automatic activation of dependencies

[SlowStrider]

I'm relatively new to OSGi and Spring-DM, so I'm not sure if my question is specific to Spring-DM or to OSGi in general.

Anyway, I have a Spring-DM bundle "A" (Eclipse plugin) which needs a mandatory service from another Spring-DM bundle "B".

A declares B as "Require-Bundle" in its manifest. After A is activated, it's Spring context gets loaded. But it seems that B is not automatically activated, so A keeps waiting forever for the service that is declared in the Spring context of B which isn't loaded because B doesn't get activated.

Doesn't OSGi automatically activate required bundles?

I can easily solve this by setting B to auto-start. But isn't this an ugly hack?

[Costin Leau]

Spring DM is a passive component in that it does not activate bundles. Only after a bundle is started, Spring DM kicks in.
To start bundles you can use either auto-start (in Equinox) or start levels for a more portable approach.