diff --git a/tycho-core/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2tools/TychoDirectorApplication.java b/tycho-core/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2tools/TychoDirectorApplication.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..459b414759
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tycho-core/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2tools/TychoDirectorApplication.java
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2023 Christoph Läubrich and others.
+ * This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ *     Christoph Läubrich - initial API and implementation
+ *******************************************************************************/
+package org.eclipse.tycho.p2tools;
+
+import org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.director.app.DirectorApplication;
+import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core.IProvisioningAgent;
+import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core.IProvisioningAgentProvider;
+import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.repository.artifact.IArtifactRepositoryManager;
+
+/**
+ * Enhances the P2 {@link DirectorApplication} by injecting the agent provider from plexus context,
+ * additionally to that ensures that the extension classloader is used to load this class as it is
+ * part of tycho-core module.
+ */
+public class TychoDirectorApplication extends DirectorApplication {
+
+    public TychoDirectorApplication(IProvisioningAgentProvider agentProvider, IProvisioningAgent agent) {
+        //TODO should be able to control agent creation see https://github.com/eclipse-equinox/p2/pull/398
+        //Until now we need to fetch a service to trigger loading of the internal osgi framework...
+        agent.getService(IArtifactRepositoryManager.class);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tycho-core/src/test/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2resolver/FeatureRootfileArtifactRepositoryTest.java b/tycho-core/src/test/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2resolver/FeatureRootfileArtifactRepositoryTest.java
index 167717a83b..4389ce1917 100644
--- a/tycho-core/src/test/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2resolver/FeatureRootfileArtifactRepositoryTest.java
+++ b/tycho-core/src/test/java/org/eclipse/tycho/p2resolver/FeatureRootfileArtifactRepositoryTest.java
@@ -29,12 +29,13 @@
 import org.eclipse.tycho.p2.metadata.IP2Artifact;
 import org.eclipse.tycho.p2.publisher.rootfiles.FeatureRootAdvice;
 import org.eclipse.tycho.p2maven.advices.MavenPropertiesAdvice;
+import org.eclipse.tycho.testing.TychoPlexusTestCase;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.rules.TemporaryFolder;
 
-public class FeatureRootfileArtifactRepositoryTest {
+public class FeatureRootfileArtifactRepositoryTest extends TychoPlexusTestCase {
     @Rule
     public TemporaryFolder tempFolder = new TemporaryFolder();
 
diff --git a/tycho-maven-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/extension.xml b/tycho-maven-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/extension.xml
index 63947ce854..c6840c91a4 100644
--- a/tycho-maven-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/extension.xml
+++ b/tycho-maven-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/extension.xml
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
     <!-- P2 Stuff TODO add more? -->
     <exportedPackage>org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.updatesite</exportedPackage>
     <exportedPackage>org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.artifact.repository.simple</exportedPackage>
+    <exportedPackage>org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.p2.core.eventbus</exportedPackage>
+    <exportedPackage>org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.core.helpers</exportedPackage>
     <exportedPackage>org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core</exportedPackage>
     <exportedPackage>org.eclipse.equinox.p2.metadata</exportedPackage>
     <exportedPackage>org.eclipse.equinox.p2.publisher</exportedPackage>
diff --git a/tycho-p2-director-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/plugins/p2/director/DirectorMojo.java b/tycho-p2-director-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/plugins/p2/director/DirectorMojo.java
index 8ea217ffdc..5b0657ffee 100644
--- a/tycho-p2-director-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/plugins/p2/director/DirectorMojo.java
+++ b/tycho-p2-director-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/tycho/plugins/p2/director/DirectorMojo.java
@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Objects;
 
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.AbstractMojo;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
@@ -26,10 +28,12 @@
 import org.apache.maven.plugins.annotations.Mojo;
 import org.apache.maven.plugins.annotations.Parameter;
 import org.eclipse.equinox.app.IApplication;
-import org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.director.app.DirectorApplication;
 import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core.IProvisioningAgent;
-import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.repository.artifact.IArtifactRepositoryManager;
+import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core.IProvisioningAgentProvider;
+import org.eclipse.osgi.service.environment.EnvironmentInfo;
+import org.eclipse.tycho.TargetEnvironment;
 import org.eclipse.tycho.p2.CommandLineArguments;
+import org.eclipse.tycho.p2tools.TychoDirectorApplication;
 
 /**
  * Allows to run the <a href=
@@ -65,12 +69,15 @@
  * </li>
  * </ol>
  */
-@Mojo(name = "director", defaultPhase = LifecyclePhase.NONE, threadSafe = true, requiresProject = false)
+@Mojo(name = "director", defaultPhase = LifecyclePhase.NONE, threadSafe = true, requiresProject = true)
 public class DirectorMojo extends AbstractMojo {
 
     @Component
     private IProvisioningAgent agent;
 
+    @Component
+    private IProvisioningAgentProvider agentProvider;
+
     /**
      * The folder in which the targeted product is located.
      */
@@ -321,9 +328,6 @@ public class DirectorMojo extends AbstractMojo {
 
     @Override
     public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException {
-        //TODO should be able to control agent creation see https://github.com/eclipse-equinox/p2/pull/398
-        //Until now we need to fetch a service to trigger loading of the internal osgi framework...
-        agent.getService(IArtifactRepositoryManager.class);
         CommandLineArguments args = new CommandLineArguments();
         args.addNonNull("-destination", destination);
         args.addNonNull("-metadatarepository", metadatarepositories);
@@ -364,7 +368,7 @@ public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException {
         args.addNonNull("-trustedAuthorities", trustedAuthorities);
         args.addNonNull("-trustedPGPKeys", trustedPGPKeys);
         args.addNonNull("-trustedCertificates", trustedCertificates);
-        Object exitCode = new DirectorApplication().run(args.toArray());
+        Object exitCode = new TychoDirectorApplication(agentProvider, agent).run(args.toArray());
         if (!(IApplication.EXIT_OK.equals(exitCode))) {
             throw new MojoFailureException("Call to p2 director application failed with exit code " + exitCode
                     + ". Program arguments were: '" + args + "'.");
@@ -395,8 +399,8 @@ private List<String> getUnitParameterList(String csvlist, List<IU> units) {
                 list.add(iu.trim());
             }
         }
-        if (install != null) {
-            for (IU iu : install) {
+        if (units != null) {
+            for (IU iu : units) {
                 String id = iu.id;
                 if (iu.feature) {
                     id += ".feature.group";