Extracting library-based object-oriented applications

Abstract

In an increasingly popular model of software distribution, software is developed in one computing environment and deployed in other environments by transfer over the internet. Extraction tools perform a static whole-program analysis to determine unused functionality in applications in order to reduce the time required to download applications. We have identified a number of scenarios where extraction tools require information beyond what can be inferred through static analysis: software distributions other than complete applications, the use of reflection, and situations where an application uses separately developed class libraries. This paper explores these issues, and introduces a modular specification language for expressing the information required for extraction. We implemented this language in the context of Jax, an industrial-strength application extractor for Java, and present a small case study in which different extraction scenarios are applied to a commercially available library-based application.