On Jun 11, 2014, at 9:59 AM, Stuart Douglas
<stuart.w.douglas(a)gmail.com> wrote:
It is kinda like Karaf, but we are not based on OSGi, and have no plans
to move.
The problem with using OSGi for the base modularity in WildFly, is that Java EE
class-loading rules do not map well to it, so you ultimately end up with two classloading
models. It also mandates it's own service model and brings in a vast amount of
complexity that our server internals didn't really benefit from. Finally we felt the
performance cost of it's dependency resolution algorithm was way too high (we wanted
deterministic o(1) resolution)
That said, we did expect interest in building OSGi applications on a full application
server, so our original plan with AS7 was to build a lightweight flexible modular class
loader, that would be mappable to all known class loading models, including OSGi and Java
EE. That became JBoss Modules.
AS7.x did ship with OSGi support based on JBoss Modules, however it had very little uptake
with our users and customers. Instead there was more interest in just using our modularity
layer directly.
Based on this, we decided to split off the OSGi layer into a separate optional project,
and focus more energy to other areas which were in more demand.
This isn't set in stone though. Ultimately WildFly is driven by what the community
wants and of course, code contributions is the best vehicle.
-Jason