Runtime totalMemory/freeMemory In Code

ID

java.runtime_totalmemory_in_code

Severity

info

Remediation Complexity

medium

Remediation Risk

low

Remediation Effort

medium

Resource

Code Smell

Language

Java

Tags

best-practice, code-style

Description

Reports calls to Runtime.totalMemory() and Runtime.freeMemory(). These methods are commonly associated with manual debugging or profiling activities and should not remain in production code.

Rationale

Inline memory checks using Runtime.totalMemory() or Runtime.freeMemory() are typically leftover debugging code. They provide point-in-time snapshots that are unreliable for monitoring and add unnecessary overhead:

public void process() {
    System.out.println("Memory: " + Runtime.getRuntime().totalMemory());
    doWork();
    System.out.println("Free: " + Runtime.getRuntime().freeMemory());
}

Remediation

Remove the inline memory checks and use JMX, a monitoring framework, or a profiling tool for memory analysis:

public void process() {
    doWork();
    // Use JMX MemoryMXBean or a metrics framework for monitoring
}

References