--- Jan Labanowski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> You must be working for Microsoft, I assume...
> BTW... servlet.xml cannot have DTD, since people can
> add their own stuff
> (classes), instantiate it in server.xml, and name it
> the way they want,
> and DTD would not allow it...
>
> Jan
Please don't top post. Replies go under the
original post. Only MS weenies with MS outlook
top post.
Ok. I am going to rant here.
<rant>
Tomcat 3.3.x's internals really suck. I have looked
at probably all of the JDK source over the past
5 years and tomcat is at the very bottom in terms
of quality, readability, even trivialities like
source code formatting/comments.
JSP/Servlets are *important*. They are probably the
most important java api, now that java has proven
to be a total failure on the client side. (java, in
general, is *great* though).
Now, it wouldn't be so bad that tomcat is a internal
mess, if the exposed API/interface was pleasant.
By this I mean, installing, configuring, extending,
and documentation. Tomcat falls down in all areas.
I mean, I really am very frustrated. There should be
no reason to be.
Let's take a simple, yet real world example of 2
virtual hosts, each served by Tomcat.
Well, do I use:
a) 1 tomcat instance with 1 server.xml file with
different AutoWebApps ? (have you seen how
terse the autowebapp doc is ? They don't even
say if the host name param should be a FQDN) ?
b) 2 separate instances of tomcat with 2 separate
server.xml files ?
c) Some other random, trial by fire combo ?
I mean, in places, the docs say that version 3.3
and earler require separate instances of Tomcat.
Other places, they say things like: "You can add
apps to multiple virtual hosts." (implying 1
tomcat server ?).
I don't know. The JSPException that I described in
the original post, is not really documented
anywhere. Tomcat should have printed a meaningful
message when that happened. Just barfing up the
Exception itself, doesn't help me, i.e., the end
user at all.
There isn't any real documentation, and whatever
there is, is mutually incompatible in many places.
Is this the best Sun/Apache can do ?
And on a personal note: I think the whole "webapp"
idea is silly. It sounds promising of course, but
it complicates things for most people. If I am
running a web site, run with jsp's, then I want:
apache (httpd)
|
|_some doc root
|
|__ all .html, .jsp files, images here.
And only one context ("/").
In addition, path or extension based mappings
_are_ useful but should be the _sole_ domain of
the web server. That would be Apache in my case.
That's how ASP works, that's how LiveWire used
to work. I don't want my images, files etc., all
over the place. I want them all under the htdocs
directory. (yeah, I know I can do it, but I want
that to be the default out of box tomcat behavior).
"webapps" should never have made it
into the spec. Name three well known
web sites running in a mass virtual hosted
environment and deployed as "webapps" with
a web.xml file to boot ! Hell, name *any*.
And the kicker is the gratuitous, idiotic
use of XML for _configuration_. For you to say:
> servlet.xml cannot have DTD, since people can
> add their own stuff
> (classes), instantiate it in server.xml, and name it
> the way they want,
shows that you have no conceptual idea what xml is
intended for.
Java:
class foo {
//variables (structure)
}
C:
struct {
//variables (structure)
}
Database:
create table [ .. columns/structure ..]
BNF:
syntax ::= { rule }
rule ::= identifier "::=" expression
expression ::= term { "|" term }
term ::= factor { factor }
[..]
XML is similar to the above 4. XML is a way to
*define*/*create* new and arbitrary data
formats (although somewhat limited compared
to BNF type grammars). This way, I know and
you know what we are saying when we exhange data.
If there is _no_ format (dtd), there _is_ no
structure. That's a shoddy development time
hack only. Tomcat has been deployed for years
now. There is no excuse not to have a server.dtd.
Here's a factoid for the sun team: If I
had the money, I would buy ServletExec or maybe
JRun. I have been hacking java since '94 and
I am frustrated with how inelegant 3.3 "feels".
The Sun/Apache team can learn a great
deal either of those 2 distros. (I am not talking
about fancy installers or GUI's but about
documentation and error handling behavior).
The httpd Apache server, has a different heritage
of course, but configuring a complicate beast
like that is *easier* than configuring Tomcat itself.
It took me less than 3 hours to download apache,
compile, install and get 4 virtual hosts up and
running on my linux box. I have been struggling
with Tomcat all of today and still haven't gotten
anywhere. Apache uses ONE normal config file
called 'httpd.conf'. Compare this to tomcat's
pandora's box of XML crap.
</rant>
Best regards,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Buy the perfect holiday gifts at Yahoo! Shopping.
http://shopping.yahoo.com
--
To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
For additional commands: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Troubles with the list: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
