Tip
	This is an abbreviated introduction to OSGi bundles. Please refer to the Spring Dynamic Modules for OSGi documentation for full details.

An OSGi bundle is simply a jar file with metadata that describe additional characteristics such as version and imported and exported packages.

A bundle exports types and publishes services to be used by other bundles:

A bundle may import types and services exported by other bundles:

Let’s see an example from the PetClinic sample application. The following listing shows the MANIFEST.MF file for the org.springframework.petclinic.infrastructure.hsqldb bundle.

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Bundle-ManifestVersion: 2
Bundle-Name: PetClinic HSQL Database Infrastructure
Bundle-SymbolicName: org.springframework.petclinic.infrastructure.hsqldb
Bundle-Version: 1.0
Bundle-Vendor: SpringSource Inc.
Import-Library: org.springframework.spring;version="[2.5,2.6]"
Import-Bundle: com.springsource.org.apache.commons.dbcp;version="[1.2.2.osgi,1.2.2.osgi]",
 com.springsource.org.hsqldb;version="[1.8.0.9,1.8.0.9]"
Import-Package: javax.sql
Export-Package: org.springframework.petclinic.infrastructure
		

The org.springframework.petclinic.infrastructure.hsqldb bundle expresses its dependencies on the javax.sql package, the Commons DBCP and HSQLDB bundles, and the Spring library (we will examine the details of the library artifact in the section called “Defining libraries”). The Commons DBCP bundle is imported at a version of exactly 1.2.2.osgi and the HSQLDB bundle is imported at a version of exactly 1.8.0.9. The Spring library is imported at a version between 2.5 inclusive and 2.6 exclusive.

Note that you do not specify the bundle that will provide the imported packages. The SpringSource dm Server will examine the available bundles and satisfy the required dependencies.

The following osgi-context.xml file from the PetClinic sample’s org.springframework.petclinic.repository.jdbc bundle declares a service published by the bundle and references a service published by another bundle.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/osgi"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/osgi  
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/osgi/spring-osgi.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans   
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">

    <service id="osgiClinic" ref="clinic" interface="org.springframework.petclinic.repository.Clinic" />
    <reference id="dataSource" interface="javax.sql.DataSource"/>

</beans:beans>

The service element publishes the clinic bean (a regular Spring bean declared in the module-context.xml file) and specifies org.springframework.petclinic.repository.Clinic as the type of the published service.

The reference elements define a dataSource bean that references a service published by another bundle with a an interface type of javax.sql.DataSource.