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Tomcat web.xml documentation

I am having some issues with deploying a Java app to Tomcat and I wanted to see where the documentation for web.xml is. I can't seem to find it.

I am using a standard web.xml but I would like to know what all the specific xml tags mean.

Of course normally using a standard web.xml just works but I would really like to see some documentation.

I have looked on the Tomcat 7 documentation site but I can't seem to find it.

Solution

  • The file web.xml is also know as the deployment descriptor and is not tomcat-specific. If you want to find some documentation about the deployment descriptor look in the Java Servlet Specification, chapter 13 and also apendixes A and B. (this is for version 2.4, maybe you rather search for the most recent version, 3.1 I think)

    Now if you are looking for documentation about the file web.xml in CATALINA_HOME/conf , the file itself is already well self-documented with internal comments, BTW, the first comment says:

      <!-- This document defines default values for *all* web applications      -->
  <!-- loaded into this instance of Tomcat.  As each application is         -->
  <!-- deployed, this file is processed, followed by the                    -->
  <!-- "/WEB-INF/web.xml" deployment descriptor from your own               -->
  <!-- applications.                                                        -->
  <!--                                                                      -->
  <!-- WARNING:  Do not configure application-specific resources here!      -->
  <!-- They should go in the "/WEB-INF/web.xml" file in your application.   -->