Computer system and a method of deploying an application in a computer system

A method of deploying an application program into an application runtime environment of a computer system, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

• receiving the application program divided into a plurality of bundles, each bundle comprising metadata relating to zero or more dependencies of the bundle;
• determining whether or not each of the plurality of bundles is a personality-specific bundle having a specific personality type from amongst a predetermined set of personality types;
• transforming each of the personality-specific bundles by identifying one or more additional dependencies, not included in the metadata of the personality-specific bundle, that are associated with the personality type of the personality-specific bundle and inserting the additional dependencies into the metadata of the personality-specific bundle;
• applying one or more operations to all of the plurality of bundles including:
• installing each of the plurality of bundles ready for deployment;
• deploying each of the installed personality-specific bundles into the application runtime environment using a respective personality specific deployer that corresponds to the respective personality of the personality-specific bundles;
• and
• deploying each of the remaining bundles not having a specific personality type into the application runtime environment using a generic deployer, wherein each personality specific deployer is separate from the generic deployer;
• extracting export statements from the metadata of each of the plurality of bundles;
• converting each of the export statements into a corresponding import statement;
• creating an additional synthetic bundle comprising metadata and a class loader, inserting the import statements into the metadata of the synthetic bundle and adding the synthetic bundle to the application program;
• and
• setting a thread context class loader of the runtime environment associated with a thread of the application program to delegate class loading to the class loader of the synthetic bundle.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having recorded thereon instructions to form a deployment system which when implemented by a computer system deploys an application program into a runtime environment of the computer system, wherein the application program is divided into a plurality of bundles, each bundle comprising metadata relating to zero or more dependencies of the bundle, the medium comprising:

• instructions operable to determine whether or not each of the plurality of bundles is a personality-specific bundle having a specific personality type from amongst a predetermined set of personality types;
• instructions operable to transform each of the personality-specific bundles identifying one or more additional dependencies, not included in the metadata of the personality-specific bundle, that are associated with the personality type of the personality-specific bundle and inserting the additional dependencies into the metadata of the personality-specific bundle;
• instructions operable to apply one or more operations to all of the plurality of bundles, including installing each of the bundles ready for deployment;
• for each personality-specific bundle, instructions configured according to a respective personality of the personality-specific bundle to deploy the personality-specific bundle into the runtime environment;
• and
• instructions, separate from instructions configured according to a respective personality of the personality-specific bundle, operable to deploy bundles that do not have a specific personality;
• instructions operable to extract export statements from the metadata of each of the plurality of bundles;
• instructions operable to convert each of the export statements into a corresponding import statement;
• instructions operable to create an additional synthetic bundle comprising metadata and a class loader, insert the import statements into the metadata of the synthetic bundle and add the synthetic bundle to the application program;
• and
• instructions operable to set a thread context class loader of the runtime environment associated with a thread of the application program to delegate class loading to the class loader of the synthetic bundle.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having recorded thereon instructions to form an application program executable in a runtime environment of a computer system, the medium comprising:

• instructions operable to provide a plurality of bundles comprising metadata including export statements defining exported packages, wherein metadata of at least one of the bundles includes an explicit metadata flag denoting a personality type of that bundle;
• instructions operable to provide an additional synthetic bundle comprising metadata and a class loader, wherein the metadata of the synthetic bundle comprises import statements corresponding to each of the export statements in the metadata of the plurality of bundles;
• and
• instructions operable to set a thread context class loader of the runtime environment associated with a thread of the application program to delegate class loading to the class loader of the synthetic bundle.

A method of forming an application program executable in a runtime environment of a computer system, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

• providing a plurality of bundles comprising metadata including export statements defining exported packages, wherein metadata of at least one of the bundles includes an explicit metadata flag denoting a personality type of that bundle;
• providing an additional synthetic bundle comprising metadata and a class loader, wherein the metadata of the synthetic bundle comprises import statements corresponding to each of the export statements in the metadata of the plurality of bundles;
• and
• setting a thread context class loader of the runtime environment associated with a thread of the application program to delegate class loading to the class loader of the synthetic bundle.