Why does ServletContext#getRealPath("/") return a relative path?

Question

I have the following snippet of code:

String path = servletContext.getRealPath("/");

Now I got a bugreport from a user saying that the returned path is not an absolute path. The returned path is 'usr/local/...' instead of '/usr/local/...' , so getRealPath seems to be returning a relative path.

I can see this, because the returned path is logged into a logfile.

My specs are:

• JBoss 4.0.5.GA
• Redhat EL 4
• jdk 1.5.0

See here for the javadoc

Solution

Something like

String path = new File(servletContext.getRealPath("/")).getAbsolutePath();

should solve your problem. (It does not answer your Question though...;-) )

Regards, Jan