Hello all, I'm new to the Apache OSGi ecosystem and I'm having a hard time the roles of some projects. I understand Karaf has recently become a TLP (congrats!), but I'd like some clarification if someone would be so kind as to oblige.
I understand the Felix OSGi is the core OSGi container supporting bundles, classloading, etc. (e.g. parallel to Eclipse Equinox). What I don't understand is how Aries and Karaf might fit in or work in a symbiotic relationship. If I continue with the Eclipse analogy, I assumed Aries was parallel to Eclipse Virgo, but that may not be correct: Virgo is a simple port of Spring DM Server donated to the Eclipse foundation, with continued modifications. DM Server (and Virgo by extension) is essentially a complete OSGi application server and supports things like startup/shutdown scripts, logging, server diagnostics, as well as supporting the OSGi 4.2 Blueprint deployment model. If Aries was an exact parallel to Virgo, I assume it would also be a standalone server. But it appears this is incorrect per the Aries Incubator proposal: "... The project is not expected to deliver a complete application or integration server runtime but will instead deliver enterprise application componentry that can be integrated into such runtimes. ..." So, is that were Karaf comes in? Is Karaf this complete OSGi application server? Thanks for any clarification! Best, Les Hazlewood
