repositories.md

title	description	author
Bndtools Repositories	Using and configuring repositories.	Neil Bartlett

Bndtools uses repositories to supply dependencies to be used at build-time and at runtime. A repository is essentially a collection of bundles, optionally with some kind of index. It may be located anywhere: in the workspace; somewhere else on the local file system; or on a remote server.

Bndtools uses repositories in the following ways:

• To look up bundles specified on the Build Path by Bundle Symbolic Name (BSN) and version;
• To resolve the Run Requirements list;
• To look up bundles specified in the Run Bundles list by BSN and version.

Repositories are implemented as bnd plug-ins, and can be configured by editing the Plugins sections of the workspace configuration file (Bndtools menu » Open main bnd config).

Since repositories are implemented as plug-ins, it is theoretically possible to support almost any kind of repository, by developing a new plug-in type; though of course it is more convenient to use an existing repository plug-in. Bnd and Bndtools support the following repository types out-of-the-box.

Indexed Repositories

Bndtools supports a collection of repositories based on an index file that reports the content of the repository along with the capabilities and requirements of each resource listed. There are multiple available formats for the index:

• OBR, named after the OSGi Bundle Repository pseudo-standard. This format is obsolete but still used by some parts of the OSGi ecosystem.
• R5, named after OSGi Release 5 which introduced a true specification for OSGi Repositories. The format of this index is described in the OSGi Release 5 Enterprise specification, section 132.5.
• Other arbitrary formats may be supported by the addition of a IRepositoryContentProvider plugin.

The advantage of using indexed repositories is that they can be used for automatic Resolution in the bndrun editor. There are two basic types of indexed repositories:

OSGiRepositories / Fixed Index Repositories

Note! The Fixed Index Repository type is Deprecated and currently extends the OSGiRepository without any additional behavior. It will be removed at some point in the future. Please use the OSGiRepository.

The OSGiRepository can use index files compatible to the OSGi Repository Service Specification, which is located anywhere, so long as the location can be addressed in the form of a URL. For example the index can be located on the local filesystem and addressed via a file: URL, or it can be located on a remote HTTP(s) server. The locations of the actual resources -- i.e. JAR files -- is specified by URLs embedded in the index file itself, and so they can also be either local or remote. In the case of remote index and/or resources, a local cache is used to avoid repeated downloads and to enable offline builds.

A OSGiRepository can not be modified from within bnd or Bndtools.

The following properties are supported:

Name	Description	Required?
name	Name for the repository.	No.
locations	Comma-separated list of index URLs.	No. Default: empty
	NB: surround this value with
	single-quotes if it contains more than one
	entry.
cache	Local cache directory for remote	No. Default: ${user.home}/.bnd/cache/
	resources.
max.stale	The time (in seconds) a cached entry stays in	No. Default: 1 Year
	the cache
poll.time	The interval (in seconds) the index is polled	No. Default: 5 Minutes
	for updates (Note: The cache will be used)

Example:

aQute.bnd.repository.osgi.OSGiRepository;\
		locations=https://dl.bintray.com/bnd/dist/4.0.0/index.xml;\
		name=BND;\
		poll.time=3600;\
		max.stale=-1;\
		cache=${build}/bache/bnd

The index file may optionally be compressed with gzip.

Local Indexed Repository

This repository maintains a local filesystem directory of bundles. The repository is editable from with bnd/Bndtools and the index file is regenerated automatically when bundles are deployed into it.

The following properties are supported:

Name	Description	Required?
name	Name for the repository.	No.
local	The local filesystem directory.	Yes.
type	The type (format) of index to generate. See	No. Default: R5
	note 1 below.
pretty	Whether to generate the index in pretty-	No. Default: false
	printed format. See note 2 below.
readonly	Whether the repository should be read-only,	No. Default: false
	i.e. disabled for editing from Bndtools.
mode	Resolution mode: build, runtime or any.	No. Default: any
	Controls the resolution phase in which this
	repository may be used.
locations	Comma-separated list of additional index	No. Default: empty
	URLs. NB: surround this value with
	single-quotes if it contains more than one
	entry.
cache	Local cache directory for remote	No. Default: ${local}/.cache
	resources.

Note 1: The index is generated by default in R5 format. To request alternative format(s), specify a list of format names separated by the "|" (pipe) character. For example, to generate both R5 and OBR formats specify type=R5|OBR.

Note 2: R5 indexes are generated by default with no whitespace/indenting and gzipped, and the default index file name is index.xml.gz. Turning on pretty-printing enables indented, uncompressed output into the file index.xml. This setting has no effect on OBR indexes, which are always indented/uncompressed and named repository.xml.

File Repository

This type of repository is based on a very simple file system directory structure. It is editable from within Bndtools. NB: it does not support indexing, so repositories of this type cannot participate in resolution of Run Requirements.

The following properties are supported:

Name	Description	Required?
name	Name for the repository.	No.
location	The local filesystem directory.	Yes.
readonly	Whether the repository should be read-only,	No. Default: false
	i.e. disabled for editing from Bndtools.

Maven Repositories

Maven Central

Maven Central repository is configured in main bnd config file (cnf/build.bnd) as:

-plugin.6.Central: \
	aQute.bnd.repository.maven.provider.MavenBndRepository; \
		releaseUrl=https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/; \
		index=${.}/central.maven; \
		readOnly=true; \
		name="Maven Central"

This repository is one of "indexed" repositories, therefore index property poits to central.maven file that contains GAV coordinates to libraries located in Maven Central.

Hint: When this file is empty, the attempt to view the contents of the repository using the Repositories View in Bndtools, it will appear to be empty as well.

central.maven file doesn't fill itself automatically. Think of this repository like an empty <dependencies> section in maven. In order to fill it you need to add GAVs (one per line) to it.

Example:

# List repository contents using GAV coordinates
org.apache.camel:camel-core:2.23.1

There is also posibility use drag&drop on pom file. In order to do that:

1. Search maven repository https://mvnrepository.com particular jar
2. Select desired version
3. Click View All under Files section
4. Locate the main pom file and drag&drop it over Maven Central repository in Repositories view This action will fill the file for you.

TODO update for current repository types which support Maven repos.

Maven Repositories (Old Style)

NB. The repository types in this section are deprecated. Please use the Aether Repository type instead. The following documentation is retained for reference purposes only.

Maven Local

This type of repository is used to access bundles in the Maven local repository, usually found in $HOME/.m2/repository. Note that this plug-in accesses the Maven repository directly and does not building with Maven.

Name	Description	Required?
name	Name for the repository.	No.
root	The location of the Maven repository.	No. Default: $HOME/.m2/repository

Note that if you use the Bundle Plugin for Maven then you can also use the OBR repository type, since the Bundle Plugin generates an OBR index file whenever maven install is executed. For example:

aQute.bnd.repository.osgi.OSGiRepository;\
        locations='file:${user.home}/.m2/repository/repository.xml';\
        name='Maven Repo'

Maven Remote

This type of repository can be used to access bundles in a remote Maven repository, including Maven Central or any Nexus repository. NB: this repository type is not browseable; if you attempt to view the contents of the repository using the Repositories View in Bndtools, it will appear to be empty. However it will be possible to reference JARs from the repository in your -buildpath or -runbundles if the group ID and artefact ID is known.

For example to reference a JAR with group ID org.osgi and artefact ID osgi_R4_core, use the following syntax:

-buildpath: org.osgi+osgi_R4_core

Name	Description	Required?
repositories	Comma-separated list of Maven repository URLs.	No. Default: empty
	NB: surround this value with
	single-quotes if it contains more than one
	entry.