On 31 Jul 2001, Lloyd Llewellyn wrote:
>
>
> > It is "drop-in" in the sense that any app that works under b5 should work
> > unchanged under b6. However, I would never ever ever ever :-) try to
> > install Tomcat or any other package "on top of" an existing directory
> > containing a different version. That's just asking for weird and wild
> > bugs caused by directory structure reorganizations between versions.
> >
> > Do yourself a favor and install b6 into a new directory, and copy your
> > webapps (and server.xml file, if needed) over.
>
> Generally good advice, but considering that this is an "upgrade" from
> version 4.0b5 to 4.0b6, it's not unreasonable to consider that
> architectural elements like directory structure have remained the
> same... Quite possible that nothing but the class files have been
> changed.
>
I've seen lots of people get bit by this kind of assumption, even on point
releases and often even on patches. Therefore, I would suggest that
people assume it *is* unreasonable :-).
In the particular case of Tomcat 4, it is *definitely* unreasonable to
assume directory organization stability until a final release occurs.
It's very common during beta cycles to move stuff around because it works
better in a different arrangement.
Craig (yes, I'm one of the bitten-ee's so this is voice of experience :-)
