Can OSGi subsystems replace Eclipse features?
Yes ... sort of. The subsystem is powerful, but more complex than the Eclipse feature.
A function is just a collection of bundles. You can install multiple features in a single OSGi Framework, and packages from each feature can interact with each other, for example. by importing packages or binding services. This makes it difficult to test and explain them, because a feature that works by itself may not work when installed alongside some other features.
The subsystem is also a set of beams, but additionally includes a degree of isolation. You can control whether packages, services, and other capabilities from one subsystem are visible to members of any other subsystem. Thus, they are more predictable.
Unfortunately, building a subsystem is a much more complex task and I don't know of specific tools for that. We haven't done anything in bnd / Bndtools to help with this. But hey this is open source ... contributions are welcome ;-)
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Subsystems and functions are actually two orthogonal things. An Eclipse feature is a collection of packages that you can install into the OSGi runtime. In fact, there is a slight difference between a package that contains many items Require-Bundle
and a function if required to be installed.
The OSGi Subsystem, on the other hand, is a suggested way to enable OSGi battery life. However, they were replaced by a more general wiring design in the final OSGi specification; but in any case, they do quite a different matter.
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