Terminology
Context - In a nutshell, a Context is a web application.
Directories and Files
Throughout the docs, you'll notice there are numerous references to $CATALINA_HOME. This represents the root of your Tomcat installation. When we say, "This information can be found in your $CATALINA_HOME/README.txt file" we mean to look at the README.txt file at the root of your Tomcat install. Optionally, Tomcat may be configured for multiple instances by defining $CATALINA_BASE for each instance. If multiple instances are not configured, $CATALINA_BASE is the same as $CATALINA_HOME.
摘抄至tomcat的官网文档。
第一次听说还有$CATALINA_BASE这个环境变量。