[orbit-dev] Question on details of export, import, and requires

[David M Williams <david_williams@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been thinking of improving the constraints specified by our xerces, 
and javax.xml bundles, etc. and have a few questions. 

1. If "import-packages" is specified, is there any reason to also specify 
"require-bundle"? I'd suspect not, but would it be wrong to? In 
particular, I'm thinking of the "Require-Bundle: system.bundle" technique 
we've used. We do that so our bundle would "override" anything found from 
the java VM, so am wondering it there's an equivalent concept with 
Import-package, or if it would not be required in that case. 

2. How to specify ranges? When we 'require bundles' we always specify a 
range, such as [1.3.4, 2.0.0). Is that still important when using import 
package? I'd assume so ... but, sure seems tedious. :) What about on 
"uses" ... any ranges to specify there? 

3. I've heard, as I'm sure we all have, we should import what we export. 
See 
http://www.osgi.org/blog/2007/04/importance-of-exporting-nd-importing.html
While counter-intuitive, I can see the rationale to be a "good osgi 
citizen" ... but, what to do about ranges then? We are obviously only 
exporting exactly one version ... I assume we'd import only that exact 
same version ... even if ranges specified on other imports? 

Thanks for any insights.