macos - Spark Shell "Failed to Initialize Compiler" Error on a mac

Question

I just installed spark on my new machine and get the following error after installing Java, Scala and Apache-spark using homebrew. The install process is given below:

$ brew cask install java
$ brew install scala
$ brew install apache-spark

Once installed, when I try to run a basic example using spark-shell, i get the following error. Any help greatly appreciated.

$ spark-shell
 Using Spark's default log4j profile: org/apache/spark/log4j-defaults.properties
Setting default log level to "WARN".
To adjust logging level use sc.setLogLevel(newLevel). For SparkR, use setLogLevel(newLevel).

Failed to initialize compiler: object java.lang.Object in compiler mirror not found.
** Note that as of 2.8 scala does not assume use of the java classpath.
** For the old behavior pass -usejavacp to scala, or if using a Settings
** object programmatically, settings.usejavacp.value = true.

Failed to initialize compiler: object java.lang.Object in compiler mirror not found.
** Note that as of 2.8 scala does not assume use of the java classpath.
** For the old behavior pass -usejavacp to scala, or if using a Settings
** object programmatically, settings.usejavacp.value = true.
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
    at scala.reflect.internal.SymbolTable.exitingPhase(SymbolTable.scala:256)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$Request.x$20$lzycompute(IMain.scala:896)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$Request.x$20(IMain.scala:895)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$Request.headerPreamble$lzycompute(IMain.scala:895)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$Request.headerPreamble(IMain.scala:895)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$Request$Wrapper.preamble(IMain.scala:918)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$CodeAssembler$$anonfun$apply$23.apply(IMain.scala:1337)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$CodeAssembler$$anonfun$apply$23.apply(IMain.scala:1336)
    at scala.tools.nsc.util.package$.stringFromWriter(package.scala:64)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$CodeAssembler$class.apply(IMain.scala:1336)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$Request$Wrapper.apply(IMain.scala:908)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$Request.compile$lzycompute(IMain.scala:1002)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$Request.compile(IMain.scala:997)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain.compile(IMain.scala:579)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain.interpret(IMain.scala:567)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain.interpret(IMain.scala:565)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.ILoop.interpretStartingWith(ILoop.scala:807)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.ILoop.command(ILoop.scala:681)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.ILoop.processLine(ILoop.scala:395)
    at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop$$anonfun$initializeSpark$1.apply$mcV$sp(SparkILoop.scala:38)
    at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop$$anonfun$initializeSpark$1.apply(SparkILoop.scala:37)
    at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop$$anonfun$initializeSpark$1.apply(SparkILoop.scala:37)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain.beQuietDuring(IMain.scala:214)
    at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop.initializeSpark(SparkILoop.scala:37)
    at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop.loadFiles(SparkILoop.scala:98)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.ILoop$$anonfun$process$1.apply$mcZ$sp(ILoop.scala:920)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.ILoop$$anonfun$process$1.apply(ILoop.scala:909)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.ILoop$$anonfun$process$1.apply(ILoop.scala:909)
    at scala.reflect.internal.util.ScalaClassLoader$.savingContextLoader(ScalaClassLoader.scala:97)
    at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.ILoop.process(ILoop.scala:909)
    at org.apache.spark.repl.Main$.doMain(Main.scala:70)
    at org.apache.spark.repl.Main$.main(Main.scala:53)
    at org.apache.spark.repl.Main.main(Main.scala)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:564)
    at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmit$.org$apache$spark$deploy$SparkSubmit$$runMain(SparkSubmit.scala:755)
    at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmit$.doRunMain$1(SparkSubmit.scala:180)
    at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmit$.submit(SparkSubmit.scala:205)
    at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmit$.main(SparkSubmit.scala:119)
    at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmit.main(SparkSubmit.scala)`

Answer 1

Spark is incompatible with Java 9, which is the version brew cask install java will install if it is up to date. If you did install Java 9, what you need to do is install Java 8 instead:

brew cask uninstall java
brew tap caskroom/versions
brew cask search java
brew cask install java8