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Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +00003
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Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +00006 <title>Apache Felix - Apache Felix Usage Documentation</title>
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Karl Pauls6721c022008-12-20 17:15:21 +000010 <div class="title"><div class="logo"><a href="http://felix.apache.org/site/index.html"><img alt="Apache Felix" src="apache-felix-usage-documentation_files/logo.png" border="0"></a></div><div class="header"><a href="http://www.apache.org/"><img alt="Apache" src="apache-felix-usage-documentation_files/apache.png" border="0"></a></div></div>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000011 <div class="menu">
Karl Pauls6721c022008-12-20 17:15:21 +000012<ul>
Karl Pauls44987e52007-09-16 20:54:55 +000013 <li><a href="http://felix.apache.org/site/news.html" title="news">news</a></li>
Karl Pauls44987e52007-09-16 20:54:55 +000014 <li><a href="http://felix.apache.org/site/license.html" title="license">license</a></li>
15 <li><span class="nobr"><a href="http://felix.apache.org/site/downloads.cgi" title="Visit page outside Confluence" rel="nofollow">downloads<sup><img class="rendericon" src="apache-felix-usage-documentation_files/linkext7.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" height="7" width="7"></sup></a></span></li>
16 <li><a href="http://felix.apache.org/site/documentation.html" title="documentation">documentation</a></li>
17 <li><a href="http://felix.apache.org/site/mailinglists.html" title="mailinglists">mailing lists</a></li>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000018 <li><a href="http://felix.apache.org/site/contributing.html" title="Contributing">contributing</a></li>
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Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000027 <div class="main">
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000028<H1><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation"></A>Apache Felix Framework Usage Documentation</H1>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000029
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000030<UL>
31 <LI><A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-downloadingframework">Downloading the Framework</A></LI>
32 <LI><A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-startingframework">Starting the Framework</A></LI>
33 <LI><A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-frameworkshell">Framework Shell</A>
34
35 <UL>
36 <LI><A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-installingbundles">Installing Bundles</A></LI>
37 <LI><A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-installingbundlesproxies">Web Proxy Issues when Installing Bundles</A></LI>
38 </UL>
39 </LI>
40 <LI><A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-configuringframework">Configuring the Framework</A>
41 <UL>
42
43 <LI><A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-migrating">Migrating from Earlier Versions</A></LI>
44 <LI><A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-propertysubstitution">System Property Substitution</A></LI>
45 </UL>
46 </LI>
47 <LI><A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-configuringbundles">Configuring Bundles</A></LI>
48 <LI><A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-feedback">Feedback</A></LI>
49</UL>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000050
51
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000052<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-downloadingframework"></A></P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000053
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000054<H2><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-DownloadingtheFramework"></A>Downloading the Framework</H2>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000055
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000056<P>Go to the <A href="downloads.html" title="downloads">downloads</A> page and download the latest Felix framework distribution.</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000057
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000058<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-startingframework"></A></P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000059
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000060<H2><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-StartingtheFramework"></A>Starting the Framework</H2>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000061
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000062<P>Start the framework from the installation directory by typing:</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000063
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000064<DIV class="preformatted panel" style="border-width: 1px;"><DIV class="preformattedContent panelContent">
65<PRE>java -jar bin/felix.jar
66</PRE>
67</DIV></DIV>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000068
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000069<P>The framework launcher starts the framework and installs a bundles contained in the <TT>bundle</TT> directory of the current directory. By default, the bundle directory contains a simple text-based shell to interact with the framework. Bundles installed into the framework are copied into a bundle cache directory for subsequent executions. By default, the framework creates a cache directory, called <TT>felix-cache</TT>, in your current working directory; this behavior is configurable, see the <A href="apache-felix-framework-bundle-cache.html" title="Apache Felix Framework Bundle Cache">Apache Felix Framework Bundle Cache</A> document for more details.</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000070
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000071<P>If you want to start the framework using a different bundle cache directory, you can do so like this:</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000072
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000073<DIV class="preformatted panel" style="border-width: 1px;"><DIV class="preformattedContent panelContent">
74<PRE>java -jar bin/felix.jar &lt;cache-path&gt;
75</PRE>
76</DIV></DIV>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000077
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000078<P>Where <TT>&lt;cache-path&gt;</TT> is the path you want to use as the bundle cache. If you specify a relative cache path, then it will be treated as relative to the current working directory.</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000079
