SCR: How to reconfigure Service Components

[Pierre De Rop]

Hello every one;

I am wondering if it's possible to reconfigure a Service Component 
without restarting it at all !
Here is my use case: I have a Service Component which is activated by 
the Declarative Service. The corresponding DS xml is:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
   <component name="hello">
     <implementation class="test.HelloComponent"/>
   </component>

Now, my HelloComponent's activate method is defined as this:

   public class HelloComponent {
     protected void activate(ComponentContext ctx) {
       // initialize our HelloComponent using ctx.getProperties()
     }
   }

if I create a Configuration using the Config Admin Service with a pid 
equals to the
HelloComponent's name (that is: "*hello*"), then my HelloComponent will 
retrieve its
properties from the *ComponentContext.getProperties*() method. So far, 
all is working like a charm.

Now here is my question: Is there a way for my HelloComponent to 
register a ManagedService in order
to be notified when properties are updated by the Configuration Admin 
Service ?
I ask this question because I have observed that SCR *REACTIVATES* the 
HelloComponent, when the
properties are updated by the Config Admin Service. That is: when Config 
Admin updates the
configuration, my HelloComponent is deactivated (it is removed from the 
OSGi servide registry), and
then re-activated (my activate method is invoked again).
The problem here is that my HelloComponent is actually a "crutial" 
component which must not be *shutdown* when
properties are modified (because I don't wan't to interrupt the service 
while re-activating my
HelloComponent).

/Pierre