How do I avoid having to manually tweak Import-Package headers with Maven bundle-plugin?

Question

I'm happily using the Maven bundle-plugin to create OSGi manifest headers for my modules. However, when there are configuration files that pull in classes which aren't referenced directly in the code, the plugin can't tell which packages it's going to need.

One example is a bundle with domain models that constitute a Persistence Unit for JPA. The driver class is part of the PU configuration and either set in an XML file or at runtime when the EntityManager is instantiated. I have to manually add an Import-Package header for the driver class that I want to load, or I get CNF errors.

Another example is a Struts war, where the web.xml pulls in the Struts dispatcher that's otherwise not found anywhere in the code and has to be manually added to the headers.

How can I avoid this?

I tried adding the required packages as dependencies with a provided scope, but that didn't help.

Answer 1

In the plug-in section of the bnd configuration you can specify plug-ins to analyze these files and contribute to the import-package header. For spring it looks like this:

<_plugin>aQute.lib.spring.SpringComponent</_plugin>

I am not sure, what descriptors are supported on top of spring. Just take a look at the source (it's in the Apache Felix SVN) and see for yourself. In the worst case you have to write your own plug-in, but at least it is possible! Also peter kriens site about the bnd explains the usage and some internals.

Other then that I am not aware of any simple solution.