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Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]6 <title>Apache Felix - Apache Felix Usage Documentation</title>
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Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]27 <div class="main">
28<h1><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation"></a>Apache Felix Usage Documentation</h1>
29
30<ul>
31 <li><a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-startingfelix" title="starting-felix on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">Starting Felix</a></li>
32 <li><a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-felixshell" title="felix-shell on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">Felix Shell</a>
33 <ul>
34 <li><a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-installingbundles" title="installing-bundles on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">Installing Bundles</a></li>
35 <li><a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-installingbundlesproxies" title="installing-bundles-proxies on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">Web Proxy Issues when Installing Bundles</a></li>
36 </ul>
37 </li>
38 <li><a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-configuringfelix" title="configuring-felix on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">Configuring Felix</a>
39 <ul>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]40 <li><a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-migrating" title="migrating on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">Migrating from Earlier Versions</a></li>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]41 <li><a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-propertysubstitution" title="property-substitution on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">System Property Substitution</a></li>
42 <li><a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-defaultshell" title="default-shell on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">Changing the Command Shell User Interface</a></li>
43 </ul>
44 </li>
45 <li><a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-configuringbundles" title="configuring-bundles on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">Configuring Bundles</a></li>
46 <li><a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-feedback" title="feedback on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">Feedback</a></li>
47</ul>
48
49
50<p><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-startingfelix"></a></p>
51
52<h2><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-StartingFelix"></a>Starting Felix</h2>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]53
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]54<p>Start Felix from the installation directory by typing:</p>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]55
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]56<div class="preformatted"><div class="preformattedContent">
57<pre>java -jar bin/felix.jar
58</pre>
59</div></div>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]60
61<p>After Felix starts, the text-based shell interface is started. It is possible to <a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-defaultshell" title="default-shell on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">change your default shell user interface</a>. Felix stores all installed bundles into a bundle cache directory. By default, Felix creates a cache directory, called <tt>felix-cache</tt>, in your current working directory; this behavior is configurable, see the <a href="http://felix.apache.org/site/apache-felix-bundle-cache.html" title="Apache Felix Bundle Cache">Apache Felix Bundle Cache</a> document for more details.</p>
62
63<p>If you want to start Felix using a different bundle cache directory, you can start Felix like this:</p>
64
65<div class="preformatted"><div class="preformattedContent">
66<pre>java -jar bin/felix.jar &lt;cache-path&gt;
67</pre>
68</div></div>
69
70<p>Where <tt>&lt;cache-path&gt;</tt> is the path you want to use as the
71bundle cache. If you specify a relative cache path, then it will be
72treated as relative to the current working directory.</p>
73
74<table class="infoMacro" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="8" width="85%"><colgroup><col width="24"><col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><img src="apache-felix-usage-documentation_files/information.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" height="16" width="16"></td><td><b class="strong">Useful Information</b><br>
75<p>Previous versions of Felix prompted for a profile name when executed. The profile name was used to create a directory inside <tt>.felix/</tt>
76in the users home directory. This approach allowed user's to have
77different sets of bundles for different purposes, e.g., testing,
78production, etc. If this behavior is still desired, it is very easy to
79mimic. Modify <tt>conf/config.properties</tt> to include "<tt>felix.cache.rootdir=${user.home}/.felix</tt>". Now, if you start Felix with something like "<tt>java -jar bin/felix.jar foo</tt>", it will use "<tt>${user.home}/.felix/foo/</tt>"
80as the bundle cache directory, where "${user.home}" is automatically
81substituted with the appropriate system property by the launcher.</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]82
83<p><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-felixshell"></a></p>
84
85<h2><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-FelixShell"></a>Felix Shell</h2>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]86
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]87<p>The main way to interact with Felix is via its shell service. Felix'
88shell service is implemented as an OSGi service that, be default, uses
89a simple text-based user interface. After starting Felix, type <tt>help</tt> into the shell to see the list of the available commands; these are the default commands:</p>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]90
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]91<div class="preformatted"><div class="preformattedContent">
92<pre>bundlelevel &lt;level&gt; &lt;id&gt; ... | &lt;id&gt; - set or get bundle start level.
