Technical Debt Measurement during Software Development using Sonarqube: Literature Review and a Case Study

Technical debt comprises the construction of poor software during the development process, potentially leading to several problems for organizations. For this reason, it is convenient to measure it and apply timely strategies to prevent unwanted consequences. Technical debt identification and measurement may be supported by static analysis tools, such as Sonarqube. This paper aims to analyze, evaluate, and apply the technical debt metrics proposed by Sonarqube. We present a literature review about technical debt measurement with this tool and describe the results of a case study. Based on the literature review and the case study results, we analyze the advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of using Sonarqube for technical debt measurement. We conclude that there are several threats to the validity on the proposed metrics, which may lead to inaccurate results. However, Sonarqube can still support technical debt management during the software development process.