ExceptionInInitializerError when using leiningen - clojure

Question

I'm a beginner getting started with using Clojure and Leiningen, and I've run into a problem trying to use a variety of lein commands. Although $ lein deps works fine, when I tried to use $ lein plugin install <plugin>, or even $lein help, I get the stack trace pasted below. I would guess that this is a setup issue, but I'm having trouble finding information online or finding the right place to start looking. When installing lein I followed the instructions on the Leiningen GitHub page.
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError (NO_SOURCE_FILE:0)
at clojure.lang.Compiler.eval(Compiler.java:5440)
at clojure.lang.Compiler.eval(Compiler.java:5391)
at clojure.core$eval.invoke(core.clj:2382)
at clojure.main$eval_opt.invoke(main.clj:235)
at clojure.main$initialize.invoke(main.clj:254)
at clojure.main$script_opt.invoke(main.clj:270)
at clojure.main$main.doInvoke(main.clj:354)
at clojure.lang.RestFn.invoke(RestFn.java:457)
at clojure.lang.Var.invoke(Var.java:377)
at clojure.lang.AFn.applyToHelper(AFn.java:172)
at clojure.lang.Var.applyTo(Var.java:482)
at clojure.main.main(main.java:37)
Caused by: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
at clojure.lang.RT.loadClassForName(RT.java:1578)
at clojure.lang.RT.load(RT.java:399)
at clojure.lang.RT.load(RT.java:381)
at clojure.core$load$fn__4519.invoke(core.clj:4915)
at clojure.core$load.doInvoke(core.clj:4914)
at clojure.lang.RestFn.invoke(RestFn.java:408)
at clojure.core$load_one.invoke(core.clj:4729)
at clojure.core$load_lib.doInvoke(core.clj:4766)
at clojure.lang.RestFn.applyTo(RestFn.java:142)
at clojure.core$apply.invoke(core.clj:542)
at clojure.core$load_libs.doInvoke(core.clj:4800)
at clojure.lang.RestFn.applyTo(RestFn.java:137)
at clojure.core$apply.invoke(core.clj:542)
at clojure.core$require.doInvoke(core.clj:4881)
at clojure.lang.RestFn.invoke(RestFn.java:408)
at leiningen.core$resolve_task.invoke(core.clj:175)
at leiningen.core$apply_task.invoke(core.clj:225)
at leiningen.core$_main.doInvoke(core.clj:294)
at clojure.lang.RestFn.invoke(RestFn.java:410)
at clojure.lang.AFn.applyToHelper(AFn.java:161)
at clojure.lang.RestFn.applyTo(RestFn.java:132)
at clojure.core$apply.invoke(core.clj:542)
at leiningen.core$_main.invoke(core.clj:297)
at user$eval42.invoke(NO_SOURCE_FILE:1)
at clojure.lang.Compiler.eval(Compiler.java:5424)
... 11 more
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.util.zip.ZipException: zip file is empty
at clojure.lang.LazySeq.sval(LazySeq.java:47)
at clojure.lang.LazySeq.seq(LazySeq.java:56)
at clojure.lang.RT.seq(RT.java:450)
at clojure.core$seq.invoke(core.clj:122)
at clojure.core$apply.invoke(core.clj:540)
at clojure.core$mapcat.doInvoke(core.clj:2122)
at clojure.lang.RestFn.invoke(RestFn.java:423)
at leiningen.util.ns$namespaces_matching.invoke(ns.clj:67)
at leiningen.help__init.load(Unknown Source)
at leiningen.help__init.<clinit>(Unknown Source)
... 38 more
Caused by: java.util.zip.ZipException: zip file is empty
at java.util.zip.ZipFile.open(Native Method)
at java.util.zip.ZipFile.<init>(Unknown Source)
at java.util.zip.ZipFile.<init>(Unknown Source)
at java.util.jar.JarFile.<init>(Unknown Source)
at java.util.jar.JarFile.<init>(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at clojure.lang.Reflector.invokeConstructor(Reflector.java:160)
at leiningen.util.ns$namespaces_in_jar.invoke(ns.clj:53)
at clojure.core$map$fn__3699.invoke(core.clj:2096)
at clojure.lang.LazySeq.sval(LazySeq.java:42)
... 47 more

Answer 1

(For the karma ;o) Have you tried deleting the .lein directory and re-running from zero? Sounds like you may have a corrupt zip file cached.