| DIRECTORY |
DESCRIPTION |
| bin |
You'll find a number of batch files here. This is where you start/stop the server using startup.bat and shutdown.bat. Some key environmental variables are also defined here. Finally, if you want to precompile your JSP pages, the jspc.bat file can simplify the process. |
| conf |
This directory contains all the configuration files for the server. The main configuration files are in XML. You may want to glance through the XML files to familiarize yourself with their content. The security permissions are also here in the file tomcat.policy. |
| doc |
You will find various documents in this directory such as the User's Guide, Tomcat security, and application development. The API documentation for Java Servlets is available as a separate download from Apache web site. |
| lib |
Several important Jar files are located here including servlet.jar, jaxp.jar, and webserver.jar. Tomcat relies on XML parsers because most of its configuration files are in XML. These jar files are added to your CLASSPATH when you start the Tomcat server. |
| logs |
Tomcat puts its log files in this directory. Servlet invocations are stored in servlet.log and JSP pages are logged in jasper.log. These files can be very helpful when debugging your applications. |
| src |
Source code for the server. |
| webapps |
Your application files are stored under this directory. I'll discuss the structure and the mechanics later in this article. As an application developer, you'll spend most of your time working in the webapps directory. |
| work |
Tomcat produces a number of temporary/working files, which are stored in this directory. For example, a JSP page first needs to be converted into a Servlet and then compiled. The Servlet source code and the class file produced by the compiler are stored in this directory. You should not delete items from this directory while the server is working. Sometimes it is helpful to look at the translated Servlet source code for debugging purposes. |
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