tomcat8.sh vs catalina.sh vs startup.sh

Question

I found the below difference:

• catalina.sh run ---> Starting tomcat in foreground.

• startup.sh ---> Starting tomcat in background while writing response in log file.

I am unable to find the comparison with this command:

• tomcat8.sh start.

It also starts the tomcat service correctly but is there any difference with the other commands?

Answer 1

If you read the comments in these scripts, you'll see what they are supposed to do.

• catalina.sh - does everything
• startup.sh - calls catalina.sh start
• tomcat8.sh - doesn't exist

You can start Tomcat in the foreground like this:

$ $CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh run

Or you can start it in the background like this:

$ $CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh start

There are other verbs that catalina.sh accepts. You can find those by running:

$ $CATALINA_BASE/bin/catalina.sh -h