Jdeprscan - Deprecated API Elements Scanner

Introducing jdeprscan

jdeprscan - static analysis tool that scans a jar file (or some other aggregation of class files) for uses of deprecated API elements

Synopsis

jdeprscan [options] {dir|jar|class}

options See options for the jdeprscan below

dir|jar|class jdeprscan command scans each argument for usages of deprecated APIs. The arguments can be a:

• dir: Directory

• jar: JAR file

• class: Class name or class file

The class name should use a dot . as a separator. For example:

java.lang.Thread

For nested classes, the dollar sign $ separator character should be used. For example:

java.lang.Thread$State

A class file can also be named. For example:

build/classes/java/lang/Thread$State.class

Description

The jdeprscan tool is a static analysis tool provided by the JDK that scans a JAR file or some other aggregation of class files for uses of deprecated API elements. The jdeprscan tool only identifies the deprecated APIs defined by Java SE. Deprecated APIs defined by third-party libraries aren’t reported.

To scan a JAR file or a set of class files, you must first ensure that all of the classes that the scanned classes depend upon are present in the class path. Set the class path using the --class-path option described in Options for the jdeprscan Command. Typically, you would use the same class path as the one that you use when invoking your application.

If the jdeprscan can’t find all the dependent classes, it will generate an error message for each class that's missing. These error messages are typically of the form:

error: cannot find class ...  

Options

The following options are available:

--class-path path Provides a search path for resolution of dependent classes.

path can be a search path that consists of one or more directories separated by the system-specific path separator. For example:

Linux and macOS:

--class-path /some/directory:/another/different/dir 

Windows:

--class-path \some\directory;\another\different\dir

--for-removal Limits scanning or listing to APIs that are deprecated for removal. Can’t be used with a release value of 6, 7, or 8.

--full-version Prints out the full version string of the tool.

--help or —h Prints out a full help message.

--list or —l Prints the set of deprecated APIs. No scanning is done, so no directory, jar, or class arguments should be provided.

--release 15|16 Specifies the Java SE release that provides the set of deprecated APIs for scanning.

--verbose or —v Enables additional message output during processing.

--version Prints out the abbreviated version string of the tool.

Examples

The JAR file for this library will be named something similar to commons-math3-3.6.1.jar. To scan this JAR file for the use of deprecated APIs, run the following command:

jdeprscan commons-math3-3.6.1.jar 

This command produces several lines of output. For example, one line of output might be:

class org/apache/commons/math3/util/MathUtils uses deprecated method java/lang/Double::<init>(D)V

The deprecated API it uses is a method on the java.lang.Double class.

The name of the deprecated method is <init>, which is a special name that means that the method is actually a constructor. Another special name is <clinit>, which indicates a class static initializer.

Other methods are listed just by their method name. Following the method name is the argument list and return type:

(D)V

This indicates that it takes just one double value (a primitive) and returns void. The argument and return types can become cryptic. For example, another line of output might be:

class org/apache/commons/math3/util/Precision uses deprecated method java/math/BigDecimal::setScale(II)Ljava/math/BigDecimal;

In this line of output, the deprecated method is on class java.math.BigDecimal, and the method is setScale(). In this case, the II means that it takes two int arguments. The Ljava/math/BigDecimal; after the parentheses means that it returns a reference to java.math.BigDecimal.

You can use jdeprscan relative to the previous three JDK releases. For example, if you are running JDK 16, then you can check against all earlier JDKs.

As an example, look at this code snippet:

public class Deprecations {    
   SecurityManager sm = new RMISecurityManager();    // deprecated in 8    
   Boolean b2 = new Boolean(true);          // deprecated in 9        
}

Run jdeprscan on JDK 9:

jdeprscan --class-path classes example.Deprecations

class example/Deprecations uses type java/rmi/RMISecurityManager deprecated    
class example/Deprecations uses method in type java/rmi/RMISecurityManager deprecated
class example/Deprecations uses method java/lang/Boolean <init> (Z)V deprecated