Introducing Debtgrep: A Tool for Fighting Technical Debt in Base Station Software

One of the biggest challenges in a large software development project is to manage technical debt. For example, if an API is replaced by a newer version and the old one is deprecated, there is a big risk that a substantial technical debt is incurred. The time where two versions of an API can co-exist can be quite long, and in a big organization like Ericsson 4G5G Baseband there can be a big challenge to prevent developers from continuing to use deprecated API's. At Ericsson 4G5G Baseband we invented the tool debtgrep to be incorporated in our Continuous Integration machinery. The tool will prevent any new code to be added using deprecated API's, or other configured keywords. The tool has proven very useful in the development of a new product based on a new software architecture. Debtgrep is used for deprecated API's, enforcing design rules, and enforcing architecture rules. The paper describes the behavior and configuration possibilities of the tool, and how it is used at Ericsson 4G5G Baseband.