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[cross-project-issues-dev] Eclipse plug-ins as automatic modules in Java 9?

Hi,

I just noticed by chance that none of the artifacts we are producing
are consumable as "automatic modules" in Java 9 speak.

The reason is: JPMS defines an algorithm how names for automatic modules
are derived from the jar file name. Unfortunately, the spec expects any
version to be separated from the name by "-", whereas our files use "_".

As a result a jar file like
   org.eclipse.equinox.common_3.9.0.v20170207.jar
is interpreted as an automatic module named
   org.eclipse.equinox.common.3.9.0.v20170207
(cutting off the version fails, then "_" is converted to ".").

Since that module name is not a legal Java identifier, the given jar file
cannot be referenced in any "requires" clause of a Java 9 module.

While all this is very unfortunate, Java 9 provides a means for a systematic
solution: adding an Automatic-Module-Name header to MANIFEST.MF.

Hence, I propose to make this a rule for future releases that all bundles
should have this manifest header, where the value should be identical to
the value of Bundle-SymbolicName.

There may not yet be any consumers of Eclipse plug-ins as Java 9 modules,
but as we know that several of our artifacts are being consumed outside OSGi,
I am sure that clients will expect our artifacts to be consumable as Java 9
modules sooner or later. And then a general solution looks cleaner to me
then doing this for selected artifacts only.

best,
Stephan

Reference for naming of automatic modules:
http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~mr/jigsaw/spec/api/java/lang/module/ModuleFinder.html#of-java.nio.file.Path...-


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