Method for improving bundle control in an OSGi environment

Provided is a method for managing sets of OSGi bundles in a manner that enables a developer to control the order in which bundles are activated, both within and among OSGi start levels. Also provided is a method for eliminating multiple instances of the OSGi class loaders that are typically generated for each bundle. A bundle consolidator tool is provided that combines multiple bundles in a set of bundles into a master bundle that appears to the OSGi framework to be a single bundle. An activator method enables the developer to specify the order in which individual bundles are initiated and terminated. In addition, a single class loader thread is employed to activate the individual bundles. The bundle consolidator tool also analyzes the target bundles for name space collisions and, in the event a collision is detected, the tool is programmed to modify byte codes to eliminate the collision.