Equinox FrameworkAdmin

Overview

Background

Currently, the focus of OSGi Service Platform Specification has been to standardize a runtime infrastructure. On the other hand, how to configure and launch a framework is not addressed. In other words, the ways how to configure a launch of OSGi framework and how to launch it depend on its implementation. Therefore, it is difficult to manage scenarios such as bootstrapping OSGi on a clean system in a framework independent way.

We would like to address this problem by proposing FrameworkAdmin service.

What does FrameworkAdmin service enable?

FrameworkAdmin service allows a bundle running on a framework to do the followings in a framework independent way.

• Set configurations required to launch a framework, such as
  • Java VM location,
  • Java VM arguments,
  • executable launcher location, if used
  • beginning start level and initial bundle start level of a framework,
  • Bundles to be installed and started with their start levels,
  • framework configuration location,
  • framework persistent date location,
• Launch a framework with the specified configurations.
• get the expected state of a framework when it runs.

In addition, FrameworkAdmin API and its implementation can be used for not a bundle but a Java program, which is not OSGi based application, to do the same things in a framework independent way (since version 1.1.0). See #Example 2 and Using FrameworkAdmin from Java programs for more detail.

Scenarios that the API would help

PDE UI

to ease the targeting of various frameworks. Currently PDE UI depends on ad-hoc API.

Provisioning agent

to setup a non running framework

Building an application

to create at build time all the config files required to run the exported application

Running the framework

to configure and start a framework from either a java command or launcher

See [1] [2].

Terminologies used in here

Framework config files

configuration files that will be read by a framework implementation on startup, e.g. config.ini in the directory specified by osgi.configuration.area system property for equinox.

Executable launcher

an executable framework launcher file, e.g. eclipse.exe for Eclipse.

Launcher config files

configuration files that will be read by an executable launcher, e.g. eclipse.ini for eclipse.exe.

Bundles state

state of bundles that represents what kinds of bundles are installed, resolved and to be started on a framework.

Framework persistent data location

under this location (including recursive subdirectories), a framework keeps data that should be kept persistently.

How does it work ?

I’ll explain how it works using some examples. There are two types of usage: usage by a bundle on a running framework and usage by a Java program.

Example 1

A bundle will get a FrameworkAdmin object via service registry on running framework and use it.

Example 1-1

Let me assume that there is a bundle, which wants to configure a launch of a target framework implementation, e.g. Equinox, and launch it.

1. On the framework, there is a registered FrameworkAdmin service for Equinox.
   • There might be several registered FrameworkAdmin services for different frameworks.
2. The client checks if a FrameworkAdmin service for its target framework implementation (Equinox) is available or not.
3. If it is available, the client gets the FrameworkAdmin service object from the service registry. Otherwise, the client cannot realize what it wants.
4. The client creates a new Manipulator object from the FrameworkAdmin object.
   • This Manipulator object has no parameters set yet.
5. The client sets configurations to the Manipulator object
   1. The client gets the references of ConfigData of the Manipulator object and sets parameters to it such as
      • beginning start level and initial bundle start level of a framework,
      • Bundles to be installed and started with their start levels,
   2. The client gets the references of LauncherData of the Manipulator object and sets parameters to it such as
      • Java VM location,
      • Java VM arguments,
      • framework implementation location,
      • framework configuration location,
      • framework persistent date location.
6. The client saves the configuration according to the parameters set to the Manipulator object.
7. The client launches a framework using the saved configuration by FrameworkAdmin#launch() with the Manipulator object as an argument.

Example 1-2

Let me assume that there is a bundle, which wants to get configurations for a launch of Knopflerfish and launch another framework , Equinox, with the same set of bundles installed.

1. On the framework, there are registered FrameworkAdmin services for both Equinox and Knopflerfish.
2. The client checks if FrameworkAdmin services for both its target framework implementations (Equinox and Knopflerfish) are available or not.
3. If available, the client gets both FrameworkAdmin service objects from the service registry. Otherwise, the client cannot realize what it wants.
4. Load configurations of a launch for Knopflerfish.
   1. The client creates a new Manipulator object from the FrameworkAdmin object for Knopflerfish.
      • This Manipulator object has no parameters set yet.
   2. The client gets the references of LauncherData of the Manipulator object for Knopferfish and sets parameters to it such as.
      • framework configuration location,
      • framework persistent date location.
   3. The client loads configurations according to the parameters set, such as the framework configuration location and the framework persistent data location.
5. Copy configurations information from the Manipulator object for Knoflerfish to the one for Equinox.
   1. The client creates a new Manipulator object from the FrameworkAdmin object for Equinox.
   2. The client copies parameters of the Manipulator object for Knopflerfish to the ones of the Manipulator object for Equinox.
   3. The client gets the references of LauncherData of the Manipulator object for Equinox and resets some parameters to it such as
      • framework implementation location,
      • framework configuration location,
      • framework persistent date location.
6. The client saves the configuration according to the parameters set to the Manipulator object for Equinox.
7. The client launches a framework Equinox using the saved configuration by launch() method of the FrameworkAdmin object for Equinox with the Manipulator object for Equinox as an argument .

