Just noted. There is a comment at the top of build.properties.default file (line #16) in all current versions of Tomcat says: [[[ # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # build.properties.sample # # This is an example "build.properties" file, used to customize building # Tomcat for your local environment. It defines the location of all external # modules that Tomcat depends on. Copy this file to "build.properties" # in the top-level source directory, and customize it as needed. # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ]]] a) This file is not "build.properties.sample", but "build.properties.default". b) It suggests copying the entire file. It would be better to copy just the values that you are going to change. c) Properties that can be configured like that are not limited to those listed in this file. Almost any property declared in build.xml can be overwritten in this way. Maybe just reference to BUILDING.txt where this could be documented with more details. (I think properties declared with <local> task cannot be overwritten like that.)
Fixed in: - 10.1.x for 10.1.0-M6 onwards - 10.0.x for 10.0.12 onwards - 9.0.x for 9.0.54 onwards - 8.5.x for 8.5.72 onwards