[WEB400] Changing web.xml on the fly

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's a fun one.

I installed an application on WebSphere Express 5.0 using an EAR file.
The application was installed correctly and the directory structure was
blown out just fine.  Way down in my .war folder was a WEB-INF, and in
that was my web.xml file.  I fired the application up and everything
looked great; even the adminconsole app showed the descriptors properly,
including the contents of the aforementioned web.xml file.

And then the trouble started.  What I want to do is make a simple change
to the web.xml file, and I cannot.  No matter what I do in the WEB-INF
folder's web.xml file, it does not show up in the application.  I can
shut down the server and bring it back up, and adminconsole still thinks
the old web.xml file is in play.  Which is weird, because that file no
longer exists, at least not with those contents.

The most bizarre thing is that there is this strange folder wstemp under
the WebSphere instance, and deep down in its bowels, the old web.xml
file gets recreated.  It's as if somehow WebSphere has cached the old
version of web.xml somewhere.  Is this possible?

Joe