i was wondering if anyone can give me a plausible rationale why the yum tomcat installation makes more mess over system directories than a possum shot at a short range with a sawed off shotgun ?

i am spending my whole day getting used to where different components are. i mean, why can't the ENTIRE package, everything in it, be under a SINGLE directory, e.g. /env/tomcat and under it have conf, bin, webapps, etc. rather than this:

find / -name '*tomcat*' -print

/var/cache/tomcat5
/var/run/tomcat5.pid
/var/lib/tomcat5
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][catalina-cluster].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][servlets-default].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][catalina-optional].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][servlets-webdav].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][tomcat-http].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][catalina-ant-jmx].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][tomcat-apr].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][servlets-invoker].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][tomcat-util].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][tomcat-coyote].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][catalina-storeconfig].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][catalina].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][tomcat-jkstatus-ant].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/server/lib/[tomcat5][tomcat-ajp].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/common/i18n/tomcat-i18n-en.jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/common/i18n/tomcat-i18n-es.jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/common/i18n/tomcat-i18n-fr.jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/common/i18n/tomcat-i18n-ja.jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/common/lib/[commons-dbcp-tomcat5].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/common/lib/[commons-collections-tomcat5].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/common/lib/[commons-pool-tomcat5].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/common/lib/[tomcat5][naming-factory].jar
/var/lib/tomcat5/common/lib/[tomcat5][naming-resources].jar
/var/log/tomcat5
/usr/lib/gcj/jakarta-commons-pool/jakarta-commons-pool-tomcat5-1.3.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/jakarta-commons-pool/jakarta-commons-pool-tomcat5-1.3.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-coyote-5.5.23.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-apr-5.5.23.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-util-5.5.23.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-util-5.5.23.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat5-servlet-2.4-api-5.5.23.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-coyote-5.5.23.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-jkstatus-ant-5.5.23.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-http-5.5.23.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-juli.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat5-servlet-2.4-api-5.5.23.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-jkstatus-ant-5.5.23.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-apr-5.5.23.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-http-5.5.23.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-juli.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-ajp-5.5.23.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat5-jsp-2.0-api-5.5.23.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat-ajp-5.5.23.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/tomcat5/tomcat5-jsp-2.0-api-5.5.23.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/jakarta-commons-collections/jakarta-commons-collections-tomcat5-3.1.jar.so
/usr/lib/gcj/jakarta-commons-collections/jakarta-commons-collections-tomcat5-3.1.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/jakarta-commons-dbcp/jakarta-commons-dbcp-tomcat5-1.2.1.jar.db
/usr/lib/gcj/jakarta-commons-dbcp/jakarta-commons-dbcp-tomcat5-1.2.1.jar.so
/usr/share/doc/jakarta-commons-collections-tomcat5-3.1
/usr/share/doc/tomcat5-servlet-2.4-api-5.5.23
/usr/share/doc/tomcat5-5.5.23
/usr/share/doc/jakarta-commons-dbcp-tomcat5-1.2.1
/usr/share/doc/tomcat5-jasper-5.5.23
/usr/share/doc/tomcat5-jsp-2.0-api-5.5.23
/usr/share/tomcat5
/usr/share/tomcat5/bin/tomcat-juli.jar
/usr/share/java/commons-collections-tomcat5.jar
/usr/share/java/commons-pool-tomcat5-1.3.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-ajp.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-util.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-coyote-5.5.23.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-ajp-5.5.23.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-coyote.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-jkstatus-ant.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-http.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-util-5.5.23.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-http-5.5.23.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-apr.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-jkstatus-ant-5.5.23.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-apr-5.5.23.jar
/usr/share/java/jakarta-commons-pool-tomcat5.jar
/usr/share/java/jakarta-commons-dbcp-tomcat5-1.2.1.jar
/usr/share/java/jakarta-commons-pool-tomcat5-1.3.jar
/usr/share/java/commons-dbcp-tomcat5-1.2.1.jar
/usr/share/java/commons-dbcp-tomcat5.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5-jsp-2.0-api-5.5.23.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5-jsp-2.0-api.jar
/usr/share/java/commons-pool-tomcat5.jar
/usr/share/java/jakarta-commons-collections-tomcat5.jar
/usr/share/java/jakarta-commons-dbcp-tomcat5.jar
/usr/share/java/commons-collections-tomcat5-3.1.jar
/usr/share/java/jakarta-commons-collections-tomcat5-3.1.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5-servlet-2.4-api.jar
/usr/share/java/tomcat5-servlet-2.4-api-5.5.23.jar
/usr/bin/tomcat5
/usr/bin/dtomcat5
/etc/tomcat5
/etc/tomcat5/tomcat5.conf
/etc/tomcat5/tomcat-users.xml
/etc/logrotate.d/tomcat5
/etc/sysconfig/tomcat5
/etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K20tomcat5
/etc/rc.d/rc4.d/K20tomcat5
/etc/rc.d/rc2.d/K20tomcat5
/etc/rc.d/rc1.d/K20tomcat5
/etc/rc.d/rc6.d/K20tomcat5
/etc/rc.d/rc3.d/K20tomcat5
/etc/rc.d/rc5.d/K20tomcat5
/etc/rc.d/init.d/tomcat5

could they have made it more complex ? if you just download the tar.gz and do make, it installs it all in one directory, provided you don't change the default settings. however, my boss says that yum uses the "standard" configuration and we should use that to avoid deviating from the norms for the sake of future maintenance.

can someone please rationalize why my life has, all of the sudden, become so much more complicated than having it all under the same directory ???

It actually makes perfect sense why it is installed where it is... Read up on some of these base directory paths and you'll quickly understand too.

start with /var/lib; /usr/bin; /usr/lib; /usr/share; /etc; /etc/rc.d

Each is for a mostly for a particular component of an application and once you understand it's purpose, you'll understand the whole picture better. Good luck

'rpm -ql tomcat5' will print a file list in the terminal.

( You will not have to use 'find' for this, there is a
dedicated command for every task in Linux.)

'rpm -ql tomcat5 > tomcat5_files.txt' will make a text file
in /home/foampile/

The file structure is standard Unix / Linux invented 40 years
ago, to make the perfect OS. ( With some modifications along )
There are very god reasons, that files are placed, where they are.

And why have files in one directory, think of the mess in
Windows !

.....