Example 1-3

Let me assume that there is a bundle, which wants to get configurations for a launch of Felix and expect bundles state if that configurations are used for a launch.

1. On the framework, there are registered FrameworkAdmin services for Felix.
2. The client checks if a FrameworkAdmin service for the target framework implementation (Felix) is available or not.
3. If available, the client gets a FrameworkAdmin service object from the service registry. Otherwise, the client cannot realize what it wants.
4. Expect bundles state if the specified locations are used for a launch.
   1. The client creates a new Manipulator object from the FrameworkAdmin object for Felix.
      • This Manipulator object has no parameters set yet.
   2. The client gets the references of LauncherData of the Manipulator object and sets parameters to it such as.
      • framework implementation location,
      • framework configuration location,
      • framework persistent date location.
   3. The client loads configurations according to the parameters set, such as the framework configuration location and the framework persistent data location.
   4. The client creates a BundlesState object from the Manipulator object. At its creation, the BundlesState object contains bundles which the Manipulator object has at that time.
   5. The client expects the bundles state by calling BundlesState#getExpectedState(), which tries to resolve bundles set and returns value representing which bundles are resolved and which are not.
   6. If the client wants to modify installed bundles for some reason, for example in order to make all bundles resolved, the following procedures would be done.
      1. The following two steps will be done repeatedly until the client satisfies with the expected state.
         1. The client adds or removes bundles to be installed and started with their start levels to the BundlesState.
         2. The client expects the bundles state by calling calling BundlesState#getExpectedState(),
      2. If the client satisfies with the expected state and wants to reflect the modification to the BundlesState object to the configuration, do the followings:
         1. The client gets the references of ConfigData of the Manipulator object.
         2. set bundles the BundleState keeps to the ConfigData.
         3. The client saves the configuration according to the parameters set to the Manipulator object.

Example 2

A Java program will get a FrameworkAdmin object via static factory method defined newly in version 1.1.0 and use it.

1. Required class should be accessible by classloaders in advance.
   • the FrameworkAdmin implementation classes support this feature for a target framework implementation.
   • and prerequisite classes for those classes.
2. A Java program will get a FrameworkAdmin object by FrameworkAdminFactory.getInstance(name) with magic name of the FrameworkAdminFactory implementation class, which is declared by the implementator in advance.
   • The following steps are just same as #Example 1-1.
3. The client creates a new Manipulator object from the FrameworkAdmin object.
   • This Manipulator object has no parameters set yet.
4. The client sets configurations to the Manipulator object
   1. The client gets the references of ConfigData of the Manipulator object and sets parameters to it such as
      • beginning start level and initial bundle start level of a framework,
      • Bundles to be installed and started with their start levels,
   2. The client gets the references of LauncherData of the Manipulator object and sets parameters to it such as
      • Java VM location,
      • Java VM arguments,
      • framework implementation location,
      • framework configuration location,
      • framework persistent date location.
5. The client saves the configuration according to the parameters set to the Manipulator object.
6. The client launches a framework using the saved configuration by FrameworkAdmin#launch() with the Manipulator object as an argument.

See Using FrameworkAdmin from Java programs for more detail.

API: Package org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin

Interfaces defined in org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin package will be introduced. See the codes and Java docs for more details.

FrameworkAdmin

The only interface whose implementation will be registered into the OSGi service registry in this package is FrameworkAdmin.

The client bundle will get the appropriate FrameworkAdmin service object that can meet its requirements by filtering service properties in the service registry. An example of filtering is the target framework implementation and its version. As for filtering, later section will explain it in detail. Then, the client will get new instance of Manipulator which plays a main role in this API.

The interface has a method which might return the Manipulator object initialized according to the running framework and launcher state. Detail of this will be introduced later.

In addition, it also has a method to launch a framework according to the specified Manipulator object.

Manipulator

A client bundle can get a Manipulator object by FrameworkAdmin#getManipulator(). This object keeps both a ConfigData object and a LauncherData object, each of which have setter and getter methods on parameters to be required for a framework launch. The client can set some parameters to be required for launching a framework via ConfigData object or LauncherData object. The parameters set in those objects can be saved into configuration files. Where to save is determined according to the parameters set at that time in a framework and launcher independent way.

