Order of servlet mapping in web.xml

Question

Hello,
is the order of multiple <servlet-mapping> in web.xml important? Or it doesn't matter in which order they are declared?
For example, if i have two controllers, one is
<servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
  <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
and the second:
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>FrontController</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>servlets.FrontController</servlet-class>
  </servlet>
and the mapping are:
   <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>FrontController</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/jsf/*</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>
<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.jsf</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>where /jsf/ contains jsp pages containing jsf components.
is the order important?
And may second question is:
if i call the jsp page test.jsf in /jsf/test.jsp , which controller is responseble? Faces servlet or Frontcontroller?

Answer 1

Here is what the 2.4 specification says on the matter (section SRV.11.1):
>
The path used for mapping to a servlet is the request URL from the request
object minus the context path and the path parameters. The URL path mapping rules below are used in order. The first successful match is used with no further matches attempted:
1. The container will try to find an exact match of the path of the request to the
path of the servlet. A successful match selects the servlet.
2. The container will recursively try to match the longest path-prefix. This is done by stepping down the path tree a directory at a time, using the �/� character as a path separator. The longest match determines the servlet selected.
3. If the last segment in the URL path contains an extension (e.g. .jsp), the servlet container will try to match a servlet that handles requests for the extension. An extension is defined as the part of the last segment after the last �.� character.
4. If neither of the previous three rules result in a servlet match, the container will attempt to serve content appropriate for the resource requested. If a "default" servlet is defined for the application, it will be used.
The container must use case-sensitive string comparisons for matching.
It also notes that in prior versions of the specification these were only a suggestion so if you are on servlet 2.3 or prior, you need to consult the documentation for your container.
So, to answer your questions, no, order in the descriptor is not important.
Also, based on the rules above, using your mappings, any URL starting with /jsf will be handled by FrontController including /jsf/test.jsp and /jsf/test.jsf.