Since modularisation is a hot topic for Java 7, most developers by now should have a basic understanding about what OSGi is. But I often get the question; What is OSGi?

OSGi is The Dynamic Module System for Java[TM]. OSGi enables Java applications to become modulair and express dependencies on (versions of) other modules. Which means that your application no longer depend on the classloader (not) taking care of dependencies. There are a number of issues OSGi addresses, but I wont even bother writing them down here since Peter Kriens has an excellent blog post about those issues.

Java 7, and in particular JSR294, also tries to solve the modularisation problem. The expert group is working with the OSGi alliance to implement modularisation in Java, but they still have a long way to go. If you are interested in the progress of the expert group you can follow the JSR294 EG mailing list.

Below is a list of resources about OSGi:

• http://www.infoq.com/presentations/osgi-the-foundation
• http://www.infoq.com/presentations/colyer-server-side-osgi
• http://www.infoq.com/presentations/dm-Server-Rod-Johnson
• http://www.osgi.org/blog/2008_12_01_archive.html
• http://www.theserverside.com/tt/articles/article.tss?l=MigratingPathToOSGi

Now you know!

Dit bericht is gepost op 29 May 2009 om 8:36 am uur en is geplaatst in Java language. Je kunt alle reacties op dit bericht volgen via de RSS 2.0 feed. Je kunt een reactie achter laten of trackback vanaf je eigen site.