MessageListenerContainer is started even if autoStartup is false

[tbarabanov]

In what version(s) of Spring for Apache Kafka are you seeing this issue?
2.8,2

Describe the bug
I have a class like this:
@Autowired
private KafkaListenerEndpointRegistry registry;

@KafkaListener(
id = "#{__listener.id}",
groupId = "#{__listener.groupId}",
topics = "#{__listener.topics}",
properties = {"#{__listener.properties}"},
autoStartup = "false") // autostart is disabled, use listener.start()

Instances of the class are created this way:
@Bean
@Scope(ConfigurableBeanFactory.SCOPE_PROTOTYPE)
public KafkaMessageListener<?, ?> kafkaListener(String groupId,
String[] topics,
String[] properties) {
return new KafkaMessageListener<>(groupId, topics, properties);
when I create an instance of the KafkaMessageListener it starts up despite the fact that autoStartup is "false". I also tried to set

ConcurrentKafkaListenerContainerFactory.setAutoStartup(false) but without success.

I found that KafkaListenerEndpointRegistry starts my listener in this method:
private void startIfNecessary(MessageListenerContainer listenerContainer) {
if (this.contextRefreshed || listenerContainer.isAutoStartup()) {
listenerContainer.start();
}
}

because KafkaListenerEndpointRegistrar.startImmediately is true when I call appCtx.getBean(...)

I expected that when I create an instance of KafkaMessageListener it must not be started.

[garyrussell]

Please learn how to use GitHub markdown to format code properly.

autoStartup only applies during context initialization; it is not relevant when the context has been refreshed (fully initialized), including when creating new prototype bean instances after the initialization is complete.

We could consider adding an option to the registry.

[tbarabanov]

Thx for the advice ). Is there any need in an option? I mean what if just get rid of the contextRefreshed check in KafkaListenerEndpointRegistry.startIfNecessary?

[garyrussell]

It has to be an option, the default behavior is correct.

[garyrussell]

I presume you are using context.getBean() to get new instance(s) of your listener; why not defer that until you actually want the container to start?

[tbarabanov]

Yep, can do it this way. But it puts restrictions on how the code is organised, create/start/stop/ is just a bit more natural.