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      3    <title>Chapter&nbsp;6.&nbsp;Using the FindBugs&#8482; Ant task</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.76.1"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="FindBugs&#8482; Manual"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="FindBugs&#8482; Manual"><link rel="prev" href="gui.html" title="Chapter&nbsp;5.&nbsp;Using the FindBugs GUI"><link rel="next" href="eclipse.html" title="Chapter&nbsp;7.&nbsp;Using the FindBugs&#8482; Eclipse plugin"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Chapter&nbsp;6.&nbsp;Using the <span class="application">FindBugs</span>&#8482; <span class="application">Ant</span> task</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="gui.html">Prev</a>&nbsp;</td><th width="60%" align="center">&nbsp;</th><td width="20%" align="right">&nbsp;<a accesskey="n" href="eclipse.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></div><div class="chapter" title="Chapter&nbsp;6.&nbsp;Using the FindBugs&#8482; Ant task"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a name="anttask"></a>Chapter&nbsp;6.&nbsp;Using the <span class="application">FindBugs</span>&#8482; <span class="application">Ant</span> task</h2></div></div></div><div class="toc"><p><b>Table of Contents</b></p><dl><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="anttask.html#d0e1205">1. Installing the <span class="application">Ant</span> task</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="anttask.html#d0e1243">2. Modifying build.xml</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="anttask.html#d0e1314">3. Executing the task</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect1"><a href="anttask.html#d0e1339">4. Parameters</a></span></dt></dl></div><p>
      4 This chapter describes how to integrate <span class="application">FindBugs</span> into a build script
      5 for <a class="ulink" href="http://ant.apache.org/" target="_top"><span class="application">Ant</span></a>, which is a popular Java build
      6 and deployment tool.  Using the <span class="application">FindBugs</span> <span class="application">Ant</span> task, your build script can
      7 automatically run <span class="application">FindBugs</span> on your Java code.
      8 </p><p>
      9 The <span class="application">Ant</span> task was generously contributed by Mike Fagan.
     10 </p><div class="sect1" title="1.&nbsp;Installing the Ant task"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="d0e1205"></a>1.&nbsp;Installing the <span class="application">Ant</span> task</h2></div></div></div><p>
     11 To install the <span class="application">Ant</span> task, simply copy <code class="filename"><em class="replaceable"><code>$FINDBUGS_HOME</code></em>/lib/findbugs-ant.jar</code>
     12 into the <code class="filename">lib</code> subdirectory of your <span class="application">Ant</span> installation.
     13 
     14 </p><div class="note" title="Note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><table border="0" summary="Note"><tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Note]" src="note.png"></td><th align="left">Note</th></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>It is strongly recommended that you use the <span class="application">Ant</span> task with the version
     15 of <span class="application">FindBugs</span> it was included with.  We do not guarantee that the <span class="application">Ant</span> task Jar file
     16 will work with any version of <span class="application">FindBugs</span> other than the one it was included with.</p></td></tr></table></div><p>
     17 </p></div><div class="sect1" title="2.&nbsp;Modifying build.xml"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="d0e1243"></a>2.&nbsp;Modifying build.xml</h2></div></div></div><p>
     18 To incorporate <span class="application">FindBugs</span> into <code class="filename">build.xml</code> (the build script
     19 for <span class="application">Ant</span>), you first need to add a task definition.  This should appear as follows:
     20 
     21 </p><pre class="screen">
     22   &lt;taskdef name="findbugs" classname="edu.umd.cs.findbugs.anttask.FindBugsTask"/&gt;
     23 </pre><p>
     24 
     25 The task definition specifies that when a <code class="literal">findbugs</code> element is
     26 seen in <code class="filename">build.xml</code>, it should use the indicated class to execute the task.