93cd [&lt;base-URL&gt;] - change or display base URL.
94headers [&lt;id&gt; ...] - display bundle header properties.
95help - display shell commands.
96install &lt;URL&gt; [&lt;URL&gt; ...] - install bundle(s).
97obr help - OSGi bundle repository.
98packages [&lt;id&gt; ...] - list exported packages.
99ps [-l | -u] - list installed bundles.
100refresh - refresh packages.
101services [-u] [-a] [&lt;id&gt; ...] - list registered or used services.
102shutdown - shutdown Felix.
103start &lt;id&gt; [&lt;id&gt; &lt;URL&gt; ...] - start bundle(s).
104startlevel [&lt;level&gt;] - get or set framework start level.
105stop &lt;id&gt; [&lt;id&gt; ...] - stop bundle(s).
106uninstall &lt;id&gt; [&lt;id&gt; ...] - uninstall bundle(s).
107update &lt;id&gt; [&lt;URL&gt;] - update bundle.
108version - display version of framework.
109</pre>
110</div></div>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]111
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]112<p>For a detailed description of how to install bundles into Felix refer to the next <a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-installingbundles" title="installing-bundles on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">sub-section</a>; the remainder of this section briefly describes shell behavior.</p>
113
114<p>Despite the fact that the Felix shell tries to mimic a typical Unix-like shell, it is actually quite limited. The notion of <tt>cd</tt>,
115for example, is only used to specify a default base URL in order to
116save typing. To illustrate, assume that you want to install several
117bundles from a directory on your disk, you could type:</p>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]118
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]119<div class="preformatted"><div class="preformattedContent">
120<pre>cd file:/c:/projects/felix/bundle/
121</pre>
122</div></div>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]123
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]124<p>After issuing this <tt>cd</tt> command, you no longer need to type
125the complete URL for bundles located in the above directory, only the
126name of the bundle JAR file is necessary. It is not possible to perform
127an equivalent <tt>ls</tt> command to list the contents of the current
128base URL, since this operation is not possible with URLs. To view all
129currently installed bundles, use the <tt>ps</tt> command.</p>
130
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]131<p>To exit the Felix shell, simply type <tt>stop 0</tt> to stop the
132System Bundle; any installed bundles will automatically be reloaded the
133next time you start the associated profile. Additionally, any active
134bundles will be reactivated the next time you restart the framework
135with the same bundle cache.</p>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]136
137<p><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-installingbundles"></a></p>
138
139<h3><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-InstallingBundles"></a>Installing Bundles</h3>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]140
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]141<p>A bundle is the OSGi term for a component for the OSGi framework. A
142bundle is simply a JAR file containing a manifest and some combination
143of Java classes, embedded JAR files, native code, and resources. A
144bundle may provide some specific functionality for the user or it may
145implement a service that other bundles can use; bundles can only use
146functionality from other bundles through shared services and packages.</p>
147
148<p>Felix is packaged with four bundles, which are located in the <tt>bundle/</tt>
149directory of the Felix installation directory. There are bundles for
150the Felix shell service, a text-based shell service user interface, a
151bundle repository service, and a simple example bundle. In addition to
152these bundles, the bundle repository services provides access to many
153other bundles for easy installation. The bundle repository service
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]154provides a shell command, named <tt>obr</tt>, to access available bundles; refer to the <a href="http://felix.apache.org/site/apache-felix-osgi-bundle-repository.html" title="Apache Felix OSGi Bundle Repository">Apache Felix OSGi Bundle Repository</a> for more information.</p>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]155
156<p>Before installing any bundles, it is important to understand how
157bundles are manually deployed into the framework. Bundles are deployed
158in two stages; first they are installed, then they are started. To
159install a bundle use the <tt>install</tt> shell command followed by a bundle URL. For example, to install the <tt>simple.jar</tt> bundle included with Felix you type (assuming you have started Felix from its installation directory):</p>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]160
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]161<div class="preformatted"><div class="preformattedContent">
162<pre>install file:bundle/simple.jar
163</pre>
164</div></div>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]165
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]166<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>
167shell command is used to list all installed bundles and to obtain the
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]168bundle's identifier. The following Felix shell session capture
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]169illustrates how to start the <tt>simple.jar</tt> bundle:</p>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]170
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]171<div class="preformatted"><div class="preformattedContent">
172<pre>-&gt; install [file:bundle/simple]
173-&gt; ps
174START LEVEL 1
175 ID State Level Name
176[ 0] [Active ] [ 0] System Bundle (0.8.0)
177[ 1] [Active ] [ 1] Shell Service (0.8.0)
178[ 2] [Active ] [ 1] Shell TUI (0.8.0)
179[ 3] [Active ] [ 1] Bundle Repository (0.8.0)
180[ 4] [Installed ] [ 1] Simple (0.8.0)
181-&gt; start 4
182Simple bundle 4 has started.
