Web Application Specifications

Overview

This section provides a list of API specifications which are implemented by Apache Tomcat.

The specifications are developed and maintained by the Java Community Process (JCP). The members of the JCP are coming from software industry, other organizations like the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), educational institutions but include also individual (personal) members.

Each specifications starts its life as a so-called Java Specification Request JSR. The JSRs are also known by the unique number they receive once the specification process starts. On the web site of the JCP you can find an overview page for each spec, and a separate download page. The download page lists various stages of each spec reflecting the development process of JCP specs. Examples are "Early Draft Review", "Public Final Draft" and "Final Release". You would like to make sure that you always access the latest documents.

Different Tomcat versions implement different versions of the specifications (see main site, wiki).

Java Servlet Specifications

Servlet 3.1 specification is JSR 340.

Servlet 3.0 specification is JSR 315.

Servlet 2.5 is a maintenance release of Servlet 2.4. Both are JSR 154.

Spec versions:	Servlet 2.4
Main page:	JSR154
Stable:	Final Release
Date:	24 Nov, 2003
Download Page:	Overview Direct Download
Online Javadoc:	Java EE 1.4

Spec versions:	Servlet 2.5
Main page:	JSR154
Stable:	Maintenance Release	Maintenance Release 2
Date:	11 May, 2006	11 Sep, 2007
Download Page:	Overview Direct Download - Javadoc, classes	Overview Direct Download - PDF
Online Javadoc:	Java EE 5

Spec versions:	Servlet 3.0
Main page:	JSR315
Stable:	Final Release	Maintenance Release (Version 3.0 Rev a)
Date:	10 Dec, 2009	6 Feb, 2011
Download Page:	Overview Direct Download	Overview Change Log Direct Download - PDF
Online Javadoc:	Java EE 6

Spec versions:	Servlet 3.1
Main page:	JSR340
Java.net project:	servlet-spec
Stable:	Final Release
Date:	28 May, 2013
Download Page:	Overview Direct Download
Online Javadoc:	Java EE 7

JavaServer Pages and Expression Language Specifications

JSP 2.3 is the second maintenance release of JSP 2.1 (JSR 245). Expression Language 3.0 is JSR 341.

JSP 2.2 is the first maintenance release of JSP 2.1 (JSR 245).

JSP 2.1 is JSR 245.

JSP 2.0 is JSR 152.

Expression Language was covered by JSP 2.0 and JSP 2.1 specifications, but became a separate document starting with JSP 2.2.

Spec versions:	JSP 2.0
Main page:	JSR152
Stable:	Final Release
Date:	24 November, 2003
Download Page:	Overview Direct Download
Online Javadoc:	Java EE 1.4

Spec versions:	JSP 2.1
Main page:	JSR245
Stable:	Final Release
Date:	11 May, 2006
Download Page:	Overview Direct Download
Online Javadoc:	Java EE 5

Spec versions:	JSP 2.2, EL 2.2
Main page:	JSR245
Stable:	Maintenance Release _The naming is according to JSR 245. The title page of the JSP specification document says "Maintenace Release 2"_
Date:	10 Dec, 2009
Download Page:	Overview Direct Download - JSP 2.2 Direct Download - EL 2.2
Online Javadoc:	Java EE 6

Spec versions:	JSP 2.3	EL 3.0
Main page:	JSR245	JSR341
Java.net project:	jsp-spec-public ?	el-spec
Stable:	Maintenance Release 2 _The naming is according to JSR 245. The title page of the JSP specification document says "Maintenace Release 3"_	Final Release
Date:	12 Jun, 2013	22 May, 2013
Download Page:	Overview Direct Download	Overview Direct Download
Online Javadoc:	Java EE 7

Java API for WebSocket

Java API for WebSocket is JSR 356. An implementation is to be included in Tomcat 8. See also Bug 51181.

Since Tomcat 7.0.47 this implementation is included with Tomcat 7, but it is only available if Tomcat is run with Java 7 or later.

Spec versions:	Java API for WebSocket 1.0	Java API for WebSocket 1.1
Main page:	JSR356	JSR356
Java.net project:	websocket-spec
Stable:	Final Release	Maintenance Release
Date:	22 May, 2013	5 August, 2014
Download Page:	Overview Direct Download	Overview Direct Download
Online Javadoc:	Java EE 7
Minimum Tomcat version:	7.0.47, 8.0.0	7.0.56, 8.0.13

Protocol Specifications

The following are specifications for the web protocols supported by Tomcat.

HTTP

HTTP 0.9	The Original HTTP as defined in 1991 at W3.org
HTTP/1.0	RFC 1945
HTTP/1.1	RFC 2068 (January 1997) - obsolete, replaced by 2616 RFC 2616 (June 1999) - obsolete, replaced by 7230...7235 RFC 7230 (June 2014) - Message Syntax and Routing RFC 7231 (June 2014) - Semantics and Content RFC 7232 (June 2014) - Conditional Requests RFC 7233 (June 2014) - Range Requests RFC 7234 (June 2014) - Caching RFC 7235 (June 2014) - Authentication