I am currently developing an application which has a server part based on JavaEE 6.0 on JBoss 7.1 and a client based on Eclipse RCP 3.7.
For a simple OSGi package for a shared API I already run into trouble due to some differences in versions and depdencenies. The API requires “org.osgi.framework.” for the bundle activator and “org.slf4j.” for the slf4j logging API.
Currently my client is working very well, but JBoss tells me that the expected version of the OSGi import and the also the imports for slf4j do not fit…
I there a best practice to share OSGi bundles between Eclipse and JBoss? Do I need to get back to simple import and export declarations or can I used Require-Bundle somehow? Do I need to create some compatibility bundles for JBoss to get it running? What is the best way to proceed here?
UPDATE
I solved the issue by using Import-Package exclusively. For the dependency like org.osgi.framework is use version=”0.0″ to explain it does not matter. 🙁 It is not very safe, but currently I do not see another option. Is there a better way?
UPDATE 2
One also needs to pay attention to implement the correct verion of the OSGi Framework. JBoss 7.1.x only has OSGi 4.2 implemented, which has no support for typesafe service retrieval.
The best practice would be to use an import package statement with a range from the minimum version which you’re using to the next major increment.
For example, if RCP expects version 1.5 of a package and JBoss expects 1.3.6, import version=”[1.3.6,2)”.
The Semantic Versioning whitepaper (pdf) explains why this style of import is safe and wise.