183From native: Hello!
184From embedded JAR: Hello!
185Entry: META-INF/
186Entry: org/
187Entry: libfoo.so
188The 'javax.servlet.http' package is not available.
189The 'javax.servlet' package is not available.
190-&gt;
191</pre>
192</div></div>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]193
194<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 +0000[diff] [blame]195
196<p>Bundles can be updated using the <tt>update</tt> command. The update
197command allows you to specify an URL from which to retrieve the updated
198bundle, but if one is not specified it will try to update the bundle
199from the bundle's <tt>Bundle-UpdateLocation</tt> manifest attribute, if present, or the bundle's original location URL.</p>
200
201<p><b>Important:</b> When you <tt>update</tt> or <tt>uninstall</tt> a
202bundle, the changes appear to take effect immediately, but in reality
203the changes are only partially enacted. If a bundle is updated or
204uninstalled and it was exporting packages, these packages are not
205removed 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>
206
207<p>For an introduction to writing bundles and services, refer to the Felix bundle tutorial.</p>
208
209<p><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-installingbundlesproxies"></a></p>
210
211<h3><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-WebProxyIssueswhenInstallingBundles"></a>Web Proxy Issues when Installing Bundles</h3>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]212
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]213<p>If you use a proxy for Web access, then you may run into difficulty
214using the Felix shell to install bundles from a remote URL. To remedy
215this situation, certain system properties must be set to make Felix
216work with your proxy. These properties are:</p>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]217
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]218<ul>
219 <li><tt>http.proxyHost</tt> - the name of the proxy host.</li>
220 <li><tt>http.proxyPort</tt> - the port of the proxy host.</li>
221 <li><tt>http.proxyAuth</tt>
222- the user name and password to use when connecting to the proxy; this
223string should be the user name and password separated by a colon (e.g.,
224<tt>rickhall:mypassword</tt>).</li>
225</ul>
226
227
228<p>These system properties can be set directly on the command line when starting the JVM using the standard "<tt>-D&lt;prop&gt;=&lt;value&gt;</tt>" 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="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-configuringfelix" title="configuring-felix on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">configuring Felix</a> for more information.</p>
229
230<p><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-configuringfelix"></a></p>
231
232<h2><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-ConfiguringFelix"></a>Configuring Felix</h2>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]233
234<p>Felix uses properties to configure certain aspects of its behavior. The Felix launcher (i.e., <tt>java -jar bin/felix.jar</tt>) reads configuration properties from two different locations in the installation directory: <tt>conf/system.properties</tt> and <tt>conf/config.properties</tt>. Both files use standard Java property file syntax.</p>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]235
236<p>The <tt>conf/system.properties</tt> file provides a convenient
237mechanism for defining Java system properties, but it is largely
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]238ignored by Felix, since Felix does not typically use system properties
239for configuration purposes. Any properties placed in the <tt>conf/system.properties</tt> file are available at run time via <tt>System.getProperty()</tt> and <tt>BundleContext.getProperty()</tt>. It is also possible to specify a different location for the system properties file by using the <tt>felix.system.properties</tt> system property when executing Felix. For example:</p>
240
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]241<div class="preformatted"><div class="preformattedContent">
242<pre>java -Dfelix.system.properties=file:/home/rickhall/system.properties -jar bin/felix.jar
243</pre>
244</div></div>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]245
246<p>Nearly all Felix configuration occurs using properties in the <tt>conf/config.properties</tt> file. It is possible to change the location of the configuration properties file by specifying a new location value using the <tt>felix.config.properties</tt>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]247system property. It is necessary to use a system property here since
