OSGI bundle .bnd file and conflicting import-package statements

Question

I inherited a .bnd file that has the import !javax. , and my program produces runtime errors if I take out that statement. I currently need to add JavaHelp to my application, which is under javax.help. . When I have both of those imports in my .bnd and I use a class from JavaHelp, it produces a ClassNotFoundException for the specific class, like javax.help.JHelp. Is there a way to handle this situation, I feel stuck.

Answer 1

Bundles generally need to import all the package that do not start with "java.". This includes "javax." packages. If your bnd file explicitly does not import javax. package, then it must rely upon non-standard boot delegation configuration for the framework. That is, the boot delegation provides "free" access to javax. packages from the bundles parent classloader (likely the bootclassloader). So when you remove !javax. from the bnd file, your bundle starts to import those packages from some provider which may not be the same as whatever bootdelegation is providing.