How to resolve the chain dependency error in karaf?

Question

I am getting the following error when I try to start one bundle

Chain 1:
  foo.bar.fizz.core.rest.impl [foo.bar.fizz.core.rest.impl [208](R 208.0)]
    import: (&(osgi.wiring.package=javax.annotation)(version>=1.2.0)(!(version>=2.0.0)))
     |
    export: osgi.wiring.package: javax.annotation
  org.apache.felix.framework [org.apache.felix.framework [0](R 0)]

Chain 2:
  foo.bar.fizz.core.rest.impl [foo.bar.fizz.core.rest.impl [208](R 208.0)]
    import: (&(osgi.wiring.package=foo.bar.fizz.cdac.tableobject.api)(version>=8.60.0)(!(version>=9.0.0)))
     |
    export: osgi.wiring.package=foo.bar.fizz.cdac.tableobject.api; uses:=com.google.common.collect
  foo.bar.fizz.cdac.tableobject [foo.bar.fizz.cdac.tableobject [196](R 196.0)]
    import: (&(osgi.wiring.package=com.google.common.collect)(version>=16.0.0)(!(version>=17.0.0)))
     |
    export: osgi.wiring.package=com.google.common.collect; uses:=javax.annotation
  com.google.guava [com.google.guava [29](R 29.0)]
    import: (osgi.wiring.package=javax.annotation)
     |
    export: osgi.wiring.package: javax.annotation
  org.jsr-305 [org.jsr-305 [28](R 28.0)] Unresolved requirements: [[foo.bar.fizz.core.rest.impl [208](R 208.0)] osgi.wiring.package; (&(osgi.wiring.package=foo.bar.fizz.cdac.tableobject.api)(version>=8.60.0)(!(version>=9.0.0)))]

I understand why the error comes (because one dependency is coming from two flows and osgi is confused between the two). However, I don't get how to avoid this since one flow is "org.apache.felix' which starts with 0 start level and I can't seem to alter that.

Here are more logs for the bundle:tree-show

foo.bar.fizz.cdac.tableobject [197]
+- foo.bar.fizz.cdac.api [194]
|  +- foo.cil.cdac.cil-cdac-common-api [133]
|  +- avro [292]
|  |  +- org.xerial.snappy.snappy-java [329]
|  |  +- jackson-core-asl [314]
|  |  +- jackson-mapper-asl [315]
|  |  |  +- jackson-core-asl [314]
|  |  +- org.ops4j.pax.logging.pax-logging-api [6]
|  |  |  +- org.apache.karaf.services.eventadmin [3]
|  |  |     +- org.apache.felix.metatype [2]
|  |  |     +- org.apache.felix.configadmin [9]
|  |  |        +- org.apache.felix.coordinator [8]
|  |  +- org.apache.commons.compress [293]
|  |  |  +- org.tukaani.xz [328]
|  |  +- com.thoughtworks.paranamer [257]
|  |     +- org.glassfish.hk2.external.jakarta.inject [92]
|  +- com.google.gson [252]
|  +- foo.bar.common.datatypes.date [224]
|  |  +- joda-time [287]
|  +- foo.cil.client.service [136]
|  |  +- avro [292]
|  |  +- org.apache.servicemix.bundles.lucene [309]
|  |  +- org.apache.servicemix.bundles.lucene-queryparser [307]
|  |     +- org.apache.servicemix.bundles.lucene [309]
|  |     +- org.apache.servicemix.bundles.lucene-sandbox [308]
|  |     |  +- org.apache.servicemix.bundles.lucene [309]
|  |     |  +- org.apache.servicemix.bundles.jakarta-regexp [303]
|  |     +- org.apache.servicemix.bundles.lucene-queries [306]
|  |        +- org.apache.servicemix.bundles.lucene [309]
|  +- org.ops4j.pax.logging.pax-logging-api [6]
|  +- foo.bar.fizz.businessentity [193]
|     +- foo.bar.common.datatypes.date [224]
+- foo.bar.common.datatypes.date [224]
+- com.fasterxml.jackson.core.jackson-databind [242]
|  +- com.fasterxml.jackson.core.jackson-annotations [238]
|  +- com.fasterxml.jackson.core.jackson-core [240]
+- org.ops4j.pax.logging.pax-logging-api [6]
+- foo.bar.fizz.businessentity [193]
+- com.google.guava [30] <- START LEVEL
   +- org.jsr-305 [29]
   +- org.glassfish.hk2.external.jakarta.inject [92]
karaf@root()>                                                

What have I tried and did not work ?

• I tried blacklisting the bundle but nothing really happened.
• I tried excluding the dependency that is causing this problem (jsr-305) but that did not work either.
• Start level changed.

Please suggest something that can solve this or at least point me in the right direction.

Answer 1

The solution I opted for is to change my osgi implementation from Felix to Equinox.

Apparently, karaf, by default, uses felix but you can override it using custom.properties file and add the following line to it

Dir structure

assembly
 etc
  custom.properties

File content

karaf.framework=equinox

Explanation

Felix provides its own javax.annotation which I couldn't exclude so I opted for this solution.

Answer 2

Thing is, do you really need to install org.jsr-305 in chain 2 if the packages is already exported by the felix framework in chain 1 ?

Changing from Felix to Equinox would solve the problem if Equinox doesn't export that package at first, but note that Felix is also quite faster than Equinox to boot (multi-thread resolution, etc)