servlet.jar, /ext, MANIFEST.MF

["Christopher K. St. John" <ck...@distributopia.com>]

The JDK documentation indicates that servlet.jar, as an
official optional package, should be placed in the
/lib/ext directory. [1] However, the Tomcat 4 documentation
(well, the mailing list) indicates that servlet.jar should
not be placed in /lib/ext. [2]

Catalina should be able to detect problems using
java.lang.Package methods to query the version of the
provided javax.servlet packages.

 It looks like this would require:

  1) jakara-servletapi-4 to provide a manifest with the
     appropriate version information.

  2) Catalina to check the version information at some
     point, perhaps optionally.

Is this a reasonable thing to do? I admit to a cosiderable
amount of confusion over the balance between theory
[3],[4],[5] and practice. Any feedback/clarification
greatly appreciated.


[1] http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/guide/extensions/spec.html
 4th paragraph of the Introduction uses servlet.jar as an
 example of something that definitely belongs in /ext. I'm
 not trying to argue about it, I'm just pointing out that
 the documentation conflicts with common practice. I've
 gotten into arguments with people who insist it's ok because
 of the extensions spec says, specifically, that it is.

[2] http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=5523,
 ref "Additional Comments", also:
 http://www.mail-archive.com/tomcat-dev@jakarta.apache.org/msg15098.html
 ref para starting "TOMCAT-USER gets 10 or so messages a week".

[3] http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/guide/extensions/spec.html

[4] http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/guide/versioning/spec/VersioningSpecification.html

[5] SRV.9.7.1 "Dependencies On Extensions". Yes, I know,
it isn't quite the same thing.

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Re: servlet.jar, /ext, MANIFEST.MF

[Patrick Luby <pa...@sun.com>]

Christopher,

There is an easier solution, although it has limits. Since the Tomcat binaries
include servlet.jar, we can put "-Djava.ext.dirs=" as an argument in the Tomcat
scripts. This argument causes the JVM to ignore any jars in its jre/lib/ext
directory so that there is no conflict between the jars shipped with your
application (Tomcat in this case) and the jars in your JVM's
jre/lib/ext directory. I think that this solution may also eliminate the vexing
problem where the JSSE jars are in jre/lib/ext as well.

Does this sound like a reasonable solution? If so, I can implement this in the
Tomcat scripts with minimal effort.

Patrick


"Christopher K. St. John" wrote:
> 
> The JDK documentation indicates that servlet.jar, as an
> official optional package, should be placed in the
> /lib/ext directory. [1] However, the Tomcat 4 documentation
> (well, the mailing list) indicates that servlet.jar should
> not be placed in /lib/ext. [2]
> 
> Catalina should be able to detect problems using
> java.lang.Package methods to query the version of the
> provided javax.servlet packages.
> 
>  It looks like this would require:
> 
>   1) jakara-servletapi-4 to provide a manifest with the
>      appropriate version information.
> 
>   2) Catalina to check the version information at some
>      point, perhaps optionally.
> 
> Is this a reasonable thing to do? I admit to a cosiderable
> amount of confusion over the balance between theory
> [3],[4],[5] and practice. Any feedback/clarification
> greatly appreciated.
> 
> [1] http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/guide/extensions/spec.html
>  4th paragraph of the Introduction uses servlet.jar as an
>  example of something that definitely belongs in /ext. I'm
>  not trying to argue about it, I'm just pointing out that
>  the documentation conflicts with common practice. I've
>  gotten into arguments with people who insist it's ok because
>  of the extensions spec says, specifically, that it is.
> 
> [2] http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=5523,
>  ref "Additional Comments", also:
>  http://www.mail-archive.com/tomcat-dev@jakarta.apache.org/msg15098.html
>  ref para starting "TOMCAT-USER gets 10 or so messages a week".
> 
> [3] http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/guide/extensions/spec.html
> 
> [4] http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/guide/versioning/spec/VersioningSpecification.html
> 
> [5] SRV.9.7.1 "Dependencies On Extensions". Yes, I know,
> it isn't quite the same thing.
> 
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> To unsubscribe, e-mail:   <ma...@jakarta.apache.org>
> For additional commands, e-mail: <ma...@jakarta.apache.org>

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_____________________________________________________________________
Patrick Luby                          Email: patrick.luby@sun.com
Sun Microsystems                              Phone: 408-276-7471
901 San Antonio Road, USCA14-303
Palo Alto, CA 94303-4900
_____________________________________________________________________

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