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|  | <preface id="preface"> | 
|  | <title>Preface</title> | 
|  | <para> | 
|  | Application development has seen significant changes in the last years, moving towards a simpler, more agile, | 
|  | POJO-based programming model in order to keep a fast pace. Dependency injection and Aspect Oriented Programming, | 
|  | which were once <emphasis>bleeding edge</emphasis> ideas, are used on a daily basis by most developers to manage | 
|  | and simplify the complexity of their applications.</para> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <para>However, in terms of deployment, things have remained mainly unchanged. Even though code bases are divided into | 
|  | modules, whether logical, conceptual or physical, at runtime they are seen as one monolithic application in which, | 
|  | making a change (be it large or small), requires a restart. <ulink url="http://www.osgi.org">OSGi</ulink> aims | 
|  | to change this by allowing applications to be divided into <emphasis>modules</emphasis> that can have different | 
|  | life cycles, dependencies and still exist as a whole.</para> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <para>Eclipse Gemini Blueprint (formerly Spring Dynamic Modules) focuses on integrating Spring Framework powerful, non-invasive programming model and | 
|  | concepts with the dynamics and modularity of OSGi platform. It allows transparent exporting and importing of OSGi | 
|  | services, life cycle management and control. Moreover, the Spring DM model was standardized in OSGi r4.2, in the form | 
|  | of the <ulink url="http://www.osgi.org/Specifications/Drafts">Blueprint</ulink> Container for which Eclipse Gemini Blueprint | 
|  | serves as the reference implementation (RI). | 
|  | </para> | 
|  | <para> | 
|  | While every effort has been made to ensure that this documentation is comprehensive and there are no errors, | 
|  | nevertheless some topics might require more explanation and some typos might have crept in. If you do spot any | 
|  | mistakes or even more serious errors and you can spare a few cycles during lunch, please do bring the error | 
|  | to the attention of the Eclipse Gemini Blueprint team by raising an | 
|  | <ulink url="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/buglist.cgi?product=Gemini.Blueprint">issue</ulink>. Thank you. | 
|  | </para> | 
|  |  | 
|  | </preface> |