Jacob's answer is not strictly true: the order is only partially inverted. The actual order is: WEB-INF/classes WEB-INF/lib/*.jar System Loader (including $CATALINA_HOME/common/endorsed/*.jar) $CATALINA_HOME/common/classes $CATALINA_HOME/common/lib/*.jar $CATALINA_HOME/shared/classes $CATALINA_HOME/shared/lib/*.jar
"Shapira, Yoav" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... Hi, Jacob's answer is right, but I don't know if it's a complete answer to your question. >So, I'm curious as whether there is a determinate order that the files in >WEB-INF/lib are placed on the classpath, and also whether lib is placed >before WEB-INF/classes. (i.e. is it alphabetical or simply whatever order >it shows up in an unsorted directory listing) Like Jacob said, the unpacked WEB-INF/classes will be loaded and looked for before the jars in WEB-INF/lib. Within /WEB-INF/lib, however, you cannot make assumptions jar loading order. SRV 9.4 says "The web application classloader must load classes from the WEB-INF/ classes directory first, and then from library JARs in the WEB-INF/lib directory." So the order of the jars is not specified. Looking at the tomcat code, it comes down to the Catalina DirContext implementation of javax.naming.Context's public NamingEnumeration listBindings(Name name) throws NamingException and the contract for that method doesn't mention a specific ordering. Looking at the localhost log for tomcat on my Solaris box, it seems to be unix alphabetical, e.g. A.jar B.jar C.jar a.jar b.jar c.jar looks at the log on my local Solaris box. So in conclusion, unless I missed something, you shouldn't rely on the class loading order of jars within the WEB-INF/lib directory. Ideally, you should ensure you only have one version of class on your path, or that they are in separate repositories (e.g. WEB-INF/lib version common/lib) where the loading order preference is clearly defined. Yoav Shapira Millennium ChemInformatics -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
