I really need to understand the specifications, but my assumption is that it conforms to the servlet specification in this regard: the portlet application is first deployed to the application server. If web.xml is required for the servlet specification, this requirement must be met. Otherwise, the application server will not deploy WAR (this is more or less a question if the WAR file format is required or recommends web.xml
Liferay will only hit as soon as Apperver deploys the web application. Liferay alone doesn't care about web.xml
Based on this statement (and not looking at the specification, so I give a reasonable assumption here), I expect JSR 286 will not make an expression about web.xml. However, it probably refers to the servlet specification, and this, in turn, may require / recommend / mention web.xml.
And if this requires application administrators or how they behave, if it is missing, this is another story.
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