Tomcat的类加载机制

Tomcat是Servlet容器，首先看Servlet标准对类加载的要求

Servlet Specification, version 2.4, section 9.7.2: Web Application Class Loader

The class loader that a container uses to load a servlet in a WAR must allow the developer to load any resources contained in library JARs within the WAR following normal J2SE semantics using getResource. As described in the J2EE license agreement, servlet containers that are not part of a J2EE product should not allow the application to override J2SE platform classes, such as those in the java.* and javax.* namespaces, that J2SE does not allow to be modified. Also, servlet containers that are part of a J2EE product should not allow the application to override J2SE or J2EE platform classes, such as those in java.* and javax.* namespaces, that either J2SE or J2EE do not allow to be modified. The container should not allow applications to override or access the container’s implementation classes. It is recommended also that the application class loader be implemented so that classes and resources packaged within the WAR are loaded in preference to classes and resources residing in container-wide library JARs.

Class Loader Hierarchy

Bootstrap
      |
   System
      |
   Common
   /     \   Webapp1   Webapp2 ...


  Bootstrap
    |
  System
    |
  Common
   /  \   Server  Shared
       /  \
 Webapp1  Webapp2 ...

Talk is cheap, Show me the code

package org.apache.catalina.loader;
public abstract class WebappClassLoaderBase extends URLClassLoader
        implements Lifecycle, InstrumentableClassLoader, WebappProperties {
    /**
     * Load the class with the specified name, searching using the following
     * algorithm until it finds and returns the class.  If the class cannot
     * be found, returns <code>ClassNotFoundException</code>.
     * <ul>
     * <li>Call <code>findLoadedClass(String)</code> to check if the
     *     class has already been loaded.  If it has, the same
     *     <code>Class</code> object is returned.</li>
     * <li>If the <code>delegate</code> property is set to <code>true</code>,
     *     call the <code>loadClass()</code> method of the parent class
     *     loader, if any.</li>
     * <li>Call <code>findClass()</code> to find this class in our locally
     *     defined repositories.</li>
     * <li>Call the <code>loadClass()</code> method of our parent
     *     class loader, if any.</li>
     * </ul>
     * If the class was found using the above steps, and the
     * <code>resolve</code> flag is <code>true</code>, this method will then
     * call <code>resolveClass(Class)</code> on the resulting Class object.
     *
     * @param name The binary name of the class to be loaded
     * @param resolve If <code>true</code> then resolve the class
     *
     * @exception ClassNotFoundException if the class was not found
     */
    @Override
    public Class<?> loadClass(String name, boolean resolve) throws ClassNotFoundException {

        synchronized (getClassLoadingLock(name)) {
            if (log.isDebugEnabled())
                log.debug("loadClass(" + name + ", " + resolve + ")");
            Class<?> clazz = null;

            // Log access to stopped class loader
            checkStateForClassLoading(name);

            // (0) Check our previously loaded local class cache
            clazz = findLoadedClass0(name);
            if (clazz != null) {
                if (log.isDebugEnabled())
                    log.debug("  Returning class from cache");
                if (resolve)
                    resolveClass(clazz);
                return (clazz);
            }

            // (0.1) Check our previously loaded class cache
            clazz = findLoadedClass(name);
            if (clazz != null) {
                if (log.isDebugEnabled())
                    log.debug("  Returning class from cache");
                if (resolve)
                    resolveClass(clazz);
                return (clazz);
            }

            // (0.2) Try loading the class with the system class loader, to prevent
            //       the webapp from overriding Java SE classes. This implements
            //       SRV.10.7.2
            String resourceName = binaryNameToPath(name, false);

            ClassLoader javaseLoader = getJavaseClassLoader();
            boolean tryLoadingFromJavaseLoader;
            try {
                // Use getResource as it won't trigger an expensive
                // ClassNotFoundException if the resource is not available from
                // the Java SE class loader. However (see
                // https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=58125 for
                // details) when running under a security manager in rare cases
                // this call may trigger a ClassCircularityError.
                tryLoadingFromJavaseLoader = (javaseLoader.getResource(resourceName) != null);
            } catch (ClassCircularityError cce) {
                // The getResource() trick won't work for this class. We have to
                // try loading it directly and accept that we might get a
                // ClassNotFoundException.
                tryLoadingFromJavaseLoader = true;
            }

            if (tryLoadingFromJavaseLoader) {
                try {
                    clazz = javaseLoader.loadClass(name);
                    if (clazz != null) {
                        if (resolve)
                            resolveClass(clazz);
                        return (clazz);
                    }
                } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
                    // Ignore
                }
            }

            // (0.5) Permission to access this class when using a SecurityManager
            if (securityManager != null) {
                int i = name.lastIndexOf('.');
                if (i >= 0) {
                    try {
                        securityManager.checkPackageAccess(name.substring(0,i));
                    } catch (SecurityException se) {
                        String error = "Security Violation, attempt to use " +
                            "Restricted Class: " + name;
                        log.info(error, se);
                        throw new ClassNotFoundException(error, se);
                    }
                }
            }

            boolean delegateLoad = delegate || filter(name);

            // (1) Delegate to our parent if requested
            if (delegateLoad) {
                if (log.isDebugEnabled())
                    log.debug("  Delegating to parent classloader1 " + parent);
                try {
                    clazz = Class.forName(name, false, parent);
                    if (clazz != null) {
                        if (log.isDebugEnabled())
                            log.debug("  Loading class from parent");
                        if (resolve)
                            resolveClass(clazz);
                        return (clazz);
                    }
                } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
                    // Ignore
                }
            }

            // (2) Search local repositories
            if (log.isDebugEnabled())
                log.debug("  Searching local repositories");
            try {
                clazz = findClass(name);
                if (clazz != null) {
                    if (log.isDebugEnabled())
                        log.debug("  Loading class from local repository");
                    if (resolve)
                        resolveClass(clazz);
                    return (clazz);
                }
            } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
                // Ignore
            }

            // (3) Delegate to parent unconditionally
            if (!delegateLoad) {
                if (log.isDebugEnabled())
                    log.debug("  Delegating to parent classloader at end: " + parent);
                try {
                    clazz = Class.forName(name, false, parent);
                    if (clazz != null) {
                        if (log.isDebugEnabled())
                            log.debug("  Loading class from parent");
                        if (resolve)
                            resolveClass(clazz);
                        return (clazz);
                    }
                } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
                    // Ignore
                }
            }
        }

        throw new ClassNotFoundException(name);
    }

}

Reference

http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-9.0-doc/class-loader-howto.html https://download.oracle.com/otndocs/jcp/servlet-2.4-fr-spec-oth-JSpec/ https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jvms/se7/html/jvms-5.html