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000080<DIV class="panelMacro"><TABLE class="infoMacro"><COLGROUP><COL width="24"><COL></COLGROUP><TR><TD valign="top"><IMG src="http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/images/icons/emoticons/information.gif" width="16" height="16" align="absmiddle" alt="" border="0"></TD><TD><B>Useful Information</B><BR><P>Previous versions of the framework prompted for a profile name when executed. The profile name was used to create a directory inside <TT>.felix/</TT> in the user home directory. This approach allowed users to have different sets of bundles for different purposes, e.g., testing, production, etc. If this behavior is still desired, it is very easy to mimic. Modify <TT>conf/config.properties</TT> to include &quot;<TT>felix.cache.rootdir=${user.home}/.felix</TT>&quot;. Now, if you start Felix with something like &quot;<TT>java -jar bin/felix.jar foo</TT>&quot;, it will use &quot;<TT>${user.home}/.felix/foo/</TT>&quot; as the bundle cache directory, where &quot;<TT>${user.home</TT>}&quot; is automatically substituted with the appropriate system property by the launcher.</P></TD></TR></TABLE></DIV>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000081
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000082<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-frameworkshell"></A></P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000083
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000084<H2><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-FrameworkShell"></A>Framework Shell</H2>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000085
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000086<P>The main way to interact with the framework is via its shell. Felix' shell is implemented as an OSGi service that, be default, uses a simple text-based user interface. After starting the framework, type <TT>help</TT> into the shell to see the list of the available commands and <TT>help &lt;command-name&gt;</TT> to get help for a specific command.</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000087
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000088<P>To install bundles, use the <TT>install</TT> command, which is described in more detail in the next <A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-installingbundles">sub-section</A>. To view all currently installed bundles, use the <TT>ps</TT> command. To stop the framework type <TT>stop 0</TT> to stop the System Bundle; any installed bundles will automatically be reloaded (and potentially restarted) the next time you launch with the associated cache.</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000089
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000090<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-installingbundles"></A></P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000091
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000092<H3><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-InstallingBundles"></A>Installing Bundles</H3>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000093
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000094<P>A bundle is the OSGi term for a component for the OSGi framework. A bundle is simply a JAR file containing a manifest and some combination of Java classes, embedded JAR files, native code, and resources. A bundle may provide some specific functionality for the user or it may implement a service that other bundles can use; bundles can only use functionality from other bundles through shared services and packages.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000095
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000096<P>The Felix framework is packaged with three bundles, which are located in the <TT>bundle/</TT> directory of the framework installation directory. There are bundles for the Felix shell service, a text-based shell service user interface, and a bundle repository service. In addition to these bundles, the bundle repository services provides access to other bundles for easy installation. The bundle repository service provides a shell command, named <TT>obr</TT>, to access available bundles; refer to the <A href="apache-felix-osgi-bundle-repository.html" title="Apache Felix OSGi Bundle Repository">Apache Felix OSGi Bundle Repository</A> for more information.</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +000097
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +000098<P>Before installing any bundles, it is important to understand how bundles are manually deployed into the framework. Bundles are deployed in two stages; first they are installed, then they are started. To install a bundle use the <TT>install</TT> shell command followed by a bundle URL. For example, to install a <TT>bundle.jar</TT> bundle you type (assuming you have started Felix from its installation directory):</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +000099
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000100<DIV class="preformatted panel" style="border-width: 1px;"><DIV class="preformattedContent panelContent">
101<PRE>install file:/path/to/bundle/bundle.jar
102</PRE>
103</DIV></DIV>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000104
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000105<P>Once a bundle is installed, it can then be started by using the <TT>start</TT> command and the bundle identifier of the desired bundle. The <TT>ps</TT> shell command is used to list all installed bundles and to obtain the bundle's identifier. The following Felix shell session capture illustrates how to start the <TT>bundle.jar</TT> bundle:</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000106
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000107<DIV class="preformatted panel" style="border-width: 1px;"><DIV class="preformattedContent panelContent">
108<PRE>-&gt; install [file:bundle/simple]
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000109-&gt; ps
110START LEVEL 1
111 ID State Level Name
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000112[ 0] [Active ] [ 0] System Bundle (2.0.0)
113[ 1] [Active ] [ 1] Shell Service (1.4.0)
114[ 2] [Active ] [ 1] Shell TUI (1.4.0)
115[ 3] [Active ] [ 1] Bundle Repository (1.4.0)
116[ 4] [Installed ] [ 1] Bundle Example (1.0.0)
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000117-&gt; start 4
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000118Hello from Bundle 4.
