Clarification required for ServletContext.getRealPath and HttpServletRequest.getPathTranslated

[jakartaee]

Clarification required for ServletContext.getRealPath and HttpServletRequest.getPathTranslated

[glassfishrobot]

• Issue Imported From: https://github.com/javaee/servlet-spec/issues/11
• Original Issue Raised By:@glassfishrobot
• Original Issue Assigned To: @glassfishrobot

[glassfishrobot]

@glassfishrobot Commented
Reported by markt_asf

[glassfishrobot]

@glassfishrobot Commented
gregwilkins said:
I think the text should be changed to indicate that a path should be returned if it possibly could exist.

Typically this would mean that if getRealPath("/") returns a non null path, then all calls to getRealPath should not be null.

[glassfishrobot]

@glassfishrobot Commented
mode said:
In section 3.6 of the spec we clearly say

In situations where the servlet container cannot determine a valid file path for these methods, such as when the Web application is executed from an archive, on a remote file system not accessible locally, or in a database, these methods must return null. Resources inside the META-INF/resources directory of JAR file must be considered only if the container has unpacked them from their containing JAR file when a call to getRealPath() is made, and in this case MUST return the unpacked location.

and the javadocs also says along the same lines. What do you think will make it clearer?

[glassfishrobot]

@glassfishrobot Commented
markt_asf said:
If memory serves me correctly this wasn't a WAR/database/virtual vs local filesystem issue. If was purely in the context of a local file system when everything is unpacked.

Take, for example, a WAR with context path "/foo" unpacked on the local file system to "/usr/local/webapps/foo".

Assume that there also exists the directory "/usr/local/webapps/foo/bar"

When called from the "foo" web application, getRealPath("/bar") will return "/usr/local/webapps/foo/bar".

The question is, what should getRealPath("/other") return?

Should it:
a) return "/usr/local/webapps/foo/other" since that what it maps too?
b) return null since "/usr/local/webapps/foo/other" does not exist?

This really boils down to what does the specification mean by valid in section 3.6? I think we need to make it clear that "valid" does not mean "must exist".

I've dug through the archives and the Tomcat bug that prompted this request for clarification was this one: https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=51799

[glassfishrobot]

@glassfishrobot Commented
mode said:
The getRealPath should return the real paths for resources that are available. So to be specific - in the example above if "other" does not exist in the webapp then it should return null. Looking at the issue filed for tomcat, Remy seems to suggest that it return the path so it is possible to create a file / directory using it. We can discuss this in the EG.

[glassfishrobot]

@glassfishrobot Commented
This issue was imported from java.net JIRA SERVLET_SPEC-11