The problem here is that storing the avatars outside the webapps will make the file unavailable for the web.
With some code change, it is possible to bypass this limitation. I did it once on a customization JForum for a company, where we'd set two attributes - one containing the "write" directory, which could be any directory anywhere, and the other attribute was the "virtual" one, used for the web.
Finally, we mapped the virtual dir into Apache's HTTPD.
It is possible to use that on JForum as well, but would require some changes here and there.
If you know
Java and 4 or 6 hours to help us, I can guide / help you on that.
Rafael
[originally posted on jforum.net by Rafael Steil]