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000119-&gt;
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000120</PRE>
121</DIV></DIV>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000122
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000123<P>The <TT>stop</TT> command is used to stop a bundle and the <TT>uninstall</TT> command is used to remove a bundle from the bundle cache. As an alternative to using the <TT>install</TT> and <TT>start</TT> commands explicitly, it is also possible to install and start a bundle in one step by using the <TT>start</TT> command with a bundle URL.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000124
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000125<P>Bundles can be updated using the <TT>update</TT> command. The update command allows you to specify an URL from which to retrieve the updated bundle, but if one is not specified it will try to update the bundle from the bundle's <TT>Bundle-UpdateLocation</TT> manifest attribute, if present, or the bundle's original location URL.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000126
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000127<P><B>Important:</B> When you <TT>update</TT> or <TT>uninstall</TT> a bundle, the changes appear to take effect immediately, but in reality the changes are only partially enacted. If a bundle is updated or uninstalled and it was exporting packages, these packages are not removed until the framework is refreshed using the <TT>PackageAdmin</TT> service. The Felix shell offers a convenient <TT>refresh</TT> command for this purpose.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000128
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000129<P>For an introduction to writing bundles and services, refer to the Felix bundle tutorial.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000130
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000131<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-installingbundlesproxies"></A></P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000132
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000133<H3><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-WebProxyIssueswhenInstallingBundles"></A>Web Proxy Issues when Installing Bundles</H3>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000134
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000135<P>If you use a proxy for Web access, then you may run into difficulty using the Felix shell to install bundles from a remote URL. To remedy this situation, certain system properties must be set to make Felix work with your proxy. These properties are:</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000136
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000137<UL>
138 <LI><TT>http.proxyHost</TT> &#45; the name of the proxy host.</LI>
139
140 <LI><TT>http.proxyPort</TT> &#45; the port of the proxy host.</LI>
141 <LI><TT>http.proxyAuth</TT> &#45; the user name and password to use when connecting to the proxy; this string should be the user name and password separated by a colon (e.g., <TT>rickhall:mypassword</TT>).</LI>
142</UL>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000143
144
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000145<P>These system properties can be set directly on the command line when starting the JVM using the standard &quot;<TT>&#45;D&lt;prop&gt;=&lt;value&gt;</TT>&quot; syntax or you can put them in the <TT>lib/system.properties</TT> file of your Felix installation; see the next section on <A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-configuringframework">configuring Felix</A> for more information.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000146
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000147<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-configuringframework"></A></P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000148
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000149<H2><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-ConfiguringtheFramework"></A>Configuring the Framework</H2>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000150
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000151<P>Both the Felix framework and the launcher use configuration properties to alter their default behavior. The framework can only be configured by passing properties into its constructor, but the launcher provides a mechanism to configure the framework via a property file. The launcher The Felix framework uses properties to configure certain aspects of its behavior. The framework launcher reads configuration properties from <TT>conf/config.properties</TT>. This file uses standard Java property file syntax.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000152
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000153<P>The launcher also supports setting system properties via the <TT>conf/system.properties</TT> file. This file is purely for convenience when you need to repeatedly set system properties when running the framework. While the framework itself does not look at system properties, the launcher does copy any framework configuration properties found in the system properties into the framework configuration map, also for your convenience.</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000154
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000155<P>It is possible to specify a different locations for these property files for the system properties file by using the <TT>felix.config.properties</TT> and <TT>felix.system.properties</TT> system properties when executing the framework. For example:</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000156
