SECTION: 250-Configuration TITLE: 140xmlwebdefault QUESTION: What is webdefault.xml?

The webdefault.xml file is a specific instance of the standard web.xml deployment descriptor that is applied to all webapplications before their own web.xml. It is used by Jetty to configure the standard mechanisms such as JSP, the default servlet and the Invoker.

There is no fixed location (or name) for the webdefault.xml file and it may be specified in code or in a jetty.xml file. The default jetty.xml configuration has the webdefault.xml file in $JETTY_HOME/etc/webdefault.xml. If no default descriptor is specified, then the version at org/mortbay/jetty/servlet/webdefault.xml within the org.mortbay.jetty.jar is used.