Why does Tomcat require JDK installed? [duplicate]

Answer 1

Tomcat does not require a JDK. It needs a JRE only. JSP compilation is done by the bundled Eclipse compiler.

Answer 2

Because some of the functionality provided by Tomcat is only available in the JDK.

For example, jsp pages must be parsed and any Java code in them must be compiled on-the-fly. This is not a feature available inthe JVM.

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Edit

@Michael-O is absolutely right! Tomcat does not require a JDK. See What tomcat requires JDK or JRE? for a fuller explanation.

But note the comment here.

Tomcat 4 requires the full JDK. Tomcat 5.5 onwards will work with a JRE or a JDK.