Launch Apache Felix 4.0.2 in IntelliJ IDEA 11

Question

According to this post, IDEA uses Osmorc to launch the OSGi framework. He, in turn, uses the Pax Runner to run various frame implementations.

The toolchain in IDEA 11 can only run Apache Felix prior to 3.0.2, but I need to run version 4.0.2. Is it possible? Are there any other OSGi launch vehicles for IDEA?

Answer 1

You can configure the OSGI frameworks that Osmorc uses from the plugin + project settings. I am using IntelliJ IDEA 11.1.2 and Osmorc 1.4.2.

Here is a screenshot in which I configure the OSGI container (in the IDE → OSGi settings) on some local Apache Felix 4.0.1 installation.

You can also define your own framework / container, and then select the desired OSGI for use in the project settings → OSGI, as shown below:

To create launch configurations, you first need to create some OSGi faces. I hope you also use maven and maven-bundle-plugin, which will greatly reduce the amount of configuration that you need to perform (since OSmorc will automatically synchronize with your pom.xml), but even if you do not, you can manually edit the information for create packages.

So what you need to do next is create some OSGi facets. Go to the “Structure → Faces” project and add a new OSGi face for each package that you want to create. You have auto-detection enabled, then there may already be faces. If not, add them manually, and then configure them, as you can see, as in the following example.

Finally, edit "Run Configurations" and add a new OSGi launch configuration. Select the structure that you want to use and the bundles you want to run, as well as other parameters, as in the following example: