Using Spring, mapping to root in web.xml, static resources aren’t found

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The problem is that requests for the static content go to the dispatcherServlet, because it’s mapped as <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>. It’s a very common problem in applications with “RESTful” URLs (that is, without any prefix in the DispatcherServlet mapping).

There are several possible ways to solve this problem:

Since Spring 3.x the preferred way to access static resources is to use <mvc:resources>:
web.xml:

<servlet-mapping> 
    <servlet-name>springapp</servlet-name> 
    <url-pattern>/</url-pattern> 
</servlet-mapping>

Spring config:

<!-- Handles GET requests for /resources/** by efficiently serving static content 
    in the ${webappRoot}/resources dir --> 
<mvc:resources mapping="/resources/**" location="/resources/" />

See also MVC Simplifications in Spring 3

1. Use URL rewrite filter
See mvc-basic example here

2. Set a prefix for the default servlet:

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>default</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/static/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

That is, request for /static/images/image.png will return the file named /images/image.png
However, this way is incompatible across different servlet containers (doesn’t work in Jetty), see workarounds here

3. Set static content extensions for the default servlet:

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>default</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.png</url-pattern>
    <url-pattern>*.js</url-pattern>
    <url-pattern>*.css</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

4. Do not use RESTful URLs, use URLs with prefix:

<servlet-mapping> 
    <servlet-name>springapp</servlet-name> 
    <url-pattern>/app</url-pattern> 
</servlet-mapping>

5. Do not use RESTful URLs, use URLs with extension:

<servlet-mapping> 
    <servlet-name>springapp</servlet-name> 
    <url-pattern>*.do</url-pattern> 
</servlet-mapping>

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