Apache Tomcat 8 (8.0.1) - Default Servlet Reference

Default Servlet Reference

What is the DefaultServlet
Where is it declared?
What can I change?
How do I customize directory listings?
How do I secure directory listings?

What is the DefaultServlet

The default servlet is the servlet which serves static resources as well as serves the directory listings (if directory listings are enabled).

Where is it declared?

It is declared globally in $CATALINA_BASE/conf/web.xml. By default here is it's declaration:

    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>default</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>
          org.apache.catalina.servlets.DefaultServlet
        </servlet-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>debug</param-name>
            <param-value>0</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>listings</param-name>
            <param-value>false</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>

...

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>default</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

So by default, the default servlet is loaded at webapp startup and directory listings are disabled and debugging is turned off.

What can I change?

The DefaultServlet allows the following initParamters:

Property	Description
`debug`	Debugging level. It is not very useful unless you are a tomcat developer. As of this writing, useful values are 0, 1, 11, 1000. [0]
`listings`	If no welcome file is present, can a directory listing be shown? value may be true or false [false] Welcome files are part of the servlet api. WARNING: Listings of directories containing many entries are expensive. Multiple requests for large directory listings can consume significant proportions of server resources.
`gzip`	If a gzipped version of a file exists (a file with `.gz` appended to the file name located alongside the original file), Tomcat will serve the gzipped file if the user agent supports gzip and this option is enabled. [false] The file with the `.gz` extension will be accessible if requested directly so if the original resource is protected with a security constraint, the gzipped version must be similarly protected.
`readmeFile`	If a directory listing is presented, a readme file may also be presented with the listing. This file is inserted as is so it may contain HTML.
`globalXsltFile`	If you wish to customize your directory listing, you can use an XSL transformation. This value is an absolute file name which be used for all directory listings. This can be overridden per context and/or per directory. See contextXsltFile and localXsltFile below. The format of the xml is shown below.
`contextXsltFile`	You may also customize your directory listing by context by configuring `contextXsltFile`. This should be a context relative path (e.g.: `/path/to/context.xslt`). This overrides `globalXsltFile`. If this value is present but a file does not exist, then `globalXsltFile` will be used. If `globalXsltFile` does not exist, then the default directory listing will be shown.
`localXsltFile`	You may also customize your directory listing by directory by configuring `localXsltFile`. This should be a relative file name in the directory where the listing will take place. This overrides `globalXsltFile` and `contextXsltFile`. If this value is present but a file does not exist, then `contextXsltFile` will be used. If `contextXsltFile` does not exist, then `globalXsltFile` will be used. If `globalXsltFile` does not exist, then the default directory listing will be shown.
`input`	Input buffer size (in bytes) when reading resources to be served. [2048]
`output`	Output buffer size (in bytes) when writing resources to be served. [2048]
`readonly`	Is this context "read only", so HTTP commands like PUT and DELETE are rejected? [true]
`fileEncoding`	File encoding to be used when reading static resources. [platform default]
`sendfileSize`	If the connector used supports sendfile, this represents the minimal file size in KB for which sendfile will be used. Use a negative value to always disable sendfile. [48]
`useAcceptRanges`	If true, the Accept-Ranges header will be set when appropriate for the response. [true]

How do I customize directory listings?

You can override DefaultServlet with you own implementation and use that in your web.xml declaration. If you can understand what was just said, we will assume you can read the code to DefaultServlet servlet and make the appropriate adjustments. (If not, then that method isn't for you)

You can use either localXsltFile or globalXsltFile and DefaultServlet will create an xml document and run it through an xsl transformation based on the values provided in localXsltFile and globalXsltFile. localXsltFile is first checked, followed by globalXsltFile, then default behaviors takes place.

Format:

    <listing>
     <entries>
      <entry type='file|dir' urlPath='aPath' size='###' date='gmt date'>
        fileName1
      </entry>
      <entry type='file|dir' urlPath='aPath' size='###' date='gmt date'>
        fileName2
      </entry>
      ...
     </entries>
     <readme></readme>
    </listing>

size will be missing if type='dir'
Readme is a CDATA entry

The following is a sample xsl file which mimics the default tomcat behavior:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
  version="3.0">

  <xsl:output method="html" html-version="5.0"
    encoding="UTF-8" indent="no"
    doctype-system="about:legacy-compat"/>

  <xsl:template match="listing">
   <html>
    <head>
      <title>
        Sample Directory Listing For
        <xsl:value-of select="@directory"/>
      </title>
      <style>
        h1 {color : white;background-color : #0086b2;}
        h3 {color : white;background-color : #0086b2;}
        body {font-family : sans-serif,Arial,Tahoma;
             color : black;background-color : white;}
        b {color : white;background-color : #0086b2;}
        a {color : black;} HR{color : #0086b2;}
        table td { padding: 5px; }
      </style>
    </head>
    <body>
      <h1>Sample Directory Listing For
            <xsl:value-of select="@directory"/>
      </h1>
      <hr style="height: 1px;" />
      <table style="width: 100%;">
        <tr>
          <th style="text-align: left;">Filename</th>
          <th style="text-align: center;">Size</th>
          <th style="text-align: right;">Last Modified</th>
        </tr>
        <xsl:apply-templates select="entries"/>
        </table>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="readme"/>
      <hr style="height: 1px;" />
      <h3>Apache Tomcat/<version-major-minor/></h3>
    </body>
   </html>
  </xsl:template>


  <xsl:template match="entries">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="entry"/>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="readme">
    <hr style="height: 1px;" />
    <pre><xsl:apply-templates/></pre>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="entry">
    <tr>
      <td style="text-align: left;">
        <xsl:variable name="urlPath" select="@urlPath"/>
        <a href="{$urlPath}">
          <pre><xsl:apply-templates/></pre>
        </a>
      </td>
      <td style="text-align: right;">
        <pre><xsl:value-of select="@size"/></pre>
      </td>
      <td style="text-align: right;">
        <pre><xsl:value-of select="@date"/></pre>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

How do I secure directory listings?

Use web.xml in each individual webapp. See the security section of the Servlet specification.

Comments

Notice: This comments section collects your suggestions on improving documentation for Apache Tomcat.

If you have trouble and need help, read Find Help page and ask your question on the tomcat-users mailing list. Do not ask such questions here. This is not a Q&A section.

The Apache Comments System is explained here. Comments may be removed by our moderators if they are either implemented or considered invalid/off-topic.