dazzle - the API-Break Checker (abc)

Detects invalid changes from one version to another version of an application. A similar, but outdated tool is clirr.

For example, an invalid change is a change of a public type, field, or method which has not been marked with the @Deprecated annotation in the version prior to the change.

Build/Generate the Jar File

After executing "mvn package", you find the jar-file with and without dependencies in the "target" folder.

General Execution Pattern

java -cp 'jar-file' abc.Main --old 'oldVersionJarFilePath' --current 'currentVersionJarFilePath' [--include 'comma separated packageNames'] [--rulesFile 'rulesFile']

The exit code represents the number of invalid changes found in the given application. So, if no invalid changes were found, the exit code is 0. Otherwise, the exit code is greater than 0. In this way, dazzle can be easily integrated into your build process and fail the build process upon invalid changes.

Example Executions

Search for invalid changes within the package teetime.framework by using --include teetime/framework:

java -cp 'jar-file' abc.Main --old src/test/resources/teetime-1.0-jar --current src/test/resources/teetime-2.0-jar --include teetime/framework

If you skip the "include" parameter, all packages are included:

java -cp 'jar-file' abc.Main --old src/test/resources/teetime-1.0-jar --current src/test/resources/teetime-2.0-jar

By default, all of the rules are applied which are listed in the rules file located at classpath:/rules.properties. You can change the location of the rules file by adding the argument --rulesFile:

java -cp 'jar-file' abc.Main --old src/test/resources/teetime-1.0-jar --current src/test/resources/teetime-2.0-jar --rulesFile ./rules-list.properties

Adding Your Own Rule

To add your own rule, create a class and let it extend abc.crawler.AbcRule. Afterwards, implement the required methods.

Example Rules

Have a look at the rules which are provided by this project in the package abc.rules.