Deploy and configure Context-Aware Configuration in AEM 6.1 - 6.4

Apache Sling Context-Aware Configuration is part of the AEM product since version 6.3. You can also use it in AEM 6.1 or 6.2 by deploying the required bundles and adding some basic configuration. And if you want to use the latest features provided by wcm.io Context-Aware Configuration you need to deploy some updated bundles from Sling in AEM 6.3 as well.

Apache Sling Context-Aware Configuration Bundles

Links to the latest versions of Apache Sling Context-Aware Configuration bundles:

Apache Sling Context-Aware Configuration API
Apache Sling Context-Aware Configuration SPI
Apache Sling Context-Aware Configuration Implementation
Apache Johnzon Wrapper Library

Deploy Sling Context-Aware Configuration to AEM 6.1/6.2

In AEM 6.1 or AEM 6.2 you need to deploy the latest version of these Sling bundles:

org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.caconfig.api
org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.caconfig.spi
org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.caconfig.impl
org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.commons.johnzon

You should apply the same configuration to the Sling Context-Aware Configuration bundles that is present in AEM 6.3 (e.g. for support reading sling:configRef property stored in jcr:content subnodes of AEM content pages and ignoring properties with cq: namespace):

  org.apache.sling.caconfig.resource.impl.def.DefaultContextPathStrategy
    configRefResourceNames=["jcr:content","."]
    configRefPropertyNames=["cq:conf"]

  org.apache.sling.caconfig.resource.impl.def.DefaultConfigurationResourceResolvingStrategy
    fallbackPaths=["/conf/global","/apps","/libs"]
    configCollectionInheritancePropertyNames=["jcr:content/sling:configCollectionInherit", "jcr:content/mergeList","mergeList"]

  org.apache.sling.caconfig.management.impl.ConfigurationManagementSettingsImpl
    ignorePropertyNameRegex=["^(jcr|cq):.+$","^sling:resourceType$"]
    configCollectionPropertiesResourceNames=["jcr:content","."]

If you are using AEM 6.1, make sure to install the latest service pack as well (e.g. AEM 6.1 SP2).

Optional: System user for web console

By default, the web console plugin for Sling Context-Aware Configuration used the user that is logged into the web console for accessing the repository. Alternatively you can create a system user which has read access to /conf and /content and add an service user mapping for this user (named sling-caconfig in this example):

  org.apache.sling.serviceusermapping.impl.ServiceUserMapperImpl.amended-sling-caconfig
    user.mapping=["org.apache.sling.caconfig.impl\=sling-caconfig"]

Updating Sling Context-Aware Configuration in AEM 6.3

In AEM 6.3 you should check which versions of the bundles mentioned above are already installed. You should update at least the SPI and Impl bundle to the latest version:

org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.caconfig.spi
org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.caconfig.impl
org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.commons.johnzon

Some configuration for Sling Context-Aware configuration already ships with AEM 6.3, but you should add this additional configuration:

  org.apache.sling.caconfig.resource.impl.def.DefaultConfigurationResourceResolvingStrategy
    fallbackPaths=["/conf/global","/apps","/libs"]
    configCollectionInheritancePropertyNames=["jcr:content/sling:configCollectionInherit", "jcr:content/mergeList","mergeList"]

  org.apache.sling.caconfig.management.impl.ConfigurationManagementSettingsImpl
    ignorePropertyNameRegex=["^(jcr|cq):.+$","^sling:resourceType$"]
    configCollectionPropertiesResourceNames=["jcr:content","."]

If you are using AEM 6.3 and want to write configuration by the Configuration Editor or the Context-Aware Configuration Management API you should also install the wcm.io Context-Aware Configuration Extensions and activate the “AEM Page” persistence strategy - otherwise you may get subtle problems e.g. when using nested configuration collections.

Updating Sling Context-Aware Configuration in AEM 6.4

You do not need to deploy additional bundles in AEM 6.4, but it is recommended to update this configuration:

  org.apache.sling.caconfig.management.impl.ConfigurationManagementSettingsImpl
    ignorePropertyNameRegex=["^(jcr|cq):.+$","^sling:resourceType$"]
    configCollectionPropertiesResourceNames=["jcr:content","."]

AEM 6.5 and AEM Cloud Service

No special configurations required, everything is up-to-date.