The client also can load parameters from framework config files and launcher config files in the specified locations. In addition, the persistently stored data in the framework persistent location specified should be taken into consideration.

Once parameters are set to this object by either setting via a ConfigData or a LauncherData or loading from configuration files, FrameworkAdmin#launch(Manipulator, File) will launch a framework according to the current parameters set in this object. It might invoke a framework by java command or executing the specified launcher. How it will be launched will be up to the FrameworkAdmin implementation and parameters set at that time.

• For example, if the implementation supports launching by an executable launcher and a laucher is set to the Manipulator object, FrameworkAdmin#launch(Manipulator, File) will invoke a framework by executing the launcher.

Remember the parameters set to this object should be saved before a launch.

In addition, Manipulator enables for a client bundle to get the BundlesState object, which will be used for expecting bundles state.

ConfigData

ConfigData is a class that keeps some parameters mainly related with framework internal behavior for a Manipulator object such as,

• Bundles list to be installed, with their persistently marked flag as started or not and their start levels.
• Beginning start level and initial bundle start level of a framework.
• System properties dependent on a framework implementation.
• System properties independent of a framework implementation.

For most framework implementations, these parameters will be saved into their framework config files. However, this API doesn't restrict where to save.

• For example, a framework implementation and a launcher implementation might need to save these parameters not in framework config files but in a launcher config files. It depends on the target implementations.

LauncherData

LauncherData is a class that keeps some parameters mainly related with information required before launching framework instance for a Manipulator object such as,

• Location of Java VM.
• Java VM arguments.
• Location of launcher (if launcher is used)
• Launcher specific arguments (if launcher is used)
• Location of framework implementation.
• Location of framework config files.
• Location of framework persistent data, where a framework implementation saves information to be kept persistently, such as bundles state, permissions of bundles, start level information, private persistent storages for bundles, and so on.
• Clean flag: a flag to clean the specified location of framework persistent data.

For most framework implementations, these parameters will be saved into their launcher config files, if executable launcher is used. However, this API doesn't restrict where to save.

• As in Apache Felix, location of framework persistent data should be written in its framework config file. Therefore, the implementation of Manipulator for Felix should save it into not in launcher config files but framework config files.

BundlesState

BundlesState object is used to predict the bundles state of a framework.

A BundlesState object will be created by a Manipulator object. At its creation, bundles state according to the parameters that the Manipulator object keeps will be created in this object.

This object reads the manifest information of bundles and tries to resolve bundles as a running framework would do.

FrameworkAdminFactory

This is an abstract class. The client of the subclass of it is supposed to be not a bundle but a Java program. Using it, developers can launch a framework from Java program. The details will be introduced in Using FrameworkAdmin from Java programs.

Provider of FrameworkAdmin

First of all, we supposed that an implementation of this API will be provided for each framework implementation. We expect it will be implemented by the team developing the framework, since it requires knowledge of the framework internals.

For clients to filter the proper service object, the provider must register the FrameworkAdmin object with service properties keyed by the followings.

FrameworkAdmin.SERVICE_PROP_KEY_FW_NAME

String; name of the framework

FrameworkAdmin.SERVICE_PROP_KEY_FW_VERSION

String; version of the framework

FrameworkAdmin.SERVICE_PROP_KEY_LAUNCHER_NAME

String; name of the launcher

FrameworkAdmin.SERVICE_PROP_KEY_LAUNCHER_VERSION

String; version of the launcher

• Current Limitation: there is no version range.Version Range might be required.
• Offline, the implementator of FrameworkAdmin must declare these values and client must know them.

There is another service property name to be standardized.

FrameworkAdmin.SERVICE_PROP_KEY_RUNNING_SYSTEM_FLAG

true if its getRunningManipulator () returns the initialized Manipulator object of running system.

• Detail of it would be introduced later.

Client of FrameworkAdmin

A client bundle can get appropriate FrameworkAdmin service object from an OSGi service registry by filtering the service properties described previously in order to get the Manipulator objects for the framework and launcher implementation which the client want to manipulate.

How to handle running framework information?

There is a need for manipulating configurations of not only a non-running framework but also a running framework. Two kinds of manipulator objects of the running framework come up to our mind:

1. a manipulator representing as the same state of the running framework at that time.
2. a manipulator representing the state of a framework launched by using the framework configuration location and framework persistent data location, which is used for the running framework.

The current FrameworkAdmin (tagged as v20070212-1630) only supports for the first one.

