Problem:

When using JBoss-4.2.3 GA with JDK 1.5, you see errors such as this, during the server startup:

2008-10-12 21:24:13,656 ERROR [org.apache.tomcat.util.modeler.BaseModelMBean] Exception invoking method addChild
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/annotation/Resource

2008-10-12 21:24:13,672 ERROR [org.apache.tomcat.util.modeler.BaseModelMBean] Exception invoking method init
javax.management.RuntimeErrorException: Error invoking method addChild

Caused by: javax.management.RuntimeErrorException: Error invoking method addChild

Reason:

There are 2 versions of JBoss-4.2.3 GA. One for JDK6 and one for JDK5. You probably downloaded the JDK6 version which cannot be used with a JDK5.

Solution:

You have two options - either to use JDK6 or to download the JDK5 version of JBoss-4.2.3 GA