Re: Axis trouble with Tomcat 4.0.2 and 4.0.3 (was Re: XML Parsers andClassloading in Tomcat)

[Ivan Filippenko <Iv...@aero.org>]

Yes, thank you again Nathan for your thorough and helpful analysis
of the AXIS/Tomcat installation and version match-up issues.

However, I have to take one small exception to your remark:

> With an out-of-the-box Tomcat 4.0.1 or Tomcat 4.0.4-b2, I can install a
> perfectly functioning out-of-the-box Axis according to the installation
> documentation provided.

In my experience, not quite.  Step 5 of the xml-axis-beta1 install.html
fails to include jaxrpc.jar among the files that are instructed to be
placed on the system classpath (the others mentioned being axis.jar,
commons-logging.jar, log4j-core.jar, tt-bytecode.jar, and XML parser
jar files).

Without jaxrpc.jar on the classpath, I get a NoClassDefFoundError
for javax/xml/soap/SOAPElement when attempting command-line deployment
of a web service as described in that step, since jaxrpc.jar contains
that class.

At least it remains true, as you state, that with Tomcat 4.0.4-b2-01
there is no need for copying jar files from the webapps directories
to tomcat /lib directories.  This is indeed a good thing.

Just wanted to note that one omission in the AXIS install instructions,
since it caused me a little hiccup.

Best regards,

  -- Ivan





"Nathan D. Bowen" <nb...@andtonic.com>
04/09/2002 12:45 PM
Please respond to axis-user

 
        To:     axis-user@xml.apache.org
        cc: 
        Subject:        Axis trouble with Tomcat 4.0.2 and 4.0.3 (was Re: XML Parsers and 
Classloading in Tomcat)



On Tue, Apr 09, 2002 at 12:43:30PM -0400, Madan, Kapil wrote:
> I would also suggest the same Tomcat 4.0.x 
> it works without trouble even for Axis or Soap2.2
> !!
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ng, Charles [mailto:Charles.Ng@cognos.com]
> Sent: 09 April 2002 17:41
> To: 'axis-user@xml.apache.org'
> Subject: RE: XML Parsers and Classloading in Tomcat
> 
> 
> Just out of curiosity, why are you not using Tomcat 4.0.x? Tomcat 3.x is
> notorious for class loader problems because of the ambiguous class 
loader
> scoping specification (or lack thereof) in the Servlet 2.2 API.


Not so fast with the "Tomcat 4.0.x" recommendations.

I got myself in some trouble by assuming that "Tomcat 4.0.x" would work
without trouble. As a few people seem to have noticed, some versions of
Tomcat have a classloader bug that prevents Axis from working
out-of-the-box. The problem appeared in 4.0.2, and lasted through 4.0.3.
It wasn't present in 4.0.1, and it's fixed in 4.0.4-b2.

It infuriated me for the entirety of yesterday until I found it mentioned
in the archives of this list. (Thanks, by the way, to the person who 
posted
that tidbit; it saved my sanity yesterday.)

I was curious enough to investigate a bit further, and I've included the
details of what I believe to be the relevant Tomcat behavior below. Keep 
in
mind that I don't really know anything about the Tomcat source and I speak
with no authority on the matter at all.

My apologies if I'm missing something here and this has been working fine
for everyone other than me. I'm pretty sure that's not the case, but it's
always possible.


The summary, first, is that my recommendation would be:

                 Run Axis in Tomcat 4.0.1 or 4.0.4-beta 
                 Never run Axis in Tomcat 4.0.3 or 4.0.2.



With 4.0.3 being the current "latest non-beta" version of Tomcat, the
recommendation to use "Tomcat 4.0.x" convinced me (and others, I'm
guessing) that 4.0.3 would work flawlessly.

It should be noted that Tomcat 4.0.3 and 4.0.2 can both be made to work
with a "copying jars into a tomcat lib/ directory" workaround. This is
alright, for testing and such, but if someone wants to run more than one
Tomcat instance out of the same CATALINA_HOME, it's not always fair to
assume they want all of those instances to share the same version of all 
of
their libraries (especially beta libraries).

With an out-of-the-box Tomcat 4.0.1 or Tomcat 4.0.4-b2, I can install a
perfectly functioning out-of-the-box Axis according to the installation
documentation provided.

That said, considering the frustration experienced by anyone following
those same instructions with Tomcat 4.0.2 and 4.0.3, I'd personally think
that the Axis install.html document might do well to state that Axis is
simply not compatible with those two versions.

It's commendable that install.html is written to be as independent of
deployment environment as it is, but I have to assume that a very large
number of Axis users are also Tomcat users.

I suppose that the install.html would've gotten me up and running just as
quickly if it mentioned the jar-copying workaround, but I'll admit that 
I'm
far too biased against that solution to advocate its being suggested to
anyone. Ever. That may just be me, though.

Re: Axis trouble with Tomcat 4.0.2 and 4.0.3 (was Re: XML Parsers andClassloading in Tomcat)

["Nathan D. Bowen" <nb...@andtonic.com>]

Sure enough, those classpaths are missing jaxrpc.jar. Ivan raises a good
point for those who are trying to take my advice during an Axis install --
I didn't do a very thorough test of the client side installation at all. I
can vouch for my results as far as installing the webapp into Tomcat, but I
did my testing with a different service and a separate client installation.

-- 
  Nathan D. Bowen
  nbowen@andtonic.com


On Sat, Apr 13, 2002 at 12:52:50AM -0700, Ivan Filippenko wrote:
> Yes, thank you again Nathan for your thorough and helpful analysis
> of the AXIS/Tomcat installation and version match-up issues.
> 
> However, I have to take one small exception to your remark:
> 
> > With an out-of-the-box Tomcat 4.0.1 or Tomcat 4.0.4-b2, I can install a
> > perfectly functioning out-of-the-box Axis according to the installation
> > documentation provided.
> 
> In my experience, not quite.  Step 5 of the xml-axis-beta1 install.html
> fails to include jaxrpc.jar among the files that are instructed to be
> placed on the system classpath (the others mentioned being axis.jar,
> commons-logging.jar, log4j-core.jar, tt-bytecode.jar, and XML parser
> jar files).
> 
> Without jaxrpc.jar on the classpath, I get a NoClassDefFoundError
> for javax/xml/soap/SOAPElement when attempting command-line deployment
> of a web service as described in that step, since jaxrpc.jar contains
> that class.
> 
> At least it remains true, as you state, that with Tomcat 4.0.4-b2-01
> there is no need for copying jar files from the webapps directories
> to tomcat /lib directories.  This is indeed a good thing.
> 
> Just wanted to note that one omission in the AXIS install instructions,
> since it caused me a little hiccup.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
>   -- Ivan