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000157<DIV class="preformatted panel" style="border-width: 1px;"><DIV class="preformattedContent panelContent">
158<PRE>java -Dfelix.config.properties=file:/home/rickhall/config.properties -jar bin/felix.jar
159</PRE>
160</DIV></DIV>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000161
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000162<P>Configuration and system properties are accessible at run time via <TT>BundleContext.getProperty()</TT>, but configuration properties override system properties.</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000163
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000164<P>The following configuration properties are specifically for the launcher:</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000165
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000166<UL>
167 <LI><TT>felix.auto.deploy.dir</TT> &#45; Specifies the auto-deploy directory from which bundles are automatically deploy at framework startup. The default is the <TT>bundle/</TT> directory of the current directory.</LI>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000168
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000169 <LI><TT>felix.auto.deploy.action</TT> &#45; Specifies the auto-deploy actions to be found on bundle JAR files found in the auto-deploy directory. The possible actions are <TT>install</TT>, <TT>update</TT>, <TT>start</TT>, and <TT>uninstall</TT>. The default value is <TT>install</TT>, <TT>update</TT>, and <TT>start</TT>.</LI>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000170
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000171 <LI><TT>felix.auto.install.&lt;n&gt;</TT> &#45; Space-delimited list of bundle URLs to automatically install when Felix is started, where <TT>&lt;n&gt;</TT> is the start level into which the bundle will be installed (e.g., <TT>felix.auto.install.2</TT>).</LI>
172 <LI><TT>felix.auto.start.&lt;n&gt;</TT> &#45; Space-delimited list of bundle URLs to automatically install and start when Felix is started, where <TT>&lt;n&gt;</TT> is the start level into which the bundle will be installed (e.g., <TT>felix.auto.start.2</TT>).</LI>
173
174 <LI><TT>felix.shutdown.hook</TT> &#45; Specifies whether the launcher should install a shutdown hook to cleanly shutdown the framework on process exit. The default value is <TT>true</TT>.</LI>
175</UL>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000176
177
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000178<P>The following are framework configuration properties (properties starting with &quot;<TT>felix</TT>&quot; are specific to Felix, while those starting with &quot;<TT>org.osgi</TT>&quot; are standard OSGi properties):</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000179
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000180<UL>
181 <LI><TT>org.osgi.framework.storage</TT> &#45; Sets the directory to use as the bundle cache; by default bundle cache directory is <TT>felix-cache</TT> in the current working directory. The value should be a valid directory name. The directory name can be either absolute or relative. Relative directory names are relative to the current working directory. The specified directory will be created if it does not exist.</LI>
182 <LI><TT>org.osgi.framework.storage.clean</TT> &#45; Determines whether the bundle cache is flushed. The value can either be &quot;<TT>none</TT>&quot; or &quot;<TT>onFirstInit</TT>&quot;, where &quot;<TT>none</TT>&quot; does not flush the bundle cache and &quot;<TT>onFirstInit</TT>&quot; flushes the bundle cache when the framework instance is first initialized. The default value is &quot;<TT>none</TT>&quot;.</LI>
183
184 <LI><TT>felix.cache.rootdir</TT> &#45; Sets the root directory to use to calculate the bundle cache directory for relative directory names. If <TT>org.osgi.framework.storage</TT> is set to a relative name, by default it is relative to the current working directory. If this property is set, then it will be calculated as being relative to the specified root directory.</LI>
185 <LI><TT>felix.cache.bufsize</TT> &#45; Sets the buffer size to be used by the cache; the default value is 4096. The integer value of this string provides control over the size of the internal buffer of the disk cache for performance reasons.</LI>
186 <LI><TT>org.osgi.framework.system.packages</TT> &#45; Specifies a comma-delimited list of packages that should be exported via the System Bundle from the parent class loader. The framework will set this to a reasonable default. If the value is specified, it replaces any default value.</LI>
187
188 <LI><TT>org.osgi.framework.system.packages.extra</TT> &#45; Specifies a comma-delimited list of packages that should be exported via the System Bundle from the parent class loader in addition to the packages in <TT>org.osgi.framework.system.packages</TT>. The default value is empty. If a value is specified, it is appended to the list of default or specified packages in <TT>org.osgi.framework.system.packages</TT>.</LI>
189 <LI><TT>org.osgi.framework.bootdelegation</TT> &#45; Specifies a comma-delimited list of packages that should be made implicitly available to all bundles from the parent class loader. It is recommended not to use this property since it breaks modularity. The default value is empty.</LI>
190 <LI><TT>felix.systembundle.activators</TT> &#45; A <TT>List</TT> of <TT>BundleActivator</TT> instances that are started/stopped when the System Bundle is started/stopped. The specified instances will receive the System Bundle's <TT>BundleContext</TT> when invoked. (This property cannot be set in the configuration file since it requires instances; it can only be passed into Felix' constructor directly.)</LI>
