Design and Implementation of a Static Source Code Analysis Framework for Legacy PHP Systems

Abstract

Detecting software faults early is one of the most efficient methods for decreasing the cost of software development. Static source code analysis is an efficient method for this. This paper presents the design and implementation of a distributed static source code analysis platform for legacy PHP applications. The proposed solution integrates syntax analysis, deprecation detection, variable type inference, and interactive Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) visualization within a unified environment. Rather than introducing a new analysis technique, this work integrates these otherwise separate, tool-specific capabilities, together with in-place source editing, into a single interactive, PHP-engine-version-agnostic environment built on a distributed Master-Worker architecture and purpose-built for legacy PHP modernization. In a single real-world PHP 5.6 to PHP 7.4 migration project, the platform yielded a substantial reduction in analysis effort relative to a conventional toolchain, though broader evaluation is required to generalize this finding.