Plugins

Plugins can be system modules, applications, classloader definitions, and plugin groups. The Geronimo server is assemblages of plugins. Assemblies are the different ways you can create a server out of the various pluging available. Starting with Geronimo 2.1 and 2.2, the servers are assembled entirely out of plugins.

Introduction to a plugin

Plugins have an identifier with groupId, artifactId, version, and type. It's possible to have a plugin without a moduleId but this is not currently used.

...

Plugins can contain both server functionality and application functionality or both. For instance, you can include a web server configuration in a web application plugin.

Finding a plugin

Plugins are listed in plugin catalogs which contain information about the plugins (typically name and description) and where to get the plugin.
Plugins are normally stored in plugin repositories which act much like maven2 repositories. The most common examples of plugin repositories are the following:

• Your local maven repository if you have built geronimo or used maven to package plugins.
• The Apache plugin repository containing all the plugins packages by the Apache Geronimo project.
• Another geronimo server running the jetty or tomcat plugin-console plugin.

Installing a plugin

You can install a plugin into an existing server in different ways:

• GShell deploy/list-plugins command
• Geronimo administrative console
• Using maven and the geronimo-maven-plugin
  You can also install a plugin into a new server assembly using the car-maven-plugin.
  Note that in all cases the dependency system assure that if you install a plugin, everything needed to run the plugin will also be installed. For instance if you install a Java EE application plugin such as one of the samples into the framework server, openejb, openjpa, the transaction manager and connector framework and the appropriate web container will also be installed as dependencies.

Creating a plugin

• You can create a plugin as part of a maven build using the car-maven-plugin.
• You can create a plugin "virtually" by installing a deployed application from a running geronimo server acting as a plugin repository.
• You can create a plugin using the Geronimo administrative console to create or edit the plugin metadata.

...

Look in to Plugin infrastructure for more details.