OSGi R8, Felix 7, Atomos and the future of OSGi@Eclipse

OSGi provides a great foundation for developing modular software. The combination of the OSGi activation model with the OSGi service model provides for an unparalleled platform for developing loosely coupled components that are highly configurable at runtime. Sometimes, however, it can be challenging to live within the OSGi module layer as it is defined today - for example, when using Java modules built into a jlink image or run from the module path, or when an application is natively compiled using something like Graal Substrate, or is just JARs included on the flat class path.

In this talk, we will introduce the new OSGi Core Release 8 specification and a new feature called OSGi Connect. OSGi Connect allows you to use the OSGi activation model and OSGi service registry in environments where it would be difficult to realize without Connect. We will go into the details of the new Apache Felix Atomos project which uses OSGi Connect along with an OSGi R8 compliant framework, like Felix 7, to support loading OSGi bundles in ways that were typically not possible before with a focus on how Atomos can be used together with Felix 7 in Sling. For that, we will discuss and demo a Sling application that can run in a variety of environments, including a jlink image.

Finally, we will give an update on the move of OSGi to the Eclipse foundation. We'll briefly discuss how OSGi works at Eclipse and which specs to look out for in the near future.