How does the container compile jsps ?

[Arul Jose]

We experimented something.

1. We started the tomcat
2. removed the jdk/bin (jdk is the JAVA_HOME)
3. Made changes to the jsp file (in order to make the container re-compile the jsp)
4. We ran the application again. Its running perfectly alright. It was showing all the changes that are made to the jsp file. the changes even include additional <% java scripts %>.

So, how does the container compile these jsps?

is it copying the concerned files(like javac) from jdk folder to some other folder when the server is started using startup.sh ( in linux ). if so what is the folder? any answers?

[Ben Souther]

You didn't tell us what version of Tomcat you're running.

Starting with version 5.5, Tomcat ships with it's own compiler.
It uses the JDT compiler (from the folks at Eclipse).

From the Tomcat release notes:

 ===================
Dependency Changes:
===================
Tomcat 5.5 is designed to run on J2SE 5.0 and later, and requires
configuration to run on J2SE 1.4.  Make sure to read the "RUNNING.txt" 
file in the fulldocs downloadable file(s) if you are using J2SE 1.4.
 
In addition, Tomcat 5.5 uses the Eclipse JDT Java compiler for compiling
JSP pages.  This means you no longer need to have the complete
Java Development Kit (JDK) to run Tomcat, but a Java Runtime Environment
(JRE) is sufficient.  The Eclipse JDT Java compiler is bundled with the 
binary Tomcat distributions.  Tomcat can also be configured to use the
compiler from the JDK to compile JSPs, or any other Java compiler supported 
by Apache Ant. 

[Bear Bibeault]

Moved to the Tomcat forum.

[Arul Jose]

i am using tomcat 5.0.28.