Someone recently mentioned Layrry, which is “a launcher and Java API for executing modularized Java applications.” From the github page: “It allows to assemble modularized applications based on Maven artifact coordinates of the (modular) JARs to include. Layrry utilizes the Java Module System’s notion of module layers, allowing multiple versions of one module to be used within an application at the same time, as well as dynamically adding and removing modules at application runtime.”

From its introductory blog post:

Why Layrry?

The Java Module System doesn’t define any means of mapping between modules (e.g. com.acme.crm) and JARs providing such module (e.g. acme-crm-1.0.0.Final.jar), or retrieving modules from remote repositories using unique identifiers (e.g. com.acme:acme-crm:1.0.0.Final). Instead, it’s the responsibility of the user to obtain all required JARs of a modularized application and provide them via the --module-path parameter.

Furthermore, the module system doesn’t define any means of module versioning; i.e. it’s the responsibility of the user to obtain all modules in the right version. Using the --module-path option, it’s not possible, though, to assemble an application that uses multiple versions of one and the same module. This may be desirable for transitive dependencies of an application, which might be required in different versions by two separate direct dependencies.

This is where Layrry comes in (pronounced “Larry”): it provides a declarative approach as well as an API for assembling modularized applications. The (modular) JARs to be included are described using Maven GAV (group id, artifact id, version) coordinates, solving the issue of retrieving all required JARs from a remote repository, in the right version.

With Layrry, applications are organized in module layers, which allows to use different versions of one and the same module in different layers of an application (as long as they are not exposed in a conflicting way on module API boundaries).

Cool project from the looks of it.