Java 9 modules and OSGi

[Christopher BROWN <br...@reflexe.fr>]

Hello,

Having read this:
http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jigsaw/spec/sotms/

...there's a lot in common with OSGi, but some important differences too.

Here's how I understood it:

   - Java 9 modules are a sort of subset of OSGi (notions of services are
   there, importing and exporting too).
   - It doesn't deal with versions
   - It's about statically resolving class dependencies, without aiming for
   dynamic reloading.

In particular, there's overlap between module-info.java and bundle manifest
headers.  I would guess that once Java 9's released, then ".jar" files can
be created for use as either bundles or modules (multi-purpose) with some
redundancy between these descriptors (and possible inconsistencies).
There's allusion to a ".jmod" format too.

I would guess that if BND could process module-info.class to generate
bundle manifest headers, that could remove some risk of inconsistency and
redundancy, but it would need to merge in additional information (for
versioning, for a start).  Some references are made to adding extra
attributes but I don't know if that could be useful.

Have any of the implementors of OSGi (specs, runtimes) had thoughts on
these topics yet?  Any ideas how these two approaches will fit together?

--
Christopher