Introduction

Thank you for choosing OpenRefactory’s Intelligent Code Repair (iCR) for Python. iCR combines source level static analysis and machine learning for examining programs to detect security, reliability, and compliance issues and combines that with behavior-enhancing code refactoring technology to create safe and reliable corrections for those flaws. This results in code free from many serious security vulnerabilities and programming errors.

iCR for Python is offered as both an on-demand service, available through a cloud-provider like Amazon‘s AWS or Microsoft’s Azure, and as a subscription service for private platform deployment. In both versions of the service, customers can choose to analyze and repair projects which are managed by well accepted cloud-based Version Control Systems such as GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket, or projects which are copied into a project folder.

This User Guide will provide the details about the specific features of the private platform version.

In the private deployment version, you subscribe to the service through contact with OpenRefactory. With either a paid subscription or, possibly, a Proof of Concept (PoC) trial, you will be provided a package that contains everything you will need to operate iCR for Python. You are also provided with a license that enables the operation of iCR for a maximum number of OpenRefactory Bundled Lines of Code (OBLoCs). The number of OBLoCs in your license is negotiated with OpenRefactory at the time you purchased your subscription or initiated your Proof of Concept trial.

The iCR for Python package contains the iCR Navigator, Analysis Engine and Reviewer. You use the Navigator to help you to select the projects that you want to make available for processing. The Navigator launches the Analysis Engine as needed and the Reviewer is used to browse through the fixes that were generated. The Reviewer uses a “diff” window so that you can see the original code alongside the fixes that were generated. You can also use the Reviewer to browse all the source in the affected file if you wish.

iCR for Python runs as a Docker image on a dedicated server that you provide. It is expected that this server has the Docker container infrastructure installed. From the Docker site: “Docker provides a way to run applications securely isolated in a container, packaged with all its dependencies and libraries.” This allows you to install iCR for Python as part of your Development Operations infrastructure with confidence that it will not disrupt your infrastructure. The server may be dedicated hardware within your development network or could be part of private, cloud-based development environment.

This guide will show you how to connect to your Cloud-based version-control system (VCS) with support for GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket systems. Or you may choose to process projects which are already extracted from the VCS and positioned into project folders accessible by the server running iCR for Python.

You select a project for analysis, initiate an analysis of that project, and then review the results. The review process presents to you all the flaws detected and allows you to review each correction whereby you can accept or reject the recommended fix. For accepted fixes, you can then incorporate them back into your project.

You may also want to consider integrating iCR for Python into your routine CI/CD workflows. Workflow frameworks for Jenkins, GitHub Actions and GitLab CI/CD are currently supported. See the companion document titled iCR - Workflow Integration User Guide v1.1 for details on how to perform that integration. A version of that User Guide is included in your distribution package.