File Scanner

Overview

The file scanner handles a set of bundles listed in plain text file(s).

Syntax

scan-file:file_url[@start_level][@nostart][@update]

where:

• file_url : mandatory; is the url of the #file containing the list of bundles to be installed;
• start_level : optional; an integer representing the start level of the bundles present in the pom.
  If present and OSGi Start Level Service is available then the bundle is installed with that specific start level.
  This option overwrites the startLevel #configuration property;
• nostart : optional; this should be the hardcoded string "nostart" (not case sensitive).
  If present the bundles will not be started.
  This option overwrites the start #configuration property;
• update : optional; the hardcoded string "update" (not case sensitive)
  If present the bundles will be updated.
  This option overwrites the update #configuration property;

The above options: start_level/nostart/update can be specified in any order.

Examples

• scan-file:file:/C:/my-project/my-bundles.txt - installs the bundles contained the file my-bundles from local drive.
• scan-file:zip:file:/C:/bundles.zip\!/my-bundles.txt - installs the bundles contained the file my-bundles from a distribution zip file located on the local drive.

File Format

Files containing bundles to be installed must be plain text files containing url's of the bundles to be installed on separate line, one bundle per line and/or system properties. If system properties are present, those will be carried into the OSGi platform.
The syntax of an bundle reference is as follow:

bundle_url[@start_level][@nostart][@update]

where:

• bundle_url : mandatory; is the url of the bundle to be installed. It can be any valid url (see also Pax Runner Handler for custom url handlers);
• start_level : optional; an integer representing the start level of the bundle. If present and OSGi Start Level Service is available then the bundle is installed with that specific start level;
• nostart : optional; this should be the hardcoded string "nostart" (not case sensitive); if present the bundle will not be started. Default, if the value is not present the bundle will be started depending on the service #configuration.
• update : optional; this should be the hardcoded string "update" (not case sensitive); if present and the bundle was already installed before, the bundle will be updated. Default, if the value is not present the bundle will be updated or not depending on the service #configuration.

The syntax of a property is as follow:

-Dproperty-name=propertyvalue

where

• property-name : the key of the property
• property-value : the value of the property. The value can contain place holders as ${name} where name is the name of the property the ${name} placeholder will be replaced with.

The file can contain empty lines or lines starting with #, case when those lines will be skipped. This allows nice separation and comments.

File Examples

# and bundle from the local hard drive with no specific start level that is installed and started
file:/C:/localRepository/org/ops4j/pax/web/bundles/service/0.2.0/service-0.2.0.jar

# a maven artifact bundle installed with start level = 5 and started
mvn:org.ops4j.pax.web.bundles/service@5

# an bundle installed from http with no specific start level that is just installed and not started
http://repository.ops4j.org/maven2/org/ops4j/pax/web/bundles/service/0.2.0/service-0.2.0.jar@nostart

# a maven artifact bundle that will be updated if installed before and started
mvn:org.ops4j.pax.web.bundles/service@update

# properties for http service ports
-Dorg.osgi.service.http.port=2080
-Dorg.osgi.service.http.port.secure=2443

Note that, as stated by the maven handler, if you use an mvn: url, you could use in your url the repository from where the bundle could be downloaded.

Configuration

The service can be configured in two ways: via configuration admin if available and via framework/system properties where the configuration via config admin has priority.