karaf-maven-plugin: Defining a dependency as a feature

Question

I am trying to make the karaf-maven-plugin generate a feature file for my application. The application depends on the cxf feature, but i can't seem to make the plugin generate the feature xml to reflect this.

Cutout from my feature module:

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.test.test</groupId>
            <artifactId>test</artifactId>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <pluginManagement>
            <plugins>
                <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.apache.karaf.tooling</groupId>
                    <artifactId>karaf-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                    <version>3.0.3</version>
                    <extensions>true</extensions>
                </plugin>
            </plugins>
        </pluginManagement>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.karaf.tooling</groupId>
        <artifactId>karaf-maven-plugin</artifactId>
          <configuration>
            <startLevel>80</startLevel>
        <includeTransitiveDependency>true</includeTransitiveDependency>
        <aggregateFeatures>false</aggregateFeatures>
          </configuration>
        </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

The dependencies from my module:

            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
                <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
                <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
                <artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
                <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>

            <dependency>
                <groupId>log4j</groupId>
                <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
                <version>1.2.17</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>

            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.osgi</groupId>
                <artifactId>org.osgi.core</artifactId>
                <version>5.0.0</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.osgi</groupId>
                <artifactId>org.osgi.compendium</artifactId>
                <version>5.0.0</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.felix</groupId>
                <artifactId>org.apache.felix.configadmin</artifactId>
                <version>1.8.0</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.mybatis</groupId>
                <artifactId>mybatis</artifactId>
                <version>3.2.8</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>

            <dependency>
                <groupId>junit</groupId>
                <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
                <version>4.12</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>

            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
                <artifactId>cxf-rt-frontend-jaxrs</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <!-- use extension providers -->
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
                <artifactId>cxf-rt-rs-extension-providers</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <!-- use Jackson -->
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
                <artifactId>jackson-jaxrs</artifactId>
                <version>1.9.13</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
                <artifactId>jackson-xc</artifactId>
                <version>1.9.13</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>

            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
                <artifactId>cxf-rt-transports-http</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
                <artifactId>cxf-rt-ws-security</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
                <artifactId>cxf-rt-ws-policy</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
                <artifactId>cxf-rt-ws-addr</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
                <artifactId>cxf-rt-frontend-jaxws</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
                <artifactId>cxf-rt-rs-client</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
                <artifactId>cxf-rt-transports-http-hc</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <scope>provided</scope>
            </dependency>

            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf.karaf</groupId>
                <artifactId>apache-cxf</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <classifier>features</classifier>
                <type>xml</type>
            </dependency>


            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
                <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
                <version>3.3.2</version>
            </dependency>
        </dependencies>

As you can see, i have tried to define the feature artifact as a compile scoped dependency, as well as commons lang. Everything else is scoped as provided.

            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.cxf.karaf</groupId>
                <artifactId>apache-cxf</artifactId>
                <version>${cxf.version}</version>
                <classifier>features</classifier>
                <type>xml</type>
            </dependency>


            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
                <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
                <version>3.3.2</version>
            </dependency>

In the resulting features.xml file, the commons bundle is registered, but the feature is not:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<features xmlns="http://karaf.apache.org/xmlns/features/v1.2.1" name="feature">
    <feature name="feature" version="0.1-SNAPSHOT" description="test-feature">
        <details>test</details>
        <bundle start-level="80">mvn:com.test.test/test/0.1-SNAPSHOT</bundle>
        <bundle start-level="80">mvn:org.apache.commons/commons-lang3/3.3.2</bundle>
    </feature>
</features>

I would like to end up with this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<features xmlns="http://karaf.apache.org/xmlns/features/v1.2.1" name="feature">
    <feature name="feature" version="0.1-SNAPSHOT" description="test-feature">
        <details>test</details>
        <feature version="3.0.2">cxf</feature>
        <bundle start-level="80">mvn:com.test.test/test/0.1-SNAPSHOT</bundle>
        <bundle start-level="80">mvn:org.apache.commons/commons-lang3/3.3.2</bundle>
    </feature>
</features>

Slight update: When i add <aggregateFeatures>true</aggregateFeatures> to the plugin config, the entire cxf feature is unpacked into my features.xml file, but the features dependencies like "cxf" still does not appear in the geneated feature.

Answer 1

IMHO this is something wrong or not completed in karaf-maven-plugin. I have had the same problem. For me the solution I found is to add a feature.xml template under src/main/feature, just with the features and other files (configfiles) I need. In your case would be something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<features xmlns="http://karaf.apache.org/xmlns/features/v1.2.1" name="feature">
    <feature name="feature" version="${yourprojectversion}" description="test-feature">
        <feature version="${cxf.version}">cxf</feature>
    </feature>
</features>

I use also: <aggregateFeatures>true</aggregateFeatures>

Note that in my feature template I have use some custom maven properties for version handling defined in the pom.xml. At the end you will get the feature you are expecting to.