When building an Eclipse PDE component using Maven, I specify a dependency to slf4j-api in the Maven pom.xml file. In the MANIFEST.MF, I have the line:

Import-Package: org.slf4j

This gives an error when I build:

generate:
[eclipse.buildScript] Some inter-plug-in dependencies have not been satisfied.
[eclipse.buildScript] Bundle com.jeppesen.jcms.pws.model:
[eclipse.buildScript] Unsatisfied import package org.slf4j_0.0.0.
[eclipse.buildScript] Bundle slf4j.api:
[eclipse.buildScript] Unsatisfied import package org.slf4j.impl_1.6.0.

Somewhy, the build process seems to pick up the org.slf4j.impl package import as specified in the manifest file of the slf4j-api bundle, and sees it as a mandatory requirement. As I see it, it shouldn't, since my component can both compile and run without any .impl package.

A way to work around this is to include the slf4j-nop bundle in the pom file. That one will then satisfy the org.slf4j.impl import. But this creates some other issues with non-intuitive transitive dependencies downstream.

What does work cleanly - I tested it - is to specify the package import in slf4j-api bundle as optional. That is, in the MANIFEST.MF file, the line should read:

Import-Package: org.slf4j.impl;version=1.6.0;resolution:=optional

That way, any build/import process that tries to resolve dependencies can see that it is ok to leave it unresolved.

I did find http://bugzilla.slf4j.org/show_bug.cgi?id=75 which touches the issue (resolution:=optional is mentioned) but seems to have a larger scope and is about an older version of slf4j. I am using 1.6.2.