Error generating web.xml file when running grails run-app - grails

Question

I downloaded grails 2.0.4 and ran these commands:
grails create-app contactmanager
cd contactmanager
grails clean
grails run-app
The last command is returning with this error stack trace:
| Error Error generating web.xml file
org.apache.xml.utils.WrappedRuntimeException: org.apache.xml.serializer.ToXMLSAXHandler cannot be cast to org.apache.xml.serializer.SerializationHandler
at org.apache.xml.serializer.SerializerFactory.getSerializer(SerializerFactory.java:137)
at org.apache.xalan.transformer.TransformerIdentityImpl.createResultContentHandler(TransformerIdentityImpl.java:214)
at org.apache.xalan.transformer.TransformerIdentityImpl.transform(TransformerIdentityImpl.java:278)
at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.plugins.DefaultGrailsPluginManager.writeWebDescriptorResult(DefaultGrailsPluginManager.java:682)
at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.plugins.DefaultGrailsPluginManager.doWebDescriptor(DefaultGrailsPluginManager.java:667)
at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.plugins.DefaultGrailsPluginManager.doWebDescriptor(DefaultGrailsPluginManager.java:643)
at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.plugins.GrailsPluginManager$doWebDescriptor.call(Unknown Source)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:42)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:108)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:120)
at _GrailsPackage_groovy$_run_closure5_closure10.doCall(_GrailsPackage_groovy:121)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at com.springsource.loaded.ri.ReflectiveInterceptor.jlrMethodInvoke(ReflectiveInterceptor.java:1231)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.PogoMetaMethodSite$PogoCachedMethodSite.invoke(PogoMetaMethodSite.java:226)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.PogoMetaMethodSite.callCurrent(PogoMetaMethodSite.java:52)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCallCurrent(CallSiteArray.java:46)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callCurrent(AbstractCallSite.java:133)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callCurrent(AbstractCallSite.java:141)
at _GrailsPackage_groovy$_run_closure5_closure10.doCall(_GrailsPackage_groovy)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at .........

Answer 1

Did you at any point of time manipulated the jre/lib/ext directory ?
I did that to setup saml environment on weblogic. I copied these files
serializer-2.10.0.jar
xalan-2.7.1.jar
xercesImpl-2.10.0.jar
xml-apis-2.10.0.jar
xml-resolver-1.2.jar
This caused problem in xml parsing. I removed these files from jre/lib/ext and it started working. Wondering if you have the same problem.