deploying OSGi project as Webstart using command line tools - command-line

Question

How do I create a modular OSGi project that can be distributed with Java Webstart, using command line tools?
I've found instructions to export a set of OSGi plugins from eclipse. But instructions for doing so without the help of eclipse are hard to find. I would like to do this using ant build scripts and / or other command line tools.
Here is what I've got so far. Using ant, all the plug-in bundles are copied to a directory and signed. After that, I've created a jnlp file named wrapper.jnlp
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jnlp codebase="http://localhost/webstart" href="wrapper.jnlp">
<information>
<title>My app</title>
<vendor>Me</vendor>
<offline-allowed/>
</information>
<resources>
<j2se version="1.5+" java-vm-args="-Xmx512M"/>
<jar href="org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.jar"/>
<extension name="Wrapper feature" href="myprogram.jnlp"/>
</resources>
<application-desc main-class="org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.WebStartMain"/>
<security>
<all-permissions/>
</security>
</jnlp>
I've created a second jnlp file named myprogram.jnlp.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jnlp codebase="http://localhost/webstart" href="myprogram.jnlp">
<information>
<title>My app</title>
<offline-allowed/>
</information>
<resources>
<j2se version="1.5+" java-vm-args="-Xmx512M"/>
<jar href="myapp.jar"/>
<jar href="derby.jar"/>
<jar href="commons-math-2.0.jar"/>
...omitting a dozen more jar files...
</resources>
<application-desc main-class="myprogram.Main"/>
<security>
<all-permissions/>
</security>
</jnlp>
When I deploy and try to start it (from the command line: javaws http://localhost/webstart/wrapper.jnlp), the jar files of the application appear to be downloaded. Then I get the following error in a log file:
!SESSION Wed Jun 29 13:43:52 CEST 2011 -----------------------------------------
!ENTRY org.eclipse.equinox.launcher 4 0 2011-06-29 13:43:52.448
!MESSAGE Exception launching the Eclipse Platform:
!STACK
java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.util.Hashtable.put(Hashtable.java:411)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.WebStartMain.basicRun(WebStartMain.java:78)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1408)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.WebStartMain.main(WebStartMain.java:57)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:616)
at net.sourceforge.jnlp.Launcher.launchApplication(Launcher.java:590)
at net.sourceforge.jnlp.Launcher$TgThread.run(Launcher.java:887)
Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Where should I look next?

Answer 1

I had the same issue. I solved it by specifying the following in my wrapper jnlp:
<resources>
<!-- Reference to the launcher jar. The version segment must be updated to the version being used-->
<jar href="plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.2.0.v20110502.jar" />
<!-- Reference to the osgi jar. The version segment must be updated to the version being used-->
<jar href="plugins/org.eclipse.osgi_3.7.0.v20110613.jar" />
...
</resources>

Answer 2

I believe you might want to switch gears and create a P2 repository with your code and all dependencies, then have a bare-bones p2-installer pull the dependencies from there (bypassing WebStart) and start your application.

Answer 3

Have a look at this http://www.jbundle.org/osgi-webstart/ "Use this servlet to deploy your OSGi apps to a web client."
Though it's a maven plugin from the documentation it looks like you can run it without a maven project.

Answer 4

According to the sources, your problem is caused by failing to find org.eclipse.osgi bundle on the classpath. Make sure that the bundle is referenced properly and that it has correct manifest.