TECHNICAL DEBT ASSESSMENT IN OPEN SOURCE APPLICATIONS USING STATIC CODE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The management of technical debt is critical to the sustainability of software quality throughout the evolution of software systems. This study investigates how technical debt levels change across multiple versions of four widely used open source software projects, nopCommerce, OrchardCore, RavenDB, and ShareX. Versions 30, 28, 20, and 15 of these projects, respectively, were systematically analyzed using the NDepend static analysis tool to measure technical debt levels. The results reveal that technical debt tends to accumulate, decrease, and stabilize. While nopCommerce exhibits significant increases in technical debt after major version migrations, OrchardCore maintains low levels, demonstrating the effectiveness of modular architecture in debt management. RavenDB exhibits a limited but increasing debt profile, while ShareX tends to reduce its debt level over time. These findings highlight the importance of continuously monitoring and proactively managing technical debt, especially during major structural changes. The study presents empirical findings on the evolution of technical debt in open source projects and demonstrates the value of static analysis tools such as NDepend to software quality management.

Keywords

• Static code analysis
• Open source applications
• Static analysis tools
• Technical debt

AÇIK KAYNAK KODLU UYGULAMALARDA STATİK KOD ANALİZİ İLE TEKNİK BORÇ DEĞERLENDİRMESİ

Abstract

Teknik borcun yönetimi, yazılım sistemlerinin evrimi boyunca yazılım kalitesinin sürdürülebilirliği açısından kritik bir öneme sahiptir. Bu çalışma, yaygın olarak kullanılan dört açık kaynak yazılım projesi olan nopCommerce, OrchardCore, RavenDB ve ShareX’in çoklu sürümleri boyunca teknik borç seviyelerinin nasıl değiştiğini araştırmaktadır. NDepend statik analiz aracı kullanılarak bu projelerin sırasıyla 30, 28, 20 ve 15 sürümü sistematik olarak analiz edilmiş ve teknik borç seviyeleri ölçülmüştür. Elde edilen sonuçlar, teknik borcun birikim, azalma ve stabilite eğilimleri gösterdiğini ortaya koymuştur. nopCommerce, büyük sürüm geçişleri sonrası teknik borçta belirgin artışlar sergilerken, OrchardCore düşük seviyeleri koruyarak modüler mimarinin borç yönetimindeki etkinliğini göstermiştir. RavenDB, sınırlı ancak artış eğilimli bir borç profili sergilerken, ShareX zamanla borç seviyesini azaltma eğiliminde olmuştur. Bu bulgular, özellikle büyük yapısal değişiklikler sırasında teknik borcun sürekli izlenmesi ve proaktif olarak yönetilmesinin önemine dikkat çekmektedir. Çalışma, açık kaynak projelerde teknik borcun evrimine ilişkin ampirik bulgular sunmakta ve NDepend gibi statik analiz araçlarının yazılım kalitesi yönetimine sağladığı değeri ortaya koymaktadır.

Keywords

• Statik kod analizi
• Açık kaynak kodlu uygulamalar
• Statik analiz araçları
• Teknik borç

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