FATAL ERROR: Clover could not be initialised because of an unexpected error

[Marek Parfianowicz]

Running application instrumented by Clover fails with the following error message:

[CLOVER] FATAL ERROR: Clover could not be initialised because of an 
unexpected error. (class java.lang.VerifyError:(class: 
com_atlassian_clover/Clover, method: getNullRecorder signature: 
()Lcom_atlassian_clover/CoverageRecorder Wrong return type in function)

What could be a reason?

[Marek Parfianowicz · Accepted solution]

In Clover 4 some classes have been renamed (from com.cenqua.* to com.atlassian.*).

This java.lang.VerifyError can occur in case when you have instrumented your code using Clover 4.x, but you're using Clover 3.x JAR at runtime (and vice versa).

In case you have upgraded from Clover 3.x to Clover 4.x please ensure that all classes have been instrumented using the correct Clover version and that you're using a correct version of clover.jar at runtime.

It's good to wipe out all old class files, for instance:

 - clean your workspace (e.g. 'mvn clean', run full rebuild in Eclipse / IDEA)

 - delete *-clover.jar files from ~/.m2/repository and from your Maven repository manager (e.g. Artifactory)

 - ensure that correct clover.jar version is in Tomcat or JBoss /lib directory

See migration guide from Clover 3.x to 4.x:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CLOVER/Clover+4.0+Release+Notes

[William Zanchet [Atlassian]]

Hi Marek,
I believe you can take a look in this bug report that might be helpful for you:

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CLOV-733

WZ

[Marek Parfianowicz]

Hi William. WOW, you are extremely fast - less than 5 minutes to answer, congratulations! :-) Indeed, the bug CLOV-733 is about binary incompatibility between Clover 2.5 and 2.6. The same happens for Clover 3.x and Clover 4.x. The only difference is that in Clover 2.5 vs 2.6 there was a java.lang.NullPointerException, while in Clover 3.x vs 4.x there is a java.lang.VerifyError.