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/http/client/methods/HttpUriRequest) refers to a HttpClient 4.x class, which is not part of the Oxalis-NG dependency set. From a build and packaging perspective, this indicates that Oxalis-NG itself is not referencing or bundling HttpClient 4.x classes.

In practice, this type of error usually occurs when:

• A runtime environment already contains HttpClient 4.x jars on the classpath, or
• An external container, base image, or mounted volume overrides or interferes with the libraries packaged by Oxalis-NG

Based on the dependency analysis, we do not see evidence of a compilation or packaging issue within Oxalis-NG itself. The behavior is more consistent with a classpath conflict or missing/overridden library at runtime in the execution environment.

We recommend you to verify:

• That no additional HttpClient 4.x jars are present in the container or host environment
• That Oxalis lib/ directory is not being overwritten or partially mounted at runtime
• That the startup script is using the expected classpath without external injections

[aaron-kumar]

Changing to discussion