How to separate class loader for different jar version?

Question

I have a test war file that contains many tests. Each test is packaged in maven project with a lot of dependencies. We use maven for dependency management but it comes with a problem. When a test update a common library, it can break other test that depends on the older version of the lib. How to make all the test run in a completely separate environment with its own set of library version? I can't execute them in a separate jvm because these tests need to be executed very frequently like very 30 sec or so. Can OSGi help solve this problem?

Answer 1

Yes OSGi can solve this problem, but it is not a step to be taken lightly. Use OSGi when you are ready to commit time and effort to isolating and managing dependencies, versioning them properly and, optionally, making your code and architecture more modular/reusable.

Bear in mind that adopting OSGi can be painful at first due to non-modular practices used by some legacy libraries.