If a class needs to be accessed by both server components and web apps, it must be in the common classloader. The classes in the common class loader are all in $CATALINA_HOME. $CATALINA_BASE is for instance specific information, and the shared class loader is for classes that only need to be available to web apps (not server components); all $CATALINA_BASEs share the same server classes. The unpredictable behavior mentioned is that the classloaders that web apps use do not necessarily delegate to their parents (ie, by default they prioritize the local version of a class), which means you might get nasty class definition errors if you put copies of the same classes in, say, shared/lib and server/lib.
Benjamin J. Armintor Systems Analyst ITS-Systems: Mainframe Group University of Texas - Austin tele: (512) 232-6562 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: CARROLL, Chris, FM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 7:54 AM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: Tomcat 5: Location of 3rd party JNDI datasource jars in $CATALINA _HOME/common/lib Hi all, This probably a simple question but I cannot find any answer to this in the FAQ or buglist. Why is it that the required jars for 3rd party JNDI datasource (such as JDBC pools) have to be placed in $CATALINA_HOME/common/lib? Why does the Tomcat instance not use $CATALINA_BASE/[common|shared]/lib instead? I've tried various different ways but the only one that works is the CATALINA_HOME approach. >From the JNDI Datasource HOW-TO: "NOTE: Third Party drivers should be in jarfiles, not zipfiles. Tomcat only adds $CATALINA_HOME/common/lib/*.jar to the classpath. NOTE: Do not install these jarfiles in your /WEB-INF/lib, or $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/ext, or anywhere else. You will experience problems if you install them anyplace other than $CATALINA_HOME/common/lib." There may be something blindingly obvious that I am missing here but it seems to mean that you can only have a partially shared tomcat installation. Resource jars from the different instances have to be placed in the CATALINA_HOME "common" area somewhat negating the benefits of using a separate server via CATALINA_BASE. Cheer, Chris Carroll ************************************************************************ *********** The Royal Bank of Scotland plc. Registered in Scotland No 90312. Registered Office: 36 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh EH2 2YB. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority This e-mail message is confidential and for use by the addressee only. If the message is received by anyone other than the addressee, please return the message to the sender by replying to it and then delete the message from your computer. Internet e-mails are not necessarily secure. The Royal Bank of Scotland plc does not accept responsibility for changes made to this message after it was sent. Whilst all reasonable care has been taken to avoid the transmission of viruses, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that the onward transmission, opening or use of this message and any attachments will not adversely affect its systems or data. No responsibility is accepted by The Royal Bank of Scotland plc in this regard and the recipient should carry out such virus and other checks as it considers appropriate. Visit our websites at: http://www.rbs.co.uk/CBFM http://www.rbsmarkets.com ************************************************************************ ******** --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]