248Felix needs this value to start execution. As an example, the following
249command could be used to specify a custom location for the
250configuration properties file:</p>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]251
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]252<div class="preformatted"><div class="preformattedContent">
253<pre>java -Dfelix.config.properties=file:/home/rickhall/config.properties -jar bin/felix.jar
254</pre>
255</div></div>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]256
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]257<p>In this example the configuration properties will be read from the
258specified URL. All remaining configuration properties should be defined
259in the <tt>config.properties</tt> file itself. All configuration properties are accessible at run time via <tt>BundleContext.getProperty()</tt>.</p>
260
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]261<p>Some configuration properties are handled by Felix' launcher, while
262others are handled by the Felix framework itself. Regardless, both
263launcher and framework configuration properties are placed in the <tt>conf/config.properties</tt> files.</p>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]264
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]265<p>The following are launcher configuration properties:</p>
266
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]267<ul>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]268 <li><tt>felix.auto.install.&lt;n&gt;</tt> - 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>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]269 <li><tt>felix.auto.start.&lt;n&gt;</tt> - 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>
270</ul>
271
272
273<p>The following are framework configuration properties (properties starting with "<tt>felix</tt>" are specific to Felix, while those starting with "<tt>org.osgi</tt>" are standard OSGi properties):</p>
274
275<ul>
276 <li><tt>org.osgi.framework.storage</tt> - Sets the directory to use as the bundle cache; by default bundle cache directory is <tt>felix-cache</tt>
277in the current working directory. The value should be a valid directory
278name. The directory name can be either absolute or relative. Relative
279directory names are relative to the current working directory. The
280specified directory will be created if it does not exist.</li>
281 <li><tt>org.osgi.framework.storage.clean</tt> - Determines whether the bundle cache is flushed. The value can either be "<tt>none</tt>" or "<tt>onFirstInit</tt>", where "<tt>none</tt>" does not flush the bundle cache and "<tt>onFirstInit</tt>" flushes the bundle cache when the framework instance is first initialized. The default value is "<tt>none</tt>".</li>
282 <li><tt>felix.cache.rootdir</tt> - Sets the root directory to use to calculate the bundle cache directory for relative directory names. If <tt>org.osgi.framework.storage</tt>
283is set to a relative name, by default it is relative to the current
284working directory. If this property is set, then it will be calculated
285as being relative to the specified root directory.</li>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]286 <li><tt>felix.cache.bufsize</tt>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]287- Sets the buffer size to be used by the cache; the default value is
2884096. The integer value of this string provides control over the size
289of the internal buffer of the disk cache for performance reasons.</li>
290 <li><tt>org.osgi.framework.system.packages</tt>
291- Specifies a comma-delimited list of packages that should be exported
292via the System Bundle from the parent class loader. The framework will
293set this to a reasonable default. If the value is specified, it
294replaces any default value.</li>
295 <li><tt>org.osgi.framework.system.packages.extra</tt>
296- Specifies a comma-delimited list of packages that should be exported
297via the System Bundle from the parent class loader in addition to the
298packages 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>
299 <li><tt>org.osgi.framework.bootdelegation</tt>
300- Specifies a comma-delimited list of packages that should be made
301implicitly available to all bundles from the parent class loader. It is
302recommended not to use this property since it breaks modularity. The
303default value is empty.</li>
304 <li><tt>felix.systembundle.activators</tt> - A <tt>List</tt> of <tt>BundleActivator</tt>
305instances that are started/stopped when the System Bundle is
306started/stopped. The specified instances will receive the System
Karl Pauls4994cb02008-12-20 17:15:21 +0000[diff] [blame]307Bundle's <tt>BundleContext</tt> when invoked. (This property cannot be
