OSGi Bundle of BouncyCastle / Alternate JCE Provider

BouncyCastle comes in the form of signed jar, and there is a good reason for doing so. Java JCE Reference Guide states very clearly that providers need to be signed by a trusted entity to be plugged into the JCE framework.

So, if you try to OSGi bundle BouncyCastle the resulting jar won't be signed anymore, and JCE won't be able to authenticate the BouncyCastle provider.

This is the reason we see problems like this: ZRTP integration (possible) OSGi bundle related problem and this: bouncy castle exception with osgi. Two workarounds would be to...

1. OSGi bundle BouncyCastle, but loose it's ability to be an alternate JCE provider
   
2. Add it in the org.osgi.framework.system.packages.extra list in the felix.client.run.properties and make sure it's in the class path as it is mentioned here.

If you finally choose to OSGi bundle BouncyCastle, make sure that no manifest merging occurs, or else OSGi won't be able to start your bundle, it will probably fail with something like this:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.util.jar.Manifest$FastInputStream.fill(Unknown Source)
at java.util.jar.Manifest$FastInputStream.readLine(Unknown Source)
at java.util.jar.Manifest$FastInputStream.readLine(Unknown Source)
at java.util.jar.Attributes.read(Unknown Source)
at java.util.jar.Manifest.read(Unknown Source)
at java.util.jar.Manifest.(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.ContentLoaderImpl.calculateContentPath(ContentLoaderImpl.java:344)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.ContentLoaderImpl.initializeContentPath(ContentLoaderImpl.java:315)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.ContentLoaderImpl.getClassPath(ContentLoaderImpl.java:90)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.ContentClassLoader.findClass(ContentClassLoader.java:154)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.ContentClassLoader.loadClassFromModule(ContentClassLoader.java:94)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.ContentLoaderImpl.getClass(ContentLoaderImpl.java:166)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.R4Wire.getClass(R4Wire.java:105)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.R4SearchPolicyCore.searchImports(R4SearchPolicyCore.java:505)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.R4SearchPolicyCore.findClassOrResource(R4SearchPolicyCore.java:466)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.R4SearchPolicyCore.findClass(R4SearchPolicyCore.java:185)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.R4SearchPolicy.findClass(R4SearchPolicy.java:45)
at org.apache.felix.moduleloader.ModuleImpl.getClass(ModuleImpl.java:216)
at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix.createBundleActivator(Felix.java:3468)
at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix._startBundle(Felix.java:1649)
at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix.startBundle(Felix.java:1578)
at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix.setFrameworkStartLevel(Felix.java:1172)
at org.apache.felix.framework.StartLevelImpl.run(StartLevelImpl.java:265)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.ContentClassLoader.findClass(ContentClassLoader.java:154)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.ContentClassLoader.loadClassFromModule(ContentClassLoader.java:94)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.ContentLoaderImpl.getClass(ContentLoaderImpl.java:166)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.R4Wire.getClass(R4Wire.java:105)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.R4SearchPolicyCore.searchImports(R4SearchPolicyCore.java:505)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.R4SearchPolicyCore.findClassOrResource(R4SearchPolicyCore.java:466)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.R4SearchPolicyCore.findClass(R4SearchPolicyCore.java:185)
at org.apache.felix.framework.searchpolicy.R4SearchPolicy.findClass(R4SearchPolicy.java:45)
at org.apache.felix.moduleloader.ModuleImpl.getClass(ModuleImpl.java:216)
at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix.createBundleActivator(Felix.java:3468)
at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix._startBundle(Felix.java:1649)
at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix.startBundle(Felix.java:1578)
at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix.setFrameworkStartLevel(Felix.java:1172)
at org.apache.felix.framework.StartLevelImpl.run(StartLevelImpl.java:265)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)