     27 </p><p>
     28 After you have added the task definition, you can define a target
     29 which uses the <code class="literal">findbugs</code> task.  Here is an example
     30 which could be added to the <code class="filename">build.xml</code> for the
     31 Apache <a class="ulink" href="http://jakarta.apache.org/bcel/" target="_top">BCEL</a> library.
     32 
     33 </p><pre class="screen">
     34   &lt;property name="findbugs.home" value="/export/home/daveho/work/findbugs" /&gt;
     35 
     36   &lt;target name="findbugs" depends="jar"&gt;
     37     &lt;findbugs home="${findbugs.home}"
     38               output="xml"
     39               outputFile="bcel-fb.xml" &gt;
     40       &lt;auxClasspath path="${basedir}/lib/Regex.jar" /&gt;
     41       &lt;sourcePath path="${basedir}/src/java" /&gt;
     42       &lt;class location="${basedir}/bin/bcel.jar" /&gt;
     43     &lt;/findbugs&gt;
     44   &lt;/target&gt;
     45 </pre><p>
     46 
     47 The <code class="literal">findbugs</code> element must have the <code class="literal">home</code>
     48 attribute set to the directory in which <span class="application">FindBugs</span> is installed; in other words,
     49 <em class="replaceable"><code>$FINDBUGS_HOME</code></em>.  See <a class="xref" href="installing.html" title="Chapter&nbsp;2.&nbsp;Installing FindBugs&#8482;">Chapter&nbsp;2, <i>Installing <span class="application">FindBugs</span>&#8482;</i></a>.
     50 </p><p>
     51 This target will execute <span class="application">FindBugs</span> on <code class="filename">bcel.jar</code>, which is the
     52 Jar file produced by BCEL's build script.  (By making it depend on the "jar"
     53 target, we ensure that the library is fully compiled before running <span class="application">FindBugs</span> on it.)
     54 The output of <span class="application">FindBugs</span> will be saved in XML format to a file called
     55 <code class="filename">bcel-fb.xml</code>.
     56 An auxiliary Jar file, <code class="filename">Regex.jar</code>, is added to the aux classpath,
     57 because it is referenced by the main BCEL library.  A source path is specified
     58 so that the saved bug data will have accurate references to the BCEL source code.
     59 </p></div><div class="sect1" title="3.&nbsp;Executing the task"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="d0e1314"></a>3.&nbsp;Executing the task</h2></div></div></div><p>
     60 Here is an example of invoking <span class="application">Ant</span> from the command line, using the <code class="literal">findbugs</code>
     61 target defined above.
     62 
     63 </p><pre class="screen">
     64   <code class="prompt">[daveho@noir]$</code> <span class="command"><strong>ant findbugs</strong></span>
     65   Buildfile: build.xml
     66 
     67   init:
     68 
     69   compile:
     70 
     71   examples:
     72 
     73   jar:
     74 
     75   findbugs:
     76    [findbugs] Running FindBugs...
     77    [findbugs] Bugs were found
     78    [findbugs] Output saved to bcel-fb.xml
     79 
     80   BUILD SUCCESSFUL
     81   Total time: 35 seconds
     82 </pre><p>
     83 
     84 In this case, because we saved the bug results in an XML file, we can
     85 use the <span class="application">FindBugs</span> GUI to view the results; see <a class="xref" href="running.html" title="Chapter&nbsp;4.&nbsp;Running FindBugs&#8482;">Chapter&nbsp;4, <i>Running <span class="application">FindBugs</span>&#8482;</i></a>.
     86 </p></div><div class="sect1" title="4.&nbsp;Parameters"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="d0e1339"></a>4.&nbsp;Parameters</h2></div></div></div><p>This section describes the parameters that may be specified when
     87 using the <span class="application">FindBugs</span> task.
     88 
     89 </p><div class="variablelist"><dl><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">class</code></span></dt><dd><p>
     90        A optional nested element specifying which classes to analyze.  The <code class="literal">class</code>
     91        element must specify a <code class="literal">location</code> attribute which names the
     92        archive file (jar, zip, etc.), directory, or class file to be analyzed.  Multiple <code class="literal">class</code>
     93        elements may be specified as children of a single <code class="literal">findbugs</code> element.
