First off, I'd like to reply to an earlier post and the I'll talk about a weird finding regarding server.xml with Tomcat 3.3 on Linux 2.4.x with Java 1.3.x.
> We're the main european hub for bioinformatics > research and resources, > the fact that webapps exist and can be packaged is > incredibly useful to > us. Hmm. I stand somewhat corrected. I still believe that the "webapp" complexity is not applicable to many people, who simply want Apache + an engine to run servlets/JSP, probably talking to mySQL in the backend. For that kind of use, you don't need more than one context, i.e., the default "/" context hanging off the docroot (htdocs) of the *web* *server*. > > And the kicker is the gratuitous, idiotic > > use of XML for _configuration_. For you to say: > > [..] > if you're configuring a system that is intrinsically > hierarchical, > doesn't it make sense to use a configuration > mechanism that shared this > property? Again, agreed. However, consider the fact that this heirarchy is relatively flat, 2-3 levels deep in most places. Isn't it simpler to use a file of the format: level1.level2.prop1=value context.foocontext.simplemapper=foo.class context.foocontext.simplemapper.listings=false ... and so on ... This approach has a lot of precedent and works very well (for shallow depths). Also, it's simpler to have a default case of one config file only, with a *special case* option of more files if needed. Apache does this too for a reason. Also why expose the module map at all ? (modules.xml). Most end-users are not going to write and swap in their own modules and most hackers are just going to hack the tomcat source directly. Now for a bit on my environment. I have several SMP boxes that I am planning to run Tomcat+mySQL +Apache on. Apache and mySQL are now running quite smoothly but Tomcat is still not up yet. I keep getting a funny exception when I say: shell> tomcat.sh start debug -10 The relevant part of this exception looks like: ----------------------------------------------- EmbededTomcat: exception initializing ContextManager java.lang.NullPointerException at org.apache.tomcat.facade.JspInterceptor.addContext(Unknown Source) ----------------------------------------------- After tearing my hair out for several (many) hours, I have made a startling finding. My ending of my server.xml looks like: [..stuff ...] <JspInterceptor keepGenerated="true" largeFile="false" useJspServlet="false" debug="10" /> <WorkDirSetup cleanWorkDir="false" /> </ContextManager> </Server> If the ONLY change I make is moving the JSPInterceptor tag _below_ the WorkDirSetup Tag, the exception disappears and tomcat starts up fine ! No other file is touched, this is the only change I make. And it works. Now if that is not insane, my definition of insanity needs some serious rework. Try this in reverse in your server.xml, folks, and see what happens ! Oh yeah, I only have 1 apps file (apps.xml) and it says: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <Server> <Host name="www.mysitehere.com"> <Context path="" docBase="/web/sites/mysitehere/docs" /> </Host> </Server> Do note that this problem with server.xml is independent of the apps.xml file and this file has not been changed at all. The problem is also independent of the fact that I am using mod_jk (apache). Seems like there is a coding bug in JSPInterceptor. If anyone here concurs, I suggest forwarding this email to an Apache developer. 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]>