191
192 <LI><TT>felix.log.logger</TT> &#45; An instance of <TT>Logger</TT> that the framework uses as its default logger. (This property cannot be set in the configuration file since it requires an instance; it can only be passed into Felix' constructor directly.)</LI>
193 <LI><TT>felix.log.level</TT> &#45; An integer value indicating the degree of logging reported by the framework; the higher the value the more logging is reported. If zero ('0') is specified, then logging is turned off completely. The log levels match those specified in the OSGi Log Service (i.e., 1 = error, 2 = warning, 3 = information, and 4 = debug). The default value is 1.</LI>
194 <LI><TT>org.osgi.framework.startlevel.beginning</TT> &#45; The initial start level of the framework once it starts execution; the default value is 1.</LI>
195
196 <LI><TT>felix.startlevel.bundle</TT> &#45; The default start level for newly installed bundles; the default value is 1.</LI>
197 <LI><TT>felix.service.urlhandlers</TT> &#45; Flag to indicate whether to activate the URL Handlers service for the framework instance; the default value is &quot;<TT>true</TT>&quot;. Activating the URL Handlers service will result in the <TT>URL.setURLStreamHandlerFactory()</TT> and <TT>URLConnection.setContentHandlerFactory()</TT> being called.</LI>
198
199 <LI><TT>felix.fragment.validation</TT> &#45; Determines if installing unsupported fragment bundles throws an exception or logs a warning. Possible values are &quot;<TT>exception</TT>&quot; or &quot;<TT>warning</TT>&quot;. The default value is &quot;<TT>exception</TT>&quot;.</LI>
200</UL>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000201
202
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000203<P>The Felix installation contains a default <TT>conf/config.properties</TT> file for automatically starting the shell-related bundles.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000204
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000205<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-migrating"></A></P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000206
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000207<H3><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-MigratingfromEarlierVersions"></A>Migrating from Earlier Versions</H3>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000208
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000209<P>Apache Felix Framework <TT>1.4.0</TT> introduced some configuration property changes. This section describes the differences from older versions of the framework.</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000210
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000211<UL>
212 <LI><B>Removed</B>
213 <UL>
214
215 <LI><TT>felix.embedded.execution</TT> &#45; No longer needed, since the framework now never calls <TT>System.exit()</TT>; the creator of the framework is now always responsible for exiting the VM.</LI>
216 <LI><TT>felix.strict.osgi</TT> &#45; No longer needed, since all non-specification features have been removed.</LI>
217 <LI><TT>felix.cache.dir</TT> &#45; No longer needed, since Felix no longer uses bundle cache profiles for saving sets of bundles.</LI>
218
219 <LI><TT>felix.cache.profile</TT> &#45; No longer needed, since Felix no longer uses bundle cache profiles for saving sets of bundles.</LI>
220 </UL>
221 </LI>
222 <LI><B>Renamed</B>
223 <UL>
224 <LI><TT>felix.cache.profiledir</TT> &#45; The equivalent of this property is now named <TT>org.osgi.framework.storage</TT>.</LI>
225
226 <LI><TT>felix.startlevel.framework</TT> &#45; The equivalent of this property is now named <TT>org.osgi.framework.startlevel.beginning</TT>.</LI>
227 </UL>
228 </LI>
229 <LI><B>Introduced</B>
230 <UL>
231
232 <LI><TT>org.osgi.framework.system.packages.extra</TT> &#45; New property, as described above, added to align with standard framework API.</LI>
233 <LI><TT>org.osgi.framework.storage.clean</TT> &#45; New property, as described above, added to align with standard framework API.</LI>
234 <LI><TT>felix.cache.rootdir</TT> &#45; Introduced as a result of removing bundle profiles to help resolve relative bundle cache directories.</LI>
235
236 <LI><TT>felix.fragment.validation</TT> &#45; Introduced to control fragment validation, since the default behavior introduced in <TT>1.2.0</TT> of throwing an exception for fragments using unsupported features was causing issues for some users.</LI>
237 </UL>
238 </LI>
239</UL>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000240
241
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000242<P>For the most part, these changes are minor and previous behavior achieved from older configuration properties is either easily attained with the new properties or no longer necessary.</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000243
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000244<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-propertysubstitution"></A></P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000245
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000246<H3><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-SystemPropertySubstituion"></A>System Property Substituion</H3>
247<P>It is possible to use system properties to specify the values of properties in the <TT>conf/config.properties</TT> file. This is achieved through system property substitution, which is instigated by using <TT>${&lt;property&gt;</TT>} syntax, where <TT>&lt;property&gt;</TT> is the name of a system property to substitute. When such a property value is retrieved by a bundle, the system property value will be substituted into the bundle property value as appropriate. It is possible to have nested system property substitution, in which case the inner-most property is substituted first, then the next inner most, until reaching the outer most.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000248