Current proposal to realize it

The bundle will do as follows when it registers a FrameworkAdmin service for any framework and launcher;

1. The bundle checks if the running framework can be managed by a FrameworkAdmin object that itself will register. The way how the bundle checks it is dependent of its framework and launcher implementation.
2. If no, the bundle registers a FrameworkAdmin service for the target framework and launcher implementation, whose getRunningManipulator() returns null, with specified service properties including the ones representing framework name/version and launcher name/version.
3. If yes, the bundle registers a FrameworkAdmin service for the framework and launcher implementation, whose getRunningManipulator() returns a Manipulator object initialized according to the running system. The registration is done with specified service properties including not only the ones representing framework name/version and launcher name/version, but also FrameworkAdmin.SERVICE_PROP_KEY_RUNNING_SYSTEM_FLAG="true".

When the bundle should register a FrameworkAdmin service is not addressed. However, the typical timing is at its start up.

A client bundle can get the initialized Manipulator object as follows;

String filter = “(FrameworkAdmin.SERVICE_PROP_KEY_RUNNING_SYSTEM_FLAG=true)”.
ServiceReference references[] = context.getServiceReferences(FrameworkAdmin.class.getName(), filter);
FrameworkAdmin FrameworkAdmin = (FrameworkAdmin) context.getService(references[0]);
Manipulator manipulator = FrameworkAdmin.getManipulatorRunning(); <-- initialized.

Scenario

One of the scenarios is

1. A client gets a manipulator object representing the running framework A.
2. After the client overwrites framework configuration location and framework persistent data location of it, it saves it and launch it (framework B).
3. As a result, the bundles running on framework A at that time will be running on framework B.

Bundles provided by this incubator subproject

1. "org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin": API related with FrameworkAdmin and ConfiguratorManipulator. In addition, utility classes used for implementing "org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin.equinox", "org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin.knopflerfish", "org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin.felix" is stored.
   • Since v1.3.0, Configurator interface and utility classes used for "org.eclipse.equinox.simpleconfigurator" and "org.eclipse.equinox.simpleconfigurator.manipulator" plugins were eliminated from this plugin (moved into "org.eclipse.equinox.simpleconfigurator" plugin) according to the request of bug#175809.
2. "org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin.equinox": Implementation of FrameworkAdmin service for Equinox. See javadoc of BundleActivator of this plug-in for more detail.
   • It supports taking framework persistent data into consideration and supports resolving bundles, if running on the Equinox.
   • It supports taking a configurator bundle into consideration.
   • Both bundle format in a JAR and a Directory are supported since v.1.5.0.
   • bundle location starting with "reference:" is supported since v.1.5.0.
     • If BundleContext.getProperty(EquinoxConstants.PROP_KEY_USE_REFERENCE) does not equal "false", Manipulator#save(..) will add "reference:" to any bundle location specified osgi.bundles in order to avoid caching its bundle jar. Otherwise, it will add nothing to any bundle location.
   • Manipulator#getTimeStamp() is supported since v.1.5.0.
   • Even if LauncherData.getFwJar() == null, it will be automatically set in some operation,such as Manipulator#save(..) if framework jar (org.eclipse.osgi._*.jar) is included in ConfigData.getBundles().
   • Limitation of current implementation:
     • To read framework persistently stored data, State objects created by PlatformaAdmin are used. That means this bundle has dependeny on them.
     • Bundles whose location is set to "update@****" are not supported.
     • FrameworkAdmin.getRunningManipulator() returns not null but a Manipulator object according to the vendor name and the bundle version of running system bundle. The launcher name and version are not checked.
       • For checking the launcher name and version (in future), eclipse.exe will need to tell them to a fw launching.
     • Initial bundle start level cannot be set. A value set by ConfigData.setInitialBundleStartLevel(int) will be set to only bunldes installed by config.ini and EclipseUpdater(updateconfigurator). It's due to the current Equinox implementation.
     • It supports launching a framework from Java programs,
       • except a function of expecting bundles state because its implementation gets PlatformAdmin object from a service registry on a running framework and use it to resolve bundles (Since version 1.1.0).
3. "org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin.felix": Implementation of FrameworkAdmin service for Apache Felix. See javadoc of BundleActivator of this plug-in for more detail.
   • Essentially, this bundle should be provided by the implementator of Felix. This implementation is tentative.
   • No supports for taking framework persistent data into consideration nor supports resolving bundles.
   • It supports taking a configurator bundle into consideration.
   • Launching a framework from Java programs is supported.
   • No supports for Manipulator#getTimeStamp().
4. "org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin.knopflerfish": Implementation of FrameworkAdmin service for Knopflerfish. See javadoc of BundleActivator of this plug-in for more detail.
   • Essentially, this bundle should be provided by the implementator of Knopflerfish. This implementation is tentative.
   • No supports for taking framework persistent data into consideration nor supports resolving bundles.
   • It supports taking a configurator bundle into consideration.
   • Launching a framework from Java programs is supported.
   • No supports for Manipulator#getTimeStamp().
5. "org.eclipse.equinox.simpleconfigurator": Implementation of SimpleConfigurator.
   • Framework property keyed by SimpleConfiguratorConstants.PROP_KEY_CONFIGURL is used for SimpleConfigurator to do life cycle control of bundles. The file specified by the returned url is read by SimpleConfigurator and do life cycle control according to it. If improper value or null is returned, SimpleConfigurator doesn't do it.
   • Framework property keyed by SimpleConfiguratorConstants.PROP_KEY_EXCLUSIVE_INSTALLATION equals "true" ignoring case, Configurator.applyConfiguration(url) will uninstall the installed bundles which are not listed in the simpleconfigurator config file after install bundles listed. Otherwise, it never uninstall any bundles.
   • If this bundle is running on Equinox, Framework property keyed by SimpleConfiguratorConstants.PROP_KEY_USE_REFERENCE does not equal "false" ignoring case, when a SimpleConfigurator installs a bundle, "reference:" is added to its bundle location in order to avoid caching its bundle jar. Otherwise, it will add nothing to any bundle location.
     • Default: true
       • This function is enabled only in case of running on Equinox because there is no standardized way to install a bundle without caching and other frameworks don't support it yet.
6. "org.eclipse.equinox.simpleconfigurator.manipulator": Implementation of ConfiguratorManipulator for SimpleConfigurator.
7. "org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin.examples": examples using FrameworkAdmin.
   • In order to run these tests, read setting.properties in org.eclipse.equinox.frameworkadmin.examples package of this plug-in.
   • This properties file should be set properly in advance.
   • Example of a Java program using FrameworkAdmin is added (Since version 1.1.0)

