Findbugs filter file for ignoring JUnits

Question

Hi guys,

I need to set up a filter file for my findbugs ant script that scans only the src/* files and not the test/* files.

What is the syntax for checking all classes while ignoring any filename or package name with 'test' in the name?

Thanks

Answer 1

FindBugs is actually scanning the compiled class files, not the sourcePath. If you are compiling your src/* and test/* files to the different directories, you could just use the nested <class...> element.

<findbugs home="${findbugs.dir}" output="xml:withMessages" 
    outputFile="${findbugs.report.xml}" jvmargs="-Xmx256M" 
    effort="max" projectName="${ant.project.name}" 
    auxClasspathRef="findbugs.classpath" 
    sourcePath="${src.dir}">
  <class location="${src.classes.dir}"/>
</findbugs>

That won't work if src/* and test/* are both compiled to a single directory. In that case, use a filter file and exclude the packages or class names that correspond to tests.

<findbugs home="${findbugs.dir}" output="xml:withMessages" 
    outputFile="${findbugs.report.xml}" jvmargs="-Xmx256M" 
    effort="max" projectName="${ant.project.name}" 
    auxClasspathRef="findbugs.classpath" 
    sourcePath="${src.dir}"
    excludefilter="exclude.xml">
  <class location="${classes.dir}"/>
</findbugs>

where exclude.xml looks like:

<FindBugsFilter>
  <Match>
    <Class name="~.*Test$"/>
  </Match>
  <Match>
    <Package name="~test\..*"/>
  </Match>
</FindBugsFilter>

Answer 2

By the way, it is a good idea to cover unit tests with FindBugs as well. There is no reason for using lower quality standards towards tests. Bugs in test are just that, bugs.

Sure, if you run FindBugs first time, there might be many bug reports, but the bug count will come down overtime if you pay any attention to them.