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Tomcat FAQ: Which Version
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  • This page discusses the differences between the different tomcat versions. If you want to know more about which connetor to use, see the apache/jk section.

    Q: Which tomcat version should I use?
    A: It depends.
    Q: On what?
    A: What version of the Servlet API you must support.
    Q: What is the the Servlet API?
    A: It is the API defined by Sun to do web programming in Java. You don't have to follow it - but then you'll end up reinventing your own wheel.
    Q: OK - Now what version?
    A:
    • Tomcat 3 supports the 2.2 API
    • Tomcat 4 supports the 2.3 API
    • Tomcat 5 supports the 2.4 API
    Tomcat 5 is not stable and is currently under development.

    There are 2 flavors of Tomcat 4, 4.0.X and 4.1.X. The 4.1.x version is still slowly receiving new enhancements but this trend is subsiding while more attention is made on Tomcat5. Version 4.0.X is only recieving security fixes. Both (4.0 and 4.1) are suitable for production. (YMMV). Version 4.1.X is significantly faster than 4.0.X.

    Tomcat 3 I know nothing about with respect to performance and maintenance. AFAIK - it is still receiving security fixes. See the tomcat site for a recommendation of which 3.X version to use if you want to use version Tomcat 3.



    The original location of this FAQ is located at: http://tomcatfaq.sourceforge.net/ and is hosted by SourceForge.net Logo


    Last edit date: $Date: 2003/04/21 14:30:30 $ .