Appendix B. Packaging a Web Application

Throughout the book, you've packaged your application (JSPs, servlets, and other files) into a single file, called a WAR file (web archive). The WAR file serves two main purposes. First, it provides a convenient way to package all your files together, making it easy to copy an application from one machine to another. Second, it provides a configuration file that defines any configuration parameters for the Web application. In this appendix, you'll spend a little more time becoming acquainted with WAR files and configuration files—in particular those items that are new with the 2.4 Servlet and 2.0 JavaServer Pages specifications.