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Towards automated library migrations with error prone and refaster

Authors:

Rick Ossendrijver,

Stephan Schroevers,

Clemens GrelckAuthors Info & Claims

SAC '22: Proceedings of the 37th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing

Pages 1598 - 1606

https://doi.org/10.1145/3477314.3507153

Published: 06 May 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Software projects use a significant number of external libraries to speed up development and deliver high-quality software in a cost-effective way. Requirements placed on external libraries can change over time and libraries may cease to be maintained or evolve in incompatible ways. Consequently, a library may no longer be fit for purpose and require replacement. Such a library migration is generally performed manually and may be complex, error-prone, and time-consuming, especially for large codebases. It follows that an automated approach to library migrations is preferred.

We consider the suitability of Error Prone and Refaster, two Google tools capable of refactoring Java programs, for automated library migration. We propose extensions that improve the accuracy with which Refaster templates are matched, as well as the correctness of their replacement operations. We additionally propose a set of Error Prone extensions to facilitate rewriting method return types. Together they enable a new class of rewrite operations especially relevant to library migrations.

For validation we consider a private industrial codebase as well as an actively developed open source codebase. We show that using out-of-the-box Error Prone and Refaster full migration of RxJava 2-referencing files is possible in only 35% and 0% of such files, respectively. Using the proposed extensions, we manage to fully migrate an additional 35% of the RxJava 2-referencing files in the former codebase, and an initial 39% of such files in the latter codebase.

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Cited By

Di Rocco JNguyen PDi Sipio CRubei RDi Ruscio DDi Penta M(2025)DeepMigInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2024.107588177:COnline publication date: 1-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.infsof.2024.107588
Alikhanifard PTsantalis N(2024)A Novel Refactoring and Semantic Aware Abstract Syntax Tree Differencing Tool and a Benchmark for Evaluating the Accuracy of Diff ToolsACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology10.1145/369600234:2(1-63)Online publication date: 12-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3696002
Ketkar ARamos DClapp LBarik RRamanathan M(2024)A Lightweight Polyglot Code Transformation LanguageProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36564298:PLDI(1288-1312)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656429
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Towards automated library migrations with error prone and refaster
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Software maintenance tools

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cover image ACM Conferences

SAC '22: Proceedings of the 37th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing

April 2022

2099 pages

ISBN:9781450387132

DOI:10.1145/3477314

Conference Chairs:
Jiman Hong
Soongsil University
,
Miroslav Bures
Czech Technical University, Czechia
,
Program Chairs:
Juw Won Park
University of Louisville
,
Tomas Cerny
Baylor University

Copyright © 2022 Owner/Author.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Published: 06 May 2022

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SAC '22: The 37th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing

April 25 - 29, 2022

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Cited By

Di Rocco JNguyen PDi Sipio CRubei RDi Ruscio DDi Penta M(2025)DeepMigInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2024.107588177:COnline publication date: 1-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.infsof.2024.107588
Alikhanifard PTsantalis N(2024)A Novel Refactoring and Semantic Aware Abstract Syntax Tree Differencing Tool and a Benchmark for Evaluating the Accuracy of Diff ToolsACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology10.1145/369600234:2(1-63)Online publication date: 12-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3696002
Ketkar ARamos DClapp LBarik RRamanathan M(2024)A Lightweight Polyglot Code Transformation LanguageProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36564298:PLDI(1288-1312)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656429
Zhong HMeng NRoychoudhury APaiva AAbreu RStorey M(2024)Compiler-directed Migrating API Callsite of Client CodeProceedings of the IEEE/ACM 46th International Conference on Software Engineering10.1145/3597503.3639084(1-12)Online publication date: 20-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3597503.3639084
van de Laar PCorvino RMooij Avan Wezep HRosmalen R(2024)Custom static analysis to enhance insight into the usage of in-house librariesJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2024.112028212:COnline publication date: 9-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.jss.2024.112028
Miller CKästner CVasilescu BChandra SBlincoe KTonella P(2023)“We Feel Like We’re Winging It:” A Study on Navigating Open-Source Dependency AbandonmentProceedings of the 31st ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering10.1145/3611643.3616293(1281-1293)Online publication date: 30-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3611643.3616293
Dilhara MDig DKetkar AGrundy JPollock LPenta M(2023)PyEvolve: Automating Frequent Code Changes in Python ML SystemsProceedings of the 45th International Conference on Software Engineering10.1109/ICSE48619.2023.00091(995-1007)Online publication date: 14-May-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ICSE48619.2023.00091

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