hm many possible causes ...
1) some third-party bundle adds an assetic collection dependeing on the less filter in a compiler pass
2) there is an apply-to rule like
assetic:
filters:
less:
apply_to: *.less
... in your assetic configuration i.e. app/config/config.yml
3) there is an asset collection using less filter in your configuration
assetic:
assets:
css_character:
inputs:
- "%kernel.root_dir%/../src/Acme/YourBundle/Resources/public/less/*.less"
outputs:
- css/my.css
filters:
- less
4) one of your third-party bundles provides a twig template using assetic's {% stylesheets %}
function with the less filter:
{% stylesheets "@AcmeTwitterBundle/Resources/bootstrap/less/*.less" filter="less" %}
{# ... {{ asset_url }} ...#}
{% endstylesheets %}
Now how to find out?
At first check your config files app/config/config.yml
and other included ones for assetic entries using the less filter.
The easiest way to find out where the less filter is being used is installing ElaoWebProfilerExtraBundle, clearing your cache and having a look at the "Assetic" tab in the left-side menu of the profiler. You will get an overview of all assetic collections and the filters they use.
Another option - not involving a new bundle although WebProfilerExtraBundle is awesome - is to disable your third-party bundles one by one ( and clear the cache each time ) in app/AppKernel.php
try if assetic:dump
still throws the exception until you find the bad-boy.
Or dirty: enable the filter though less is probably not installed and see where the next exception is thrown:
assetic:
filters:
less: ~
... all in all i would bet you included the supercool mopa-bootstrap bundle of which almost nobody knows what it's actually doing behind the scenes but it's famous and many people install it because of it's KnpBundle's score.
meaning ... your exception would then be thrown because of the less files included in the templates provided by MopaBootstrapBundle i.e. here.