Configure out/ directory path somewhere else than in web.xml.
Quoting iwakeh from legacy/trac#14024 (moved):
You're right web.xml is an odd place for setting the out dir path.
In legacy/trac#13600 (moved) I mentioned commons-configuration (but there too a config file would be better than command line, I think). User docs are here Commons Configuration User Guide
Without an additional lib reference, why not use a plain old java properties file? Have useful defaults for everything and write the properties file, if the app could not find one initially?
This ought to be a new issue.