Question

Is it okay to place an oracle driver jar within the web application’s /lib directory, or is it better practice to place it in tomcat’s lib directory?

I’m wondering about this because on my local host, my web app runs fine with the jar in the web app’s /lib directory, but when I move the web app to a real development server, I continue to receive null pointer exceptions when trying to close a connection pool object. I thought this issue may be why I’m unable to free the connection.

Thanks.

Answer 1

To answer the initial question, about placement of the .jar file, there are some things to consider:

• Are there other apps on the same server that use this? If yes, and you want to ensure all of them use the same version, the placing on the server/lib folder would be better
• If you want some flexibility in terms of what version of the .jar each app uses, then webapp/lib is better
• If you are packaging your app as an ear or war, and there are size considerations, then the server/lib option has some advantages, given it makes sense considering the two points above.
• If you run into classloader issues from dependencies, you may have to consider other jars when deciding on placement.

Whatever you decide, its best to make sure each jar exists only once in each apps classpath.