Howdy, >always apply). All custom data in our apps is either stored in the >user.home directory, the preferences API, JNDI, or whatever. We tend to >consider the ".war" file like an ".exe" or executable JAR file.
And I think this is where my interest comes from. Your considerations are exactly the opposite of Costin's (I think it was Costin anyways), who considers the .war file a *deployment* format only, like an RPM or a Windows Installer file, not to be run as an executable. I think a lot of users are confused on this point. That's not tomcat's fault by any means. I think tomcat goes above and beyond the spec with its support for packed/unpacked wars, XML app descriptors, and the whole automatic app deployment feature. Personally, I think of a .war as a deployment format. I think what the server does with it (e.g. unpack, copy into a database in Oracle iAS, etc.) is an implementation detail that users shouldn't know about. Thanks everyone for answering my original question. It was very interesting to read responses from the developers. Yoav Shapira Millennium ChemInformatics -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>