Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Running Dependometer

What are the prerequisites for running Dependometer?

You need a Java Development Kit (JDK) > 1.5. E.g download SUN JDK here.

Can I run dependometer without a JDK?

No, dependometer has a dependency to javadoc, which is only available in an installed JDK.

Reading the results

What is the meaning of the red marked lines in the package cycle section? Are this cyclic dependency hot spots?

No, this are the not-permitted dependencies. These dependencies violate the configuration, as they're not permitted.

What is the number e.g. in front of packages (1) good for - are the numbers internal numbers or IDs?

No, the number counts the type relationship (please see the README of the dependometer). It is an indicator about the coupling of the types. In case of a 1 the types are a weakly coupled - in case of 100 they are tightly coupled.

What is the meaning of "not implemented (15/0)" in case of subsystems? The subsystems do exist in the source code.

There are no packages assigned to the subsystem (see dependometer README). Please check your package/subsystem filter configuration.

What is the meaning of "unused defined dependencies (0)" ?

This are defined dependencies which are not used yet.

What is the meaning of "compilation units (534/7)"

There 534 internal and 7 external compilation units. (see the dependometer README - project-internal, project-external).

What is the meaning of "violations (372)" ?

There are (as a result of the defined dependencies) 372 not-permitted dependencies between compilation units.

What is the meaning of cycle participation (?) and levelization (0) in the layer-section if they're not clickable ?

The question mark indicates that the dependometer is still analysing the sources. After the analysis process is finished, there should be

Compilation-unit are the source files but what are types in dependometer ?

A compilation-unit can have multiple class/interface definitions (types = class oder interface)

Levelization. What is the correct interpretation of this metric (John Lakos) ? Wie habe ich die Ausgabe zu deuten ? Alles was >level 1 ist hat dependencies ?

Das ist das 'layering' der Anwendung. Wenn es keine Zyklen gibt handelt es sich bei den Abhängigkeiten um einen 'Directed Acyclic Graph'. Dann kann ich level nummern vergeben. Die geben die Test und Integrationsreihenfolge an. (Für Details müsstest Du Dir mal das Levelization Kapitel im Lakos Buch reinziehen).

Cycle participation. What is the correct interpretation of this metric (John Lakos)? E.g. how to I interpret "subsystem cycle participation (35)"

Subsystem participates in 35 cycles - assuming these cycles are caused by one dependency, all cycles are gone after resolving the dependency.

After modification of some path settings and/or moving some dependometer files I do get the error "can not find output directory" or the result files can not be generated - even after running setup again.

Ant setup does not modify all apth statements - path settings must be manually modified in the writer section of the dependometer configuration file.

Therefore, please keep in mind: After changing the path settings or moving files around - it is not enough to rerun the ant setup, you also have to modifiy the dependometer configuration.