     94        </p><p>In addition to or instead of specifying a <code class="literal">class</code> element,
     95        the  <span class="application">FindBugs</span> task can contain one or more <code class="literal">fileset</code> element(s) that
     96        specify files to be analyzed.
     97        For example, you might use a fileset to specify that all of the jar files in a directory
     98        should be analyzed.
     99        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">auxClasspath</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    100        An optional nested element which specifies a classpath (Jar files or directories)
    101        containing classes used by the analyzed library or application, but which
    102        you don't want to analyze.  It is specified the same way as
    103        <span class="application">Ant</span>'s <code class="literal">classpath</code> element for the Java task.
    104        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">sourcePath</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    105        An optional nested element which specifies a source directory path
    106        containing source files used to compile the Java code being analyzed.
    107        By specifying a source path, any generated XML bug output will have
    108        complete source information, which allows later viewing in the
    109        GUI.
    110        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">home</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    111        A required attribute.
    112        It must be set to the name of the directory where <span class="application">FindBugs</span> is installed.
    113        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">quietErrors</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    114        An optional boolean attribute.
    115        If true, reports of serious analysis errors and missing classes will
    116        be suppressed in the <span class="application">FindBugs</span> output.  Default is false.
    117        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">reportLevel</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    118        An optional attribute.  It specifies
    119        the confidence/priority threshold for reporting issues.  If set to "low", confidence is not used to filter bugs.
    120        If set to "medium" (the default), low confidence issues are supressed.
    121        If set to "high", only high confidence bugs are reported.
    122        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">output</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    123        Optional attribute.
    124        It specifies the output format.  If set to "xml" (the default), output
    125        is in XML format.
    126        If set to "xml:withMessages", output is in XML format augmented with
    127        human-readable messages.  (You should use this format if you plan
    128         to generate a report using an XSL stylesheet.)
    129        If set to "html", output is in HTML formatted (default stylesheet is default.xsl).
    130         If set to "text", output is in ad-hoc text format.
    131        If set to "emacs", output is in <a class="ulink" href="http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/" target="_top">Emacs</a> error message format.
    132        If set to "xdocs", output is xdoc XML for use with Apache Maven.
    133        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">stylesheet</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    134        Optional attribute.
    135       It specifies the stylesheet to use to generate html output when the output is set to html.
    136       Stylesheets included in the FindBugs distribution include default.xsl, fancy.xsl, fancy-hist.xsl, plain.xsl, and summary.xsl.
    137        The default value, if no stylesheet attribute is provided, is default.xsl.
    138 
    139        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">sort</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    140        Optional attribute.  If the <code class="literal">output</code> attribute
    141        is set to "text", then the <code class="literal">sort</code> attribute specifies
    142        whether or not reported bugs are sorted by class.  Default is true.
    143        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">outputFile</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    144        Optional attribute.  If specified, names the output file in which the
    145        <span class="application">FindBugs</span> output will be saved.  By default, the output is displayed
    146        directly by <span class="application">Ant</span>.
    147        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">debug</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    148       Optional boolean attribute.  If set to true, <span class="application">FindBugs</span> prints diagnostic
    149       information about which classes are being analyzed, and which bug pattern
    150       detectors are being run.  Default is false.
    151        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">effort</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    152               Set the analysis effort level.  The value specified should be
    153               one of <code class="literal">min</code>, <code class="literal">default</code>,
    154               or <code class="literal">max</code>.  See <a class="xref" href="running.html#commandLineOptions" title="3.&nbsp;Command-line Options">Section&nbsp;3, &#8220;Command-line Options&#8221;</a>
    155               for more information about setting the analysis level.
    156           </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">conserveSpace</code></span></dt><dd><p>Synonym for effort="min".</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">workHard</code></span></dt><dd><p>Synonym for effort="max".</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">visitors</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    157        Optional attribute.  It specifies a comma-separated list of bug detectors
    158        which should be run.  The bug detectors are specified by their class names,
    159        without any package qualification.  By default, all detectors which are
    160        not disabled by default are run.
