Maybe you can help me out here by explaining how it is that execution context and class visibility are both handled by OSGi bundles. For example, one of my client applications is a desktop environment. It does service look up for all services registrations providing a “serviceUI”. It then integrates all of those services into a desktop view where the UIs are running at the same time with each one imbedded in a JDesktopPane or a JTabbedPane or a JFrame or JDialog. There are callbacks from parts of that environment into my application which in turn is interacting with the ServiceUI component. You have AWT event threads which are calling out, into the ServiceUIs and lots of other threads of execution which all, ultimately, must have different class loading environments so that the ServiceUI components can know where to load code from.
It’s exactly TCCL that allows them to know that based on all the other class loading standards. The ClassLoader is exactly the thing that all of them have in common if you include OSGi bundles as well. The important detail, is that if the TCCL is not used as new ClassLoaders are created, then there is no context for those new ClassLoaders to reference, universally. The important details are: 1) The desktop application has to be able to prefer certain Entry classes which define details that are presented to the user. 2) When the user double clicks on a services icon, or right clicks and selects “Open in new Frame”, an async worker thread needs a TCCL pointing at the correct parent class loader for the service’s URLClassLoader to reference so that the preferred classes work. 3) Anytime that the AWT Event thread might be active inside of the services UI implementation, it also needs to indicate the correct parent class loader if that UI component causes other class loading to occur. 4) I am speaking specifically in the context of deferred class loading which is controlled outside of the service discovery moment. > On Jan 30, 2017, at 4:04 AM, Michał Kłeczek (XPro Sp. z o. o.) > <michal.klec...@xpro.biz> wrote: > > What I think Jini designers did not realize is that class loading can be > treated exactly as any other capability provided by a (possibly remote) > service. > Once you realize that - it is possible to provide a kind of a "universal > container infrastructure" where different class loading implementations may > co-exist in a single JVM. That’s precisely what ClassLoader is for. TCCL is precisely to allow “some class” to know what context to associate newly loaded classes with, so that in such an environment, any code can load classes on behalf of some other code/context. It doesn’t matter if it is TCCL or some other class management scheme such as OSGi bundles. We are talking about the same detail, just implemented in a different way. > What's more - these class loading implementations may be dynamic themselves - > ie. it is a service that provides the client with a way to load its own > (proxy) classes. > > In other words: "there not enough Jini in Jini itself”. I am not sure I understand where the short coming is at then. Maybe you can illustrate with an example where TCCL fails to allow some piece of code to load classes on behalf of another piece of code? In my desktop application environment, there is a abstract class which is used by each serviceUI to allow the desktop to know if it provides the ability to open into one of the above mentioned JComponent subclasses. That class is preferred and provided and resolved using the codebase of the desktop client. That class loading environment is then the place where the service is finally resolved and classes created so that the proxy can be handed to the serviceUI component which ultimately only partially resolves from the services codebase. It’s this class compatibility which needs to be lightweight. > > We have _all_ the required pieces in place: > - dynamic code loading and execution (ClassLoaders), > - security model and implementation that allows restricting rights of the > downloaded code, > - and a serialization/deserialization which allows sending arbitrary data > (and yes - code too) over the wire. > > It is just the matter of glueing the pieces together. Correct, but it’s a matter of class compatibility where a client environment has to interact with a service and the serviceUI components where TCCL excels and providing the ability to create class loaders with the correct parent context, for Java based code. OSGi introduces the opportunity for some extra bells and whistles. But I don’t see that it can completely eliminate the nature of TCCL and how it was intended to be used. > > Thanks, > Michal > > > Gregg Wonderly wrote: >> <snip> >> I am not an OSGi user. I am not trying to be an OSGi opponent. What I am >> trying to say is that I consider all the commentary in those articles about >> TCCL not working to be just inexperience and argument to try and justify a >> different position or interpretation of what the real problem is. >> >> The real problem is that there is not one “module” concept in Java (another >> one is almost here in JDK 9/Jigsaw). No one is working together on this, >> and OSGi is solving problems in a small part of the world of software. It >> works well for embedded, static systems. I think OSGi misses the mark on >> dynamic systems because of the piecemeal loading and resolving of classes. >> I am not sure that OSGi developers really understand everything that Jini >> can do because of the choices made (and not made) in the design. The people >> who put Jini together had a great deal of years of experience piecing >> together systems which needed to work well with a faster degree of >> variability and adaptation to the environment then what most people seem to >> experience in their classes and work environments which are locked down by >> extremely controlled distribution strategies which end up slowing >> development in an attempt to control everything that doesn’t actually cause >> quality to suffer. >> >> Gregg >> >> >