OSGi is renowned for its advanced modularity but it is not often called simple. I actually believe that OSGi is simple but that most reported problems are caused by trying to push a square through a round hole. Problems are invariably caused by trying to apply incumbent non-modular technology through a modular framework. However, today the average developer has not much choice, most of the free and available components use hacks that are not compatible with strong modularity, nor do they leverage OSGi's features like µservices and central dynamic config admin as they were intended.
Spending a sabbatical year developing a web application the 'OSGi Way' it was clear that a lot of components and documentations is missing to quickly build a web application the 'OSGi Way'. To leverage OSGi to the hilt I had to develop too many base components. Though I proved to myself that OSGi was really working as advocated if you go with the flow, it was clear that other developers have neither the time, OSGi experience, nor the inclination to do what I could do. Discussing these experiences with the OSGi Alliance we therefore decided to turn this into a project!
This presentation will show you my experiences with developing a truly OSGi Web App and an overview of the OSGi Alliance's plans to simplify development of OSGi (web) applications.