    161        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">omitVisitors</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    162        Optional attribute.  It is like the <code class="literal">visitors</code> attribute,
    163        except it specifies detectors which will <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> be run.
    164        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">excludeFilter</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    165        Optional attribute.  It specifies the filename of a filter specifying bugs
    166        to exclude from being reported.  See <a class="xref" href="filter.html" title="Chapter&nbsp;8.&nbsp;Filter Files">Chapter&nbsp;8, <i>Filter Files</i></a>.
    167        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">includeFilter</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    168        Optional attribute.  It specifies the filename of a filter specifying
    169        which bugs are reported.  See <a class="xref" href="filter.html" title="Chapter&nbsp;8.&nbsp;Filter Files">Chapter&nbsp;8, <i>Filter Files</i></a>.
    170        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">projectFile</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    171        Optional attribute.  It specifies the name of a project file.
    172        Project files are created by the <span class="application">FindBugs</span> GUI, and specify classes,
    173        aux classpath entries, and source directories.  By naming a project,
    174        you don't need to specify any <code class="literal">class</code> elements,
    175        nor do you need to specify <code class="literal">auxClasspath</code> or
    176        <code class="literal">sourcePath</code> attributes.
    177        See <a class="xref" href="running.html" title="Chapter&nbsp;4.&nbsp;Running FindBugs&#8482;">Chapter&nbsp;4, <i>Running <span class="application">FindBugs</span>&#8482;</i></a> for how to create a project.
    178        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">jvmargs</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    179        Optional attribute.  It specifies any arguments that should be passed
    180        to the Java virtual machine used to run <span class="application">FindBugs</span>.  You may need to
    181        use this attribute to specify flags to increase the amount of memory
    182        the JVM may use if you are analyzing a very large program.
    183        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">systemProperty</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    184       Optional nested element.  If specified, defines a system property.
    185       The <code class="literal">name</code> attribute specifies the name of the
    186       system property, and the <code class="literal">value</code> attribute specifies
    187       the value of the system property.
    188       </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">timeout</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    189        Optional attribute.  It specifies the amount of time, in milliseconds,
    190        that the Java process executing <span class="application">FindBugs</span> may run before it is
    191        assumed to be hung and is terminated.  The default is 600,000
    192        milliseconds, which is ten minutes.  Note that for very large
    193        programs, <span class="application">FindBugs</span> may require more than ten minutes to complete its
    194        analysis.
    195        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">failOnError</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    196        Optional boolean attribute.  Whether to abort the build process if there is an
    197        error running <span class="application">FindBugs</span>. Defaults to "false"
    198        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">errorProperty</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    199        Optional attribute which specifies the name of a property that
    200        will be set to "true" if an error occurs while running <span class="application">FindBugs</span>.
    201        </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">warningsProperty</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    202               Optional attribute which specifies the name of a property
    203               that will be set to "true" if any warnings are reported by
    204               <span class="application">FindBugs</span> on the analyzed program.
    205           </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">userPreferencesFile</code></span></dt><dd><p>
    206               Optional attribute. Set the path of the user preferences file to use, which might override some of the options abobe.
    207               Specifying <code class="literal">userPreferencesFile</code> as first argument would mean some later
    208               options will override them, as last argument would mean they will override some previous options).
    209               This rationale behind this option is to reuse FindBugs Eclipse project settings for command
    210               line execution.
    211             </p></dd></dl></div><p>
    212 
    213 
    214 </p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="gui.html">Prev</a>&nbsp;</td><td width="20%" align="center">&nbsp;</td><td width="40%" align="right">&nbsp;<a accesskey="n" href="eclipse.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Chapter&nbsp;5.&nbsp;Using the <span class="application">FindBugs</span> GUI&nbsp;</td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top">&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;7.&nbsp;Using the <span class="application">FindBugs</span>&#8482; Eclipse plugin</td></tr></table></div></body></html>