Configuring Debian or Ubuntu To Run a Servlet Container as Non-Root
Tomcat 6
For recent releases of Debian and Ubuntu the tomcat6 package includes a dependency on the authbind package and a default authbind configuration that allows the Tomcat 6 container to bind to ports < 1024.
To leverage the authbind configuration the Tomcat 6 configuration file /etc/default/tomcat6 must be edited and the option AUTHBIND set to 'yes'.
See also the man page for authbind.