The upgrade Pier was planning seems a bit over my capabilities to assist with, but if someone can point me out how a servlet container _should_ be installed on minotaur (where on the FS, what UID should be owning it, any related suggestions) I'd like to step up (together with Gianugo would be great) to start with a trial instance on a higher port. Integrating it with the httpd daemon in a sensible way might require access and assistance from root people anyhow, depending on the strategy we follow (mod_proxy, or mod_name_your_favourite_version_jk), so assistance in that perspective is welcomed as well.
Yes, what I would recommend is installing everything in your home directory anyway you (or Gianugo) see fit. Setup an httpd as a front-end, or use the native server - don't much care for feasibility checks. Use a high port, run it as your UID - make sure that the wiki serves pages reliably.
To do the above, you shouldn't need any special privs or rights.
Once we know that the JDK/servlet container work on FreeBSD (which is an open question), we can continue the conversation as to how to integrate it with the cocoon.apache.org site. I'd prefer using mod_jk2 (if using Tomcat - or if using Jetty its connector - it has one, right?) over a ProxyPass connection, but let's cross that bridge when we get to it.
Does that make sense? -- justin