Alias Analysis in Java

Question

Can somebody point me to a framework or an implementation of alias analysis for Java. I looked at the asm framework but it only provides data flow analysis and control flow analysis.

Update: Just curious but does anyone know if Findbugs does alias analysis?

Answer 1

I know of three open-source program analysis frameworks with an alias analysis for Java:

1. WALA (disclaimer: I'm a WALA maintainer).
2. Soot
3. Chord

Note that what is actually implemented in these frameworks is a points-to analysis, with which one can determine possible aliasing. Some details on WALA's pointer analyses are available at http://wala.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/UserGuide:PointerAnalysis.