Daniel Fagerstrom wrote:
After looking at the website I have to wonder why I've never run across this before. I could have used this a year and a half ago.
OSGi specification is currently at its 3rd release. It is used as kernel for Eclipse (since 3.0), each plugin is a bundle. It is used for embeded applications e.g. BMWs 5 series, mobile phones etc.
There are 12 compliant implementations and at least 3 with "friendly" licenses: the Eclipse kernel [4] (release 3+), Knoplerfish [5] (release 3), Oscar [6] (release 3-). There is also a bundle repository [7]. The Eclipse OSGi contain some extra functionallity that probably will be part of OSGi release 4. Knoplerfish is more lightweight and has a minimal framework distribution at only 200kB.
My 2 cents.
While the overview that the website provides looks great I can't really comment on the details until I get a chance to review the spec or API docs. However, should we go this route I have to make clear what I consider the number one essential requirement: the implementation must come from a stable community. In that regard I certainly wouldn't hesitate to leverage something that is part of Eclipse. If another implementation is preferable for technical reasons it would have to be shown that a) it has a sufficient user and developer community to survive, or b) it can somehow be moved to Apache and be maintained by us (not necessarily preferrable or a solution - Avalon was at Apache).
Ralph
