TC3: New config mechansims

[cm...@yahoo.com]

Hi,

I would like to propose a number of changes to the way tomcat is set up 
and configured.

1. Support for virtual hosts. AutoSetup uses TOMCAT_HOME/webapps, but that
doesn't allow virtual hosts. The new mechanism should use something like
TOMCAT_HOME/hosts, with DEFAULT used for the default host ( if more
specific host is not found ).

2. Change the mechanism of setting tomcat-specific options to
webapps. 
Instead of editing server.xml, we'll use the TOMCAT_HOME/hosts ( or a
paralel hierarchy in conf ) and auto-load .xml files as configuration
files for contexts. ( in the same way we find .war files and auto-expand
them ). This is similar with what newer version of Linux use, and makes
much easier to automate things.

3. In server.xml, define "<profiles>", or sets of interceptors that will
be used for specific contexts. That will allow to specify the behavior of
different contexts much easier - including authentication method, servlet
API level, logging, etc. 
( instead of repeating a list of interceptors for each context, we'll just
use a <context profile="foo" > ). 

4. WorkDir configuration. Instead of using workdir/host_port%2fPath I
would like to have: workdir/host_port/path ( mirroring the autoconf systm)

5. WorkDirs in the same dir with applications. For each application that
is deployed in tomcat, we can create a WEB_INF/tomcat directory and place
various tomcat-private informations ( the spec doesn't impose the internal
representation of a application ).

What do you think ?

Costin