Tomcat - symbolic link for WEB-INF/classes directory not working

[Matthew Macchia]

I am having trouble using a symbolic link (ln -s) to map my tomcat
application to read a different classes directory.

Here is how it's setup
Tomcat is installed at
/opt/tomcat/

my application(context) is at
/http/myapplication/

and I have a symbolic link for
/http/myapplication/WEB-INF/classes
to
/http/differentApp/servlets/

However, I am getting a ClassNotFoundException when I use the symbolic
link.
If I actually copy over the contents of /http/differentApp/servlets/
to a classes/ under WEB-INF then it can find them. Im not sure what
the problem is. I know the permissions are correct so I don't think
that is the issue.
Has anyone had this problem in the past?
I may have to jar the contents of my other directory and move it over
unless I find a solution.
Thanks for your help!
-matt

 

[Roedy Green]

However, I am getting a ClassNotFoundException when I use the symbolic
link.
If I actually copy over the contents of /http/differentApp/servlets/
to a classes/ under WEB-INF then it can find them.

when you do a dir on your symbolic link, do you see the classes?

 

[Matthew Macchia]

when you do a dir on your symbolic link, do you see the classes?

yes,
when I cd down the directory tree it looks like this:
/http/myapplication/WEB-INF/classes/com/company/struts/MyClass.class

The file is there and the directory structure is intact and correct.

 

[Roedy Green]

yes,
when I cd down the directory tree it looks like this:
/http/myapplication/WEB-INF/classes/com/company/struts/MyClass.class

Is there a parameter anywhere in the config that says whether to chase
symbolic links?