BeanDefinitionLoader cannot load resources when LaunchedURLClassLoader is the current classloader

[sshcherbakov]

I am starting my application with

    public static void main(final String[] args) {
...
            SpringApplication sa = new SpringApplication(new Object[] {  
                "classpath:path/my-context.xml"
            });
            sa.run(args);
..

It works if I run it with ./gradle run or start it from Eclipse.
The default class loader of the thread that runs main() is sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader in this case.

When I use spring-boot-gradle-plugin and packge the application with it then when run with java -jar myapp.jar the application crashes on startup with

2013-08-30 12:04:20,482 797 ERROR [main] com.myapp.Main - Unexpected error
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: name
    at sun.misc.URLClassPath$Loader.getResource(URLClassPath.java:525) ~[na:1.7.0_17]
    at sun.misc.URLClassPath.getResource(URLClassPath.java:195) ~[na:1.7.0_17]
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:358) ~[na:1.7.0_17]
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:355) ~[na:1.7.0_17]
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) ~[na:1.7.0_17]
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:354) ~[na:1.7.0_17]
    at org.springframework.boot.loader.LaunchedURLClassLoader.findClass(LaunchedURLClassLoader.java:57) ~[rti-t-http-1.0.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT.jar!/:na]
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:423) ~[na:1.7.0_17]
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:356) ~[na:1.7.0_17]
    at org.springframework.util.ClassUtils.forName(ClassUtils.java:241) ~[spring-core-4.0.0.M3.jar!/:4.0.0.M3]
    at org.springframework.boot.BeanDefinitionLoader.load(BeanDefinitionLoader.java:162) ~[spring-boot-0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT.jar!/:0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT]
    at org.springframework.boot.BeanDefinitionLoader.load(BeanDefinitionLoader.java:134) ~[spring-boot-0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT.jar!/:0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT]
    at org.springframework.boot.BeanDefinitionLoader.load(BeanDefinitionLoader.java:117) ~[spring-boot-0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT.jar!/:0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.load(SpringApplication.java:469) ~[spring-boot-0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT.jar!/:0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:280) ~[spring-boot-0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT.jar!/:0.5.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT]
    at com.myapp.Main.main(Main.java:99) ~[myapp-1.0.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT.jar!/:na]

That happens because spring-boot-gradle plugin packs the application in such way the the org.springframework.boot.loader.LaunchedURLClassLoader becomes the default main() thread classloader. It delegated an attempt to load a class with name classpath:path/my-context.xml to its parent class URLClassLoader which throws IllegalArgumentException instead of anticipated ClassNotFoundException in the org.springframework.boot.BeanDefinitionLoader. Thus the exception is not being intercepted, propagates up the stack and crashes the application on startup.