TC3.3-propose change to org.apache.tomcat.startup.Main.java

[Mel Martinez <me...@yahoo.com>]

Hi folks,

I'm still new here so help me with the correct
protocol here.

I'd like to propose a minor change to the Tomcat 3.3
class:

  org.apache.tomcat.startup.Main

to support two additional configuration properties:

  org.apache.tomcat.common.classpath  and
  org.apache.tomcat.shared.classpath

These properties, set using the -D option and then
made part of a ${TOMCAT_OPTS} block, would allow one
to specify additional classpath elements for the
'shared' and 'common' class loaders.

This is important for deployment flexibility because
it is simply not workable to have all needed classes
and jar files placed physically in the current
lib/shared/ and lib/common/ directories.

I have already rewritten Main locally and tested this
and it seems to work well.  The protocol I've adopted
at this point is that any classpath elements specified
in either of the above two properties to be _appended_
to the classpath URL arrays built with the classes in
the shared and common directories.  I.E. - the
physical directories take precedence during
class-loading.  I am open to reversing that if folks
feel that conceptually the properties should take
precedence over the directories.

The changes to support this were minor but the result
greatly eases deployment hassles currently involved in
using Tomcat with complex deployment situations.

I am not a committer and only have 'anoncvs' access. 
I will gladly email the file to someone who is.

Feedback encouraged.

Mel

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