Analysis of dependencies between refactorings to solve code smells

Abstract

Code smells are symptoms in the source code that can reveal design problems. To fix a smell, a set of refactorings must be applied that allow the restructure of the system. However, by applying a set of refactorings in a given order, problems can arise that prevent them from being applied. For example, a refactoring could depend on a restructuring made by another refactoring that was not yet applied, or a refactoring could reference a system artifact that was modified by a previously applied refactoring. For these reasons, to apply a set of refactorings, the developer must analyze the dependencies that exist between them to be able to establish the order of application. In this line, this work presents a tool that identifies and solves the conflicts originated by dependencies between refactorings and then automatically apply them. The results, although preliminary, indicate that this approach allows identifying and solving a high percentage of conflicts.