> | You're right about the normal delegation model for Java2.
> However, the Servlet
> | 2.3 Spec (Proposed Final Draft) gives a servlet container
> the option to "look
> | before delegating" -- see Section 9.6.2. Tomcat 4.0 does this.
>
> I've been wondering quite some time: how can this be a
> "option"? I find
> that very disturbing! Wouldn't that make tons of portability
> problems? The
> classloading isn't exactly something that's the easies thing
> with Java to
> grasp, and when things change from container to container,
> thing start to
> get really frustrating..
>
> | The intention of this language is that you can have version
> X of a library
> | installed as a shared resource, and version Y of the
> library available in
> | WEB-INF/lib. In the 2.3 model, Y will override X. In the
> standard delegation
> | model (i.e. Tomcat 3.2) you'd get the classes from X no
> matter what you did.
>
> Yes, and this sounds much more sensible. Why not take away
> the "option"
> part of that section?!
>
> I know that you don't personally have the sole responsibility for that
> spec, but I just wondered why it is like this!
I agree! This is a very intuitive approach for loading classes
in webapps, and should be specified without options.
I don't know the community process that well, and I don't know
the exact status of 2.3, but is it too late to remove that option and
make it mandatory?
Reg,
Gummi Haf