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000249<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-defaultshell"></A></P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000250
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000251<H3><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-ChangingtheCommandShellUserInterface"></A>Changing the Command Shell User Interface</H3>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000252
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000253<P>Felix' shell service supports multiple user interface implementations; the default shell user interface is text-based, but a simple graphical shell is also available. To change the default shell user interface, you must download the Shell GUI and Shell GUI Plugin bundles. Then you must modify the <TT>felix.auto.start</TT> property in the <TT>conf/config.properties</TT> file of your framework installation. For the text-based user interface, the property value should look like this:</P>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000254
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000255<DIV class="preformatted panel" style="border-width: 1px;"><DIV class="preformattedContent panelContent">
256<PRE>felix.auto.start.1=file:bundle/shell.jar file:bundle/shelltui.jar \
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000257 file:bundle/bundlerepository.jar
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000258</PRE>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000259
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000260</DIV></DIV>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000261
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000262<P>This property value instructs the framework launcher to automatically start the shell service, the shell textual user interface, and the bundle repository. (<EM>Note: The &quot;\&quot; character at the end of the above line indicates that the property value continues on the next line; it is also possible to specify the property value on one line.</EM>) For the GUI-based shell user interface, the property value should look something like this:</P>
263
264<DIV class="preformatted panel" style="border-width: 1px;"><DIV class="preformattedContent panelContent">
265<PRE>felix.auto.start.1=file:bundle/shell.jar file:bundle/bundlerepository.jar \
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000266 file:bundle/shellgui.jar file:bundle/shellplugin.jar
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000267</PRE>
268</DIV></DIV>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000269
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000270<P>This property value instructs the framework launcher to automatically start the shell service, the bundle repository, the shell GUI, and the shell GUI plugins.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000271
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000272<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-configuringbundles"></A></P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000273
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000274<H2><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-ConfiguringBundles"></A>Configuring Bundles</H2>
Karl Pauls3d699792008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000275
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000276<P>Some bundles use properties to configure certain aspects of their behavior. As an example, the default URL for the <TT>cd</TT> command of the shell service can be specified using the property <TT>felix.shell.baseurl</TT>. It is a good idea, when implementing bundles, to parameterize them with properties where appropriate. To learn about the configuration options for specific bundles, refer to the documentation that accompanies them.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000277
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000278<P>Bundle properties are also defined in the <TT>conf/config.properties</TT> property file. Any property placed in this file will be accessible via <TT>BundleContext.getProperty()</TT> at run time. The property file uses the standard Java property file syntax (i.e., attribute-value pairs). For information on changing the default location of this file, refer to the section on <A href="#ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-configuringframework">configuring Felix</A>.</P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000279
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000280<P><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-feedback"></A></P>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000281
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000282<H2><A name="ApacheFelixFrameworkUsageDocumentation-Feedback"></A>Feedback</H2>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000283
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000284<P>Subscribe to the Felix users mailing list by sending a message to <A href="mailto:users-subscribe@felix.apache.org" rel="nofollow">users-subscribe@felix.apache.org</A>; after subscribing, email questions or feedback to <A href="mailto:users@felix.apache.org" rel="nofollow">users@felix.apache.org</A>.</P>
285
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000286 </div>
Karl Pauls3992b552009-09-06 22:21:18 +0000287 </body></html>