pnoltes opened a new issue, #623: URL: https://github.com/apache/celix/issues/623
# Apache Celix Features Add support for Apache Celix Features, inspired by Apache Karaf Features. This will allow users to select bundles and link the required libraries for the executable/container using a single entity. # Background [Apache Karaf has a concept of "feature"](https://karaf.apache.org/manual/latest/provisioning) to make it easier to add a selection of bundles. > Apache Karaf provides a simple and flexible way to provision applications. In Apache Karaf, the application provisioning is an Apache Karaf "feature". A feature describes an application as: > - a name > - a version > - a optional description (eventually with a long description) > - a set of bundles > - optionally a set configurations or configuration files > - optionally a set of dependency features # Proposed Solution For Apache Celix, introducing a feature concept would be beneficial, especially for specifying additional linking requirements for the executable/container running the feature-based selected bundles. This is because some bundles depend on system-installed libraries rather than private bundle libraries. Take the civetweb::civetweb library, for instance. Linking to this library is necessary if an executable/container uses the http_admin: ```cmake #examples/celix-examples/http_example/CMakeLists.txt ... target_link_libraries(http_example PRIVATE Celix::http_admin_api) ... ``` With the Apache Celix Features concept, this could be arranged by the feature if it supports library configuration. A feature could then be defined in CMake as: ```cmake add_celix_feature(celix_http_admin NAME "Apache Celix HTTP Admin" DESCRIPTION "Adds the Apache Celix HTTP Admin bundle so that the HTTP whiteboard pattern can be used to pick up HTTP and/or websocket services." VERSION "1.0.0" BUNDLES_LEVEL_3 Celix::http_admin EXE_LINKING Celix::http_admin_api ``` Usage might look like: ```cmake add_celix_container(my_container FEATURES celix_http_admin ) # or # celix_container_features(my_container celix_http_admin) ``` # Downsides - The proposed solution relies on CMake, which further tightens the coupling between Apache Celix and CMake. - The add_celix_feature calls should either be "installable" or provided in the CelixConfig.cmake (or a Use.cmake file) to ensure they are usable downstream. -- This is an automated message from the Apache Git Service. To respond to the message, please log on to GitHub and use the URL above to go to the specific comment. To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@celix.apache.org.apache.org For queries about this service, please contact Infrastructure at: us...@infra.apache.org