Hi Costin,
I'm in favor of this, though I would like to add one more
issue to deal with.
I have a need to have the Tomcat "home" (i.e. the directory
where "conf", "webapps", and "work" are found by default)
be different from Tomcat "install" (i.e. where the "lib"
directory and the jars are found). The new class loader
scheme is finding jars using "tomcat.home" so Tomcat "home"
and "install" have to be the same. If this is something you
can easily include in the changes, please do so. If not,
I can take a look after your changes.
Larry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 12:59 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: TC3.3: Profiles
>
>
> Hi,
>
> As I mentioned some time ago, there is one configuration
> change I would
> like to get in before any code freeze.
>
> The idea is to define a "context profile" - containing common
> settings for
> a group of contexts.
>
> In order to implement this, there are few minimal changes in
> the code (
> use new paths ) and the packaging ( different way to package
> the jars ).
> The change will be in the lib/ layout, and few additions to the
> server.xml file.
>
>
> Benefits:
> 1. Simpler configuration: you don't have to manually configure each
> individual context ( or force the same config for all
> applications ). It
> is already common to define different log files and authentication for
> different contexts, etc. Instead, you can define properties
> (i.e. modules
> and module configurations ) for groups of applications.
>
> 2. Fix few issues with the new class loader ( confusion between
> common/shared, classes duplicated in diferent directories, etc )
>
> 3. Inter-context calls. You can call getContext() and invoke
> requests in
> different contexts - but that will fail if you use any atribute that
> belongs to the context class loader. A solution is to have the jars in
> the common CLASSPATH - but that's very bad because it'll force all
> applications to see that jar. With profiles, you can define
> what jars a
> group of contexts will share.
>
> 4. Jars provided to applications. A number of webapps expect
> jaxp, other
> don't - you'll be able to define what libs are available to a group of
> servlets ( the default will probably remain "nothing" ).
>
> I am proposing the following layout for lib/:
>
> lib/ -> executable jars used to start tomcat ( start-tomcat.jar,
> stop-tomcat.jar, etc)
>
>
> lib/common -> jars shared by container and all
> webapplications ( similar
> with the global CLASSPATH ). ( tomcat-core.jar )
>
> lib/container -> modules and jars used by modules ( including
> jaxp.jar,
> etc)
>
> lib/webapps -> jars shared by all web apps ( minimal set )
>
> lib/webapps/foo -> jars specific to each group of web applications
> lib/container/foo -> modules specific to a group of web applications
>
>
> I am also proposing few changes in the jar structure:
> - tomcat.utils: move all the top level "org.apache.tomcat.utils" in
> specific packages ( require changes in import lines ).
>
> - Split tomcat-utils in few components.
>
> - jasper.jar will be separated in jasper-runtime.jar and jasper.jar
> ( to follow the general structure of tomcat, jasper.jar will
> contain the
> translator, jasper-runtime will be similar with facade.jar )
>
> Overall, I expect the impact on the current code to be minimal (
> i.e. cosmetic changes - different package names, diferent
> layoyt ), with
> no major code change.
>
> The change will also address few security issues ( in sandboxed
> environment, fewer permissions to classes visible in the web
> application).
>
> This is probably the most significant change in the "usablity
> enhancement" category. All changes will be completed in about a week.
>
> Costin
>
>
>
>
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