A NullPointerException is generated in Websphere 7 and 8 on application startup due to a static initialization of a member in the GroupRenderer class that attempts to access FacesContext before JSF is initialized:

protected static final String HIDDEN_FILED = UINamingContainer.getSeparatorChar(FacesContext.getCurrentInstance()) + "iceDND";
    
Websphere attempts to load the GroupRenderer class on application startup, resulting in the following exception:

[11/4/11 12:04:51:584 ADT] 00000085 CompositionUn E WSVR0194E: Composition unit WebSphere:cuname=Test1EAR in BLA WebSphere:blaname=Test1EAR failed to start.
[11/4/11 12:04:51:584 ADT] 00000085 AppManagement W ADMA0116W: Unable to start: Test1EAR using: WebSphere:name=ApplicationManager,process=server1,platform=proxy,node=LENOVO-003B1D66Node01,version=8.0.0.1,type=ApplicationManager,mbeanIdentifier=ApplicationManager,cell=LENOVO-003B1D66Node01Cell,spec=1.0 exception is: javax.management.MBeanException: Exception thrown in RequiredModelMBean while trying to invoke operation startApplication
at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean.invokeMethod(RequiredModelMBean.java:1112)
at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean.invoke(RequiredModelMBean.java:966)
at com.sun.jmx.interceptor.DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.invoke(DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.java:848)
at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.JmxMBeanServer.invoke(JmxMBeanServer.java:773)
at com.ibm.ws.management.AdminServiceImpl$1.run(AdminServiceImpl.java:1335)
at com.ibm.ws.security.util.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:118)
at com.ibm.ws.management.AdminServiceImpl.invoke(AdminServiceImpl.java:1228)
at com.ibm.ws.management.application.AppManagementImpl._startApplication(AppManagementImpl.java:1433)
at com.ibm.ws.management.application.AppManagementImpl.startApplication(AppManagementImpl.java:1322)
at com.ibm.ws.management.application.AppManagementImpl.startApplication(AppManagementImpl.java:1271)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:60)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:37)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:611)
at sun.reflect.misc.Trampoline.invoke(MethodUtil.java:49)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor12.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:37)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:611)
at sun.reflect.misc.MethodUtil.invoke(MethodUtil.java:256)
at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean.invokeMethod(RequiredModelMBean.java:1085)
at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean.invoke(RequiredModelMBean.java:966)
at com.sun.jmx.interceptor.DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.invoke(DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.java:848)
at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.JmxMBeanServer.invoke(JmxMBeanServer.java:773)
at com.ibm.ws.management.AdminServiceImpl$1.run(AdminServiceImpl.java:1335)
at com.ibm.ws.security.util.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:118)
at com.ibm.ws.management.AdminServiceImpl.invoke(AdminServiceImpl.java:1228)
at com.ibm.ws.management.connector.AdminServiceDelegator.invoke(AdminServiceDelegator.java:181)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:60)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:37)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:611)
at com.ibm.ws.management.connector.soap.SOAPConnector.invoke(SOAPConnector.java:480)
at com.ibm.ws.management.connector.soap.SOAPConnector.service(SOAPConnector.java:309)
at com.ibm.ws.management.connector.soap.SOAPConnection.handleRequest(SOAPConnection.java:65)
at com.ibm.ws.http.HttpConnection.readAndHandleRequest(HttpConnection.java:733)
at com.ibm.ws.http.HttpConnection.run(HttpConnection.java:532)
at com.ibm.ws.util.ThreadPool$Worker.run(ThreadPool.java:1650)
Caused by: com.ibm.ws.exception.RuntimeWarning: com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.exception.WebAppNotLoadedException: Failed to load webapp: Failed to load webapp: null
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.component.WebContainerImpl.install(WebContainerImpl.java:428)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.component.WebContainerImpl.start(WebContainerImpl.java:714)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.start(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:1138)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.DeployedApplicationImpl.fireDeployedObjectStart(DeployedApplicationImpl.java:1369)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.DeployedModuleImpl.start(DeployedModuleImpl.java:638)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.DeployedApplicationImpl.start(DeployedApplicationImpl.java:967)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.startApplication(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:744)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.startApplicationDynamically(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:1332)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.start(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:2128)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.start(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:445)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitImpl.start(CompositionUnitImpl.java:123)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.start(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:388)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.access$500(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:116)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl$1.run(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:663)
at com.ibm.ws.security.auth.ContextManagerImpl.runAs(ContextManagerImpl.java:5405)
at com.ibm.ws.security.auth.ContextManagerImpl.runAsSystem(ContextManagerImpl.java:5531)
at com.ibm.ws.security.core.SecurityContext.runAsSystem(SecurityContext.java:255)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.startCompositionUnit(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:677)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.startCompositionUnit(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:621)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.startApplication(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:1224)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:60)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:37)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:611)
at sun.reflect.misc.Trampoline.invoke(MethodUtil.java:49)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor12.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:37)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:611)
at sun.reflect.misc.MethodUtil.invoke(MethodUtil.java:256)
at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean.invokeMethod(RequiredModelMBean.java:1085)
... 36 more
Caused by: com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.exception.WebAppNotLoadedException: Failed to load webapp: Failed to load webapp: null
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.addWebApp(WSWebContainer.java:758)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.addWebApplication(WSWebContainer.java:633)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.component.WebContainerImpl.install(WebContainerImpl.java:422)
... 65 more
Caused by: com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.exception.WebAppNotLoadedException: Failed to load webapp: null
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.VirtualHostImpl.addWebApplication(VirtualHostImpl.java:176)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.addWebApp(WSWebContainer.java:745)
... 67 more
Caused by: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initialize(J9VMInternals.java:227)
at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initialize(J9VMInternals.java:172)
at java.lang.Class.forNameImpl(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:166)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppImpl.scanForHandlesTypesClasses(WebAppImpl.java:800)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppImpl.initializeServletContainerInitializers(WebAppImpl.java:596)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppImpl.initialize(WebAppImpl.java:405)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebGroupImpl.addWebApplication(WebGroupImpl.java:88)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.VirtualHostImpl.addWebApplication(VirtualHostImpl.java:169)
... 68 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at javax.faces.component.UINamingContainer.getSeparatorChar(UINamingContainer.java:129)
at com.icesoft.faces.component.ext.renderkit.GroupRenderer.<clinit>(GroupRenderer.java:61)
at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initializeImpl(Native Method)
at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initialize(J9VMInternals.java:205)
... 76 more