IBM alphaWorks has released AUS (API Usage Scanner) - a J2EE tool that helps developers detect fragile APIs in Java applications to avoid binary compatibility and toleration problems.

They write: "Binary compatibility and toleration are some of the biggest and most frequently-experienced problems for customers. They often run into unpredictable breakages when upgrading or applying services to components of the software stack on which their applications run. One of the leading causes for these breakages is the use of unpublished, internal APIs between software products. Therefore, when an upgrade or service is applied, some internal APIs can change and break the dependent products, thus disrupting the stability of a customer's operation. To maintain and improve product stability, these fragile dependencies must be eliminated."

"The API Usage Scanner (AUS) tool can help quickly locate these internal API usages so that compatibility problems can be avoided or remedied. AUS is a pure Java™ utility that scans Java bytecode for references to targeted APIs. In other words, AUS can be used to scan one product to detect the use of another product's internal APIs. Once these usages are identified, the situation can be remedied by replacing those internal APIs with published ones. If a suitable published API is not available, the product team can alert the API developers of the existence of fragile interfaces between the two products and request an agreement to hold that API stable until a suitable replacement can be provided. Several IBM flagship software products have already done this with great success."

The AUS distribution package includes the executable file, an InfoCenter, a readme file, and a sample application.

Visit http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/aus?open&S_TACT=105AGX59&S_CMP=GR&ca=dgr-jw26awaus to read more.