Azul cloud service spots dead code in Java apps

Java software and services provider Azul has added a code inventory capability to identify “dead” code via its Azul Vulnerability Protection agentless cloud service for Java applications.

Introduced October 4 and available now at no additional cost to Azul Vulnerability Detection users, the Code Inventory feature offers developers and devops teams a catalog of source code being used in production Java applications. This enables accurate identification of dead and unused code for removal. Azul described dead code as source code residing in an applications codebase but not used by the application.

Code Inventory catalogs which code has run in production so teams can make informed decisions about what code should be removed. With Code Inventory, Azul aims to reduce the time needed to maintain and test code, thus improving developer productivity and saving money. Information is collected during production, with no performance penalty, and no changes are required to Java applications, Azul said.

Detailed code information is collected at the class/package level from inside the JVM to create a comprehensive view across Java workloads of what code runs in production over time. This data offers accurate and strong signals to confidently prioritize dead code for removal, Azul said. Code Inventory is part of Azul Vulnerability Detection, a cloud service for Azul JVMs that continuously detects security vulnerabilities in applications and infrastructure in production.