jruby - NoVarsDynamicScope.java:87:in `setValue': java.lang.NullPointerException when run 'jruby -S warble -T' with warbler 1.3.5 or 1.3.6 on Fedora 14

Question

After successfully porting a mature jruby servlet project from Ubuntu 12.04 to Fedora 14, everything works up to the point of building the servlet.

jruby -S warble compiled

works fine, but then

jruby -S warble war

or even just:

jruby -S warble -T

yields:

NoVarsDynamicScope.java:87:in `setValue': java.lang.NullPointerException
    from LocalAsgnNode.java:123:in `interpret'
    from BlockNode.java:71:in `interpret'
    from RescueBodyNode.java:108:in `interpret'
    from RescueNode.java:199:in `handleJavaException'
    from RescueNode.java:141:in `interpretWithJavaExceptions'
    from RescueNode.java:110:in `interpret'
    from BeginNode.java:83:in `interpret'
    from NewlineNode.java:104:in `interpret'
    from ASTInterpreter.java:74:in `INTERPRET_METHOD'
    from InterpretedMethod.java:169:in `call'
    from DefaultMethod.java:191:in `call'
    from CachingCallSite.java:302:in `cacheAndCall'
    from CachingCallSite.java:144:in `callBlock'
    from CachingCallSite.java:153:in `callIter'
    from FCallNoArgBlockNode.java:32:in `interpret'
    from NewlineNode.java:104:in `interpret'
    from ASTInterpreter.java:74:in `INTERPRET_METHOD'
    from InterpretedMethod.java:169:in `call'
    from DefaultMethod.java:191:in `call'
    from SuperCallSite.java:346:in `cacheAndCall'
    from SuperCallSite.java:146:in `callBlock'
    from SuperCallSite.java:151:in `call'
    from SuperCallSite.java:107:in `callVarargs'
    from ZSuperNode.java:102:in `interpret'
    from NewlineNode.java:104:in `interpret'
    from BlockNode.java:71:in `interpret'
    from ASTInterpreter.java:74:in `INTERPRET_METHOD'
    from InterpretedMethod.java:147:in `call'
    from DefaultMethod.java:183:in `call'
    from CachingCallSite.java:292:in `cacheAndCall'
    from CachingCallSite.java:135:in `call'
    from CallNoArgNode.java:63:in `interpret'
    from NewlineNode.java:104:in `interpret'
    from BlockNode.java:71:in `interpret'
    from RootNode.java:129:in `interpret'
    from ASTInterpreter.java:119:in `INTERPRET_ROOT'
    from Ruby.java:724:in `runInterpreter'
    from Ruby.java:2487:in `loadFile'
    from ExternalScript.java:66:in `load'
    from LoadService.java:270:in `load'
    from RubyKernel.java:1076:in `loadCommon'
    from RubyKernel.java:1058:in `load'
    from RubyKernel$s$0$1$load.gen:65535:in `call'
    from DynamicMethod.java:211:in `call'
    from DynamicMethod.java:207:in `call'
    from CachingCallSite.java:312:in `cacheAndCall'
    from CachingCallSite.java:169:in `call'
    from /usr/local/jruby-1.6.7.2/bin/warble:23:in `__file__'
    from /usr/local/jruby-1.6.7.2/bin/warble:-1:in `load'
    from Ruby.java:697:in `runScript'
    from Ruby.java:690:in `runScript'
    from Ruby.java:597:in `runNormally'
    from Ruby.java:446:in `runFromMain'
    from Main.java:369:in `doRunFromMain'
    from Main.java:258:in `internalRun'
    from Main.java:224:in `run'
    from Main.java:208:in `run'
    from Main.java:188:in `main'

I'm running:

• jruby 1.6.7.2 (ruby-1.8.7-p357) (2012-05-01 26e08ba) (OpenJDK Server VM 1.6.0_20) [linux-i386-java]

on an i686 machine under Fedora 14. The latest JRuby is not yet mature enough for this project - I've tried it.

I've already tried reinstalling warbler-1.3.5 and upgrading it to 1.3.6 and rebuilding it locally but I always get the same error.

I can find the same error dating back as far as 2 years in online searches but with no followup discussion and no solutions. Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

Dave