308set in the configuration file since it requires instances; it can only
309be passed into Felix' constructor directly.)</li>
310 <li><tt>felix.log.logger</tt> - An instance of <tt>Logger</tt>
311that the framework uses as its default logger. (This property cannot be
312set in the configuration file since it requires an instance; it can
313only be passed into Felix' constructor directly.)</li>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]314 <li><tt>felix.log.level</tt>
315- An integer value indicating the degree of logging reported by the
316framework; the higher the value the more logging is reported. If zero
317('0') is specified, then logging is turned off completely. The log
318levels match those specified in the OSGi Log Service (i.e., 1 = error,
3192 = warning, 3 = information, and 4 = debug). The default value is 1.</li>
320 <li><tt>org.osgi.framework.startlevel</tt> - The initial start level of the framework once it starts execution; the default value is 1.</li>
321 <li><tt>felix.startlevel.bundle</tt> - The default start level for newly installed bundles; the default value is 1.</li>
322 <li><tt>felix.service.urlhandlers</tt> - Flag to indicate whether to activate the URL Handlers service for the framework instance; the default value is "<tt>true</tt>". Activating the URL Handlers service will result in the <tt>URL.setURLStreamHandlerFactory()</tt> and <tt>URLConnection.setContentHandlerFactory()</tt> being called.</li>
323 <li><tt>felix.fragment.validation</tt> - Determines if installing unsupported fragment bundles throws an exception or logs a warning. Possible values are "<tt>exception</tt>" or "<tt>warning</tt>". The default value is "<tt>exception</tt>".</li>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]324</ul>
325
326
327<p>The Felix installation contains a default <tt>conf/config.properties</tt> file for automatically starting the shell-related bundles.</p>
328
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]329<p><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-migrating"></a></p>
330
331<h3><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-MigratingfromEarlierVersions"></a>Migrating from Earlier Versions</h3>
332
333<p>The release of Felix <tt>1.4.0</tt> introduced some configuration property changes. This section describes the differences from older versions of Felix.</p>
334
335<ul>
336 <li><b>Removed</b>
337 <ul>
338 <li><tt>felix.embedded.execution</tt> - 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>
339 <li><tt>felix.strict.osgi</tt> - No longer needed, since all non-specification features have been removed.</li>
340 <li><tt>felix.cache.dir</tt> - No longer needed, since Felix no longer uses bundle cache profiles for saving sets of bundles.</li>
341 <li><tt>felix.cache.profile</tt> - No longer needed, since Felix no longer uses bundle cache profiles for saving sets of bundles.</li>
342 </ul>
343 </li>
344 <li><b>Renamed</b>
345 <ul>
346 <li><tt>felix.cache.profiledir</tt> - The equivalent of this property is now named <tt>org.osgi.framework.storage</tt>.</li>
347 <li><tt>felix.startlevel.framework</tt> - The equivalent of this property is now named <tt>org.osgi.framework.startlevel</tt>.</li>
348 </ul>
349 </li>
350 <li><b>Introduced</b>
351 <ul>
352 <li><tt>org.osgi.framework.system.packages.extra</tt> - New property, as described above, added to align with standard framework API.</li>
353 <li><tt>org.osgi.framework.storage.clean</tt> - New property, as described above, added to align with standard framework API.</li>
354 <li><tt>felix.cache.rootdir</tt> - Introduced as a result of removing bundle profiles to help resolve relative bundle cache directories.</li>
355 <li><tt>felix.fragment.validation</tt> - 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>
356 </ul>
357 </li>
358</ul>
359
360
361<p>For the most part, these changes are minor and previous behavior
362achieved from older configuration properties is either easily attained
363with the new properties or no longer necessary.</p>
364
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]365<p><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-propertysubstitution"></a></p>
366
367<h3><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-SystemPropertySubstituion"></a>System Property Substituion</h3>
368<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>
369is the name of a system property to substitute. When such a property
370value is retrieved by a bundle, the system property value will be
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]371substituted into the bundle property value as appropriate. It is
372possible to have nested system property substitution, in which case the
