title: Websphere 8 migration - AbstractMethodError: javax/servlet/ServletRequest.getDispatcherType
body: <p>I wanted to upgrade my webapplication from WAS 7.0.0.7 to WAS 8.5. The application deploys normally but as soon as I want to access it I get following exception: </p>
  
  <pre><code>java.lang.AbstractMethodError: javax/servlet/ServletRequest.getDispatcherType()Ljavax /servlet/DispatcherType
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>WAS 8 uses a Servlet 3.0 container but it should be backward compatible with version 2.4 which I am using in my application. </p>
  
  <p>I set the classloading to PARENT LAST and still get the same error. </p>
  
  <p>Websphere is calling getDispatcherType() which is available since Servlet 3.0. Why?</p>
  
  <p>I use following web.xml header </p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee"
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/web-app_2_4.xsd"
       version="2.4"&gt;
  </code></pre>