The method ,File.list(),is not always returned a sorted array of String. In my test, under WinXPSP3/SunJDK1.5 or Debian5.02/SunJDK1.6 or AIX5.3/IBMJDK1.5, it works well. But, under RHEL4/SunJDK1.5, this method returned an out-of-order array of String. My webapps need to be loaded in order. This result let them breakdown.
So,I think HostConfig.java should be modified like this:
HostConfig.java Line490:
before
        // Deploy XML descriptors from configBase
        deployDescriptors(configBase, configBase.list());
        // Deploy WARs, and loop if additional descriptors are found
        deployWARs(appBase, appBase.list());
        // Deploy expanded folders
        deployDirectories(appBase, appBase.list());
after
        // Deploy XML descriptors from configBase
        String[] configFiles = configBase.list();
        Arrays.sort(configFiles, 0, configFiles.length);
        deployDescriptors(configBase, configFiles);
        // Deploy WARs, and loop if additional descriptors are found
        String[] appFiles = appBase.list();
        Arrays.sort(appFiles, 0, appFiles.length);
        deployWARs(appBase, appFiles);
        // Deploy expanded folders
        deployDirectories(appBase, appFiles);