OSGi and Java EE - JOSGiEE?

Question

After reading this article, one question came to my mind: 'Is OSGi becoming a Java EE? Is OSGi going to replace Java EE? Is OSGi incrementing Java EE?' It's true that historically OSGi is totally different from Java EE, but considering now the resulting work from the EEG, some of these services are Java EE services. Another fact is that who uses Java EE uses it for its APIs in contradiction to OSGi which is supposed to be API agnostic.

I am not sure where is it going to get, what about you guys?

Answer 1

OSGi is the container technology. It has nothing to do with Java EE technologies like (for example) Servlets, JDBC, EJBs, JMS etc.

It looks after the packaging of the code components (into bundles) and the management thereof. That may impact how you package a solution (e.g. you may not use a .ear or a .war) but the APIs you're used to programming to won't change.

Answer 2

I like the term OS-JEE-i.

Answer 3

It already exists if you want to try it: IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.1: Componentization Overview. I thought BEA and JBoss implementations were in the works, but I haven't heard anything recently.

OSGi won't be a replacement for Java EE - it extends it by adding a plugin framework. Whether it becomes part of a future Java EE standard probably depends on what happens with any Sun acquisition, the future of Project Jigsaw (replacement for JSR 277), and probably a few factors I don't know about. There aren't any plans for Java EE 6, except to cross fingers and hope something makes it into Java Standard Edition 7.

Answer 4

OSGi is not becoming J2EE... I'm not sure what that would even mean! It is adding features that help to migrate J2EE code more smoothly to OSGi. But they are optional features, there is no need to use them if you do not have Java EE legacy.

Perhaps a better question is whether OSGi will become the widely accepted deployment container for Java applications, as J2EE once was. IMHO the answer is clearly yes.

Answer 5

Take a look at InfoQ article about new buzzword JOSH: A Proposed Software Stack for the Enterprise. There is no Java EE at all. Only JSON, OSGi, Scala and HTTP. It's quite interesting...