373inner-most property is substituted first, then the next inner most,
374until reaching the outer most.</p>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]375
376<p><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-defaultshell"></a></p>
377
378<h3><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-ChangingtheCommandShellUserInterface"></a>Changing the Command Shell User Interface</h3>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]379
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]380<p>Felix' shell service supports multiple user interface
381implementations; the default shell user interface is text-based, but a
382simple graphical shell is also available. To change the default shell
383user interface, you must download the Shell GUI and Shell GUI Plugin
384bundles. Then you must modify the <tt>felix.auto.start</tt> property in the <tt>conf/config.properties</tt> file of your Felix installation. For the text-based user interface, the property value should look like this:</p>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]385
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]386<div class="preformatted"><div class="preformattedContent">
387<pre>felix.auto.start.1=file:bundle/shell.jar file:bundle/shelltui.jar \
388 file:bundle/bundlerepository.jar
389</pre>
390</div></div>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]391
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]392<p>This property value instructs Felix to automatically start the shell
393service, the shell textual user interface, and the bundle repository. (<em>Note:
394The "\" character at the end of the above line indicates that the
395property value continues on the next line; it is also possible to
396specify the property value on one line.</em>) For the GUI-based shell user interface, the property value should look something like this:</p>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]397
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]398<div class="preformatted"><div class="preformattedContent">
399<pre>felix.auto.start.1=file:bundle/shell.jar file:bundle/bundlerepository.jar \
400 file:bundle/shellgui.jar file:bundle/shellplugin.jar
401</pre>
402</div></div>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]403
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]404<p>This property value instructs Felix to automatically start the shell
405service, the bundle repository, the shell GUI, and the shell GUI
406plugins.</p>
407
408<p><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-configuringbundles"></a></p>
409
410<h2><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-ConfiguringBundles"></a>Configuring Bundles</h2>
Karl Paulsf7d389c2008-11-06 16:22:54 +0000[diff] [blame]411
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]412<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>.
413It is a good idea, when implementing bundles, to parameterize them with
414properties where appropriate. To learn about the configuration options
415for specific bundles, refer to the documentation that accompanies them.</p>
416
417<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>
418at run time. The property file uses the standard Java property file
419syntax (i.e., attribute-value pairs). For information on changing the
420default location of this file, refer to the section on <a href="#ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-configuringfelix" title="configuring-felix on Apache Felix Usage Documentation">configuring Felix</a>.</p>
421
422<p><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-feedback"></a></p>
423
424<h2><a name="ApacheFelixUsageDocumentation-Feedback"></a>Feedback</h2>
425
Karl Pauls4994cb02008-12-20 17:15:21 +0000[diff] [blame]426<p>Subscribe to the Felix users mailing list by sending a message to <span class="nobr"><a href="mailto:users-subscribe@felix.apache.org" title="Send mail to users-subscribe@felix.apache.org" rel="nofollow">users-subscribe@felix.apache.org<sup><img class="rendericon" src="apache-felix-usage-documentation_files/mail_small.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" height="12" width="13"></sup></a></span>; after subscribing, email questions or feedback to <span class="nobr"><a href="mailto:users@felix.apache.org" title="Send mail to users@felix.apache.org" rel="nofollow">users@felix.apache.org<sup><img class="rendericon" src="apache-felix-usage-documentation_files/mail_small.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" height="12" width="13"></sup></a></span>.</p>
Richard S. Hall2cd5bed2007-07-16 20:32:41 +0000[diff] [blame]427 </div>
Karl Pauls4994cb02008-12-20 17:15:21 +0000[diff] [blame]428 </body></html>