Mirko Jahn

Migration of software systems to the OSGi platform is gaining momentum with wide acceptance of the OSGi technology as the dynamic module system for Java. This transition is of special interest when it comes to popular Java application frameworks, which attract a growing number of Java developers around the world. Although the technical merits of the OSGi platform are broadly recognized, the migration of existing application frameworks is slow due to significant redesign and re-implementation efforts involved. We present an alternative lightweight approach - an adaptation of existing Java application framework for component based OSGi environment. Adaptation, as opposed to migration, eliminates the necessity of modularizing or redesigning the existing framework. This is ... (more)

OSGi vs. Jigsaw - Why can’t we TALK?

Before starting, I just want to make clear that I am not a member of the OSGi Alliance nor a participant of any EG. I just happen to use OSGi since Eclipse started to investigate OSGi as their componentization model in its core. Since then I got more and more attached to OSGi and I don’t want to give up any of its features, so I guess you can call me a fanboy if you like. Of course, I am... (more)

OSGi dynamics and legacy code - taming the beast in the future?

Legacy code in OSGi has always been a problem. OSGi has such a dynamic nature, most libraries are either not aware of the potential errors that can be imposed by suddenly disappearing bundles or just use techniques not suitable for the OSGi programming model, like absolute paths, usage of file references instead of URLs, context class loaders and others alike. Despite these, I would call... (more)

Some thought on the OSGi R4.2 early draft

Last week the OSGi website[1] published the early draft of the OSGi R4.2 specification[2]. Reason enough to have a short look at what is covered in the upcoming release. First of all one has to notice that this is not a minor release as the version number may suggest. Release 4.2 is actually way more significant than the R4.1 release last year. At some points I would even say it is more ... (more)

The Dynamic Import Issue

After some less OSGi technology centric posts I am now getting back to the meat and will highlight the problems involved with dynamic imports. In well designed OSGi applications the “DynamicImport-Package” header is obsolete should be. Unfortunately not every code is OSGi aware. Actually it is not the missing OSGi awareness that is the core of the problem. It is more the notion of making... (more)