title: Tomcat 7 javax.el.ELException
body: <p>I restarted the httpd and tomcat service today, and after doing so. I was greeted with the following message.</p>
  
  <p>I saw this thread <a href="http://www.coderanch.com/t/592922/Tomcat/enable-el-api-jar-ver">http://www.coderanch.com/t/592922/Tomcat/enable-el-api-jar-ver</a></p>
  
  <p>And did as they told. I checked, and the el-api.jar is there. I checked another server, and tomcat is running great with it as well. </p>
  
  <p>The server is a Centos 6.4 (final) and Tomcat 7.0.23.</p>
  
  <p>I tried everything, even replacing the jar files, but nothing seems to work.</p>
  
  <pre><code>type Exception report
  
  message
  
  description The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.
  
  exception
  
  org.apache.jasper.JasperException: javax.el.ELException: Provider com.sun.el.ExpressionFactoryImpl not found
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.handleJspException(JspServletWrapper.java:585)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:396)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:390)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:334)
      javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:722)
  root cause
  
  javax.el.ELException: Provider com.sun.el.ExpressionFactoryImpl not found
      javax.el.FactoryFinder.newInstance(FactoryFinder.java:101)
      javax.el.FactoryFinder.find(FactoryFinder.java:197)
      javax.el.ExpressionFactory.newInstance(ExpressionFactory.java:189)
      javax.el.ExpressionFactory.newInstance(ExpressionFactory.java:160)
      org.apache.jasper.runtime.JspApplicationContextImpl.getExpressionFactory(JspApplicationContextImpl.java:108)
      org.apache.jsp.index_jsp._jspInit(index_jsp.java:31)
      org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.init(HttpJspBase.java:49)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.getServlet(JspServletWrapper.java:180)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:369)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:390)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:334)
      javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:722)
  root cause
  
  java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.sun.el.ExpressionFactoryImpl
      org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1688)
      org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1533)
      javax.el.FactoryFinder.newInstance(FactoryFinder.java:87)
      javax.el.FactoryFinder.find(FactoryFinder.java:197)
      javax.el.ExpressionFactory.newInstance(ExpressionFactory.java:189)
      javax.el.ExpressionFactory.newInstance(ExpressionFactory.java:160)
      org.apache.jasper.runtime.JspApplicationContextImpl.getExpressionFactory(JspApplicationContextImpl.java:108)
      org.apache.jsp.index_jsp._jspInit(index_jsp.java:31)
      org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.init(HttpJspBase.java:49)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.getServlet(JspServletWrapper.java:180)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:369)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:390)
      org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:334)
      javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:722)
  note The full stack trace of the root cause is available in the Apache Tomcat/7.0.23 logs.
  </code></pre>