Evaluate alternative jmeter folder layout #5997
Description
Use case
There are several use cases:
a) Testing JMeter (e.g. creating folders for end-to-end testing, for client-server mode)
b) Adding and removing plugins without accidentally deleting JMeter jars. Currently, we suggest adding jars to lib/ext, however, people sometimes mix lib and lib/ext, and they sometimes accidentally delete core jars from lib/ext.
c) Sometimes it might be beneficial to store logs separate from the main application itself. For instance, currently, it is impossible to share a common jmeter installation since plugin installation requires modifying lib/ext folder. It might be better if logs, plugins, and user-modifieable configuration properties could be stored separately from the main application jars
Possible solution
a) Use http://jboss-modules.github.io/jboss-modules/manual/ for loading modules
b) Use Java 11+ module layers (e.g. https://github.com/moditect/layrry)
I think OSGi is not an option as it would create extreme burden on plugin authors.
I have not explored jboss-modules in detail, however, it sounds interesting.
As an additional option, we might consider implementing a dependency resolution as well.
For instance, something like https://github.com/square/maven-archeologist might work for us.
Then we could leverage existing Maven repositories (e.g. Maven Central) for resolving plugins, and dependencies.
Possible workarounds
No response
JMeter Version
5.5
Java Version
No response
OS Version
No response