Simple Java service discovery framework

Question

I would like to discover all implementations of an interface during runtime in a Java app, and load those classes dynamically from JAR files that the user can add to a folder. It's a plug-in system, basically.

I found a few solutions for this:

• Use SPI -- this is not very flexible: I'd like something that maybe works with annotations, or just looks for an interface that is extended, without having to add external text files, too.
• Use Commons Discovery -- looks like a dead end, as the last release is 0.4 from back in 2005
• Use Java Simple Plugin Framework. 5 minutes and it works. No XML. -- this looks like very immature.

Are there any other widely used solutions for this?

Update: There is no need for code separation, and OSGi seems to be far too complex for my simple needs right now. I also added "Simple" to the title of this question to clarify my intentions.

Answer 1

It's bit on the heavy side, but you should consider Apache Felix or Eclipse Equinox, both are OSGi implementations which are very much alive and kicking, but possibly overkill for your needs. However, this is one of the very problems that OSGi is designed to solve.