Chapter 8 Packaging, Integrating, and Delivering an Add-On Component

Packaging an add-on component enables the component to interact with the GlassFish^TM Server kernel in the same way as other components. Integrating a component with GlassFish Server enables GlassFish Server to discover the component at runtime. If an add-on component is an extension or update to existing installations of GlassFish Server, deliver the component through Update Tool.

The following topics are addressed here:

• Packaging an Add-On Component

• Integrating an Add-On Component With GlassFish Server

• Delivering an Add-On Component Through Update Tool

Packaging an Add-On Component

To enable an add-on component to plug in to the GlassFish Server kernel in the same way as other components, package the component as an OSGi bundle.

A bundle is the unit of deployment in the OSGi module management subsystem. To package a component as an OSGi bundle, package the component's constituent files in a Java archive (JAR) file with appropriate manifest entries. The manifest entries provide information about the component that is required to enable the component to be plugged into the GlassFish Server kernel, such as:

• Name

• Version

• Dependencies

• Capabilities

Integrating an Add-On Component With GlassFish Server

Integrating an add-on component with GlassFish Server enables GlassFish Server to discover the component at runtime. To integrate an add-on component with GlassFish Server, ensure that the JAR file that contains the component is copied to or installed in the as-install/modules/ directory.

Delivering an Add-On Component Through Update Tool

If an add-on component is an extension or update to existing installations of GlassFish Server, deliver the component through Update Tool. To deliver an add-on component through Update Tool, create an Image Packaging System (IPS) package to contain the component and add the package to a suitable IPS package repository.

For information about how to create IPS packages, see the IPS best practices document.