[jaikiran]

I would say, when you mention something like:

noSpecificMeaning.anything:againAnything=anyName.anything

in <loader-repository> in jboss-web.xml, you are simply specifying a name for a classloader.

[stevecoh2]

Thanks. I believe we are getting closer to actual understanding of what is going on.

"jaikiran" wrote:
You are defining a classloader for your APPLICATION and NOT for a specific package. So whenver a class has to be loaded in your application, the classloader specified by you for the application will be used.

OK. So without this entry in jboss-web.xml you are using the "default" classloader. With this entry (named whatever I please) in my web app's jboss-web.xml, I cause my Web App to use its own class loader, which does NOT see classes with the same name loaded by the default class loader as the same, and thus does not see the conflicts.

Do I have that right?

This seems like the way I'd normally expect things to work in the first place. I wonder why it is not the default.

[jaikiran]

Ya you got it right

[stevecoh2]

Just to finish my due diligence, are there any negative consequences of doing this, such as, adverse changes in log4j behavior?

[jaikiran]

No there wont be any negative consequences of doing this. Infact,

An application server should ideally give its deployed applications the freedom to use whatever utility library and whatever version of the library they see fit, regardless of the presence of concurrent applications that want to use the same library. This is mandated by the J2EE specifications, which calls it class namespace isolation.