If you're looking at a web application on your Tomcat server you'll see all the files that you would expect - things like an index.html (or perhaps an index.jsp), images, and perhaps style sheets, a robots.txt and a favicon.ico. You'll also see a WEB-INF directory, and perhaps a META-INF directory that are unbrowsable. What are they?

The META-INF directories related to .jar files ... they contain the manifest (list of contents) of a jar and are created when you write a jar file. Then when you unpack it, the directory appears. Web applications, held in .war files, are just special cases of .jars. You should (in theory) be able to safely delete your META-INF directory and content from an installed web application.

The WEB-INF directory contains a heirarcy in which you'll find the necessary configuration information for your web application, and all the class files for your servlets and classes that are called up by your JSPs (Java Server Pages). The WEB-INF directory is a vital component of your web application, which will not run without it!
(written 2007-05-18, updated 2007-05-21)

 A502 - Web Application Deployment - Java - Basic Tools
  [3151] Disassembling Python and Java - previously compiled code - (2011-01-29)
  [2859] Using java, javac, jar, and CLASSPATH - a simple example - (2010-07-07)
  [2422] Looking inside Java classes - javap and javadoc - (2009-09-25)
  [2153] Class Loading and Variable Conversion in Java - (2009-05-02)
  [1909] javax.servlet cannot be resolved - how to solve - (2008-11-26)
  [1771] More HowTo diagrams - MySQL, Tomcat and Java - (2008-08-24)
  [1562] Java Compiler - needs all classes, compiles them all too - (2008-03-03)
  [1082] Straight from the .jar - (2007-02-16)
  [754] tar, jar, war, ear, sar files - (2006-06-10)

A653 - Web Application Deployment - Tomcat - Configuring Web Applications
  [3044] Changing a Servlet - more that just editing and compiling - (2010-11-12)
  [2088] Changing the 404 - file not found - page in Tomcat - (2009-03-18)
  [1564] Default file (MiMe types) for Apache httpd and Apache Tomcat - (2008-03-04)
  [1552] Extra public classes in deploying Apache httpd and Tomcat - (2008-02-24)
  [1074] Java beans and classes, .war and .jar files - (2007-02-10)
  [1006] Apache httpd and Apache Tomcat together tips - (2006-12-24)
  [479] New servlet from old - (2005-10-28)
  [465] Changing Tomcat's web.xml and reloading a web application - (2005-10-15)

Back to Smart English Output - via PHP and Perl ? : operator

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to Dangerous Dogs and Hotel Marketing

The last tree to leaf
Regular Express Primer
Drawing hands on a clock face - PHP
Dangerous Dogs and Hotel Marketing
What are WEB-INF and META-INF directories?
Smart English Output - via PHP and Perl ? : operator
Save the Forum - A regular clean sweep
Meet, greet and welcome
What shape is your shake?
Updating a page strictly every minute (PHP, Perl)