To understand how a provider implements the APIs, see bundle 1 and 2. To understand how a client uses the API, see bundle 1 and 7.

TBD

Which interface should a method of launch operation belong to?

Currently, a method of launch operation belongs to FrameworkAdmin interface. I can separate this API into another interface like "FrameworkLauncher". But I am not sure how much merit of it would be.

• One merit of the separation is, we can restrict some bundles so that can configure a framework but cannot launch it, by not giving ServicePermission("GET","FrameworkLauncher").
• One demerit of it is, number of interface will be increased by one, even if this interface only has one method.

Version range

Currently, specifying version ranges of framework and launcher that the implementation can support are not supported at the registration of a FrameworkAdmin implementation. It might be required in future.

Launching a framework instance in the Same Process

At this point, launching a framework instance in the same process is not considered yet in this API, explicitly. However, it will be supported in the future.

• What is not sure is “general way of launching a framework instance in the same process”. The API might be able to support it (JavaVM and JavaVM arguments are not used for it obviously).

File or URL or Location newly defined?

Currently, LauncherData keeps most information related with file location, such as location of framework jar implementation, framework configuration, framework persistent data, and so on, as a File object. Due to this design, these must exist on the local machine. It might be better URL or newly defined Location instead of File.

Explicit specifying a framework jar

Currently, a client bundle needs to call LauncherData.setFwJar(File) in advance to doing some operation. Another design can be thought:

• Instead of having no LauncherData.setFwJar(File) method, client should call ConfigData.addBundle(BundleInfo of framework jar) as one of bundles set to ConfigData. The implementation will identify a framework jar among them.

The problems of this approach would be:

• Current OSGi specification doen's standardize how to identify if a jar is framework or not.
  • Identifying a bundle whose manifest has export-package header of "org.osgi.framework" as a framework jar might be used, although it is not a standardized way.
• If the number of bundles which are identified as framework jar is more than one, how to determine the one to be activated ?
  • Maybe, the firstly added one among those framework jars each of which startlevel is 0 would be chosen.
• Currently, FrameworkAdmin implementation of Equinox (since v.1.4.0) support some operation without setting fwJar explicitly by the way described above. To indentify an equinox(osgi) framework, Eclipse based bundle naming format (symbolicname_version.jar) assumption is used.

References

1. Requirements for a new update manager (of Eclipse)
2. Requirements discussed in OSGi Alliance Enterprise Workshop
3. Equinox: Runtime options of Eclipse 3.2
4. Felix: Usage
5. Knopflerfish: Usage