Atlas Preferences

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Atlas offers several configuration options that you should be aware of when performing your analysis. The sections below discuss each preference option and any trade-offs you should consider.

Eclipse Memory Settings

The default Eclipse memory settings are very conservative in terms of program analysis requirements. Eclipse memory settings are stored in the eclipse.ini file whose location relative to the Eclipse executable is dependent on the platform Eclipse is running. To make changing these settings easier Atlas provides a simple interface to apply changes to Eclipse memory settings.

Inside Eclipse, navigate to Atlas > Eclipse Memory Settings. We recommend increasing the Maximum Memory field to at least 4 GB (Gigabytes), but if you have the resources available, allowing Eclipse to allocate more memory will be beneficial for analyzing large applications. If you expect the size of your program graph to be very large, you should increase the Maximum Memory accordingly. We don't recommend setting it above the amount of physical memory your machine has (swapping is slow).

After increasing the default memory settings, click OK. Eclipse will need to restart for the change to take effect.

Graph Editor Preferences

When you display an Atlas graph as the result of your analysis, the graph that is displayed is interactive. While the display and interaction defaults are very intuitive, some users may want to fine tune their experience. To adjust graph display and control settings navigate to Eclipse or Window > Preferences > Atlas > Graph Editor. There are configuration panels for General, Controls, and Grid settings. After changing settings click Apply and OK to save changes.

Note: If you haven't used Atlas before you are encouraged to try the default settings first.

Indexing Preferences

A program graph is a data structure that holds program elements and relationships necessary for program analysis. The process of creating a program graph in Atlas is called indexing. There are a few indexing settings you need to be aware of in Atlas.

Note: Correctly choosing the right indexing settings for your analysis task is critical because the results of your analysis may change depending on your selection!

First navigate to Eclipse or Window > Preferences > Atlas > Java. Note that there are three options for indexing Jars (Index all jars, Index only used classes in jars, and Do not index jars).

Option Trade-offs
Do not index jars This option includes program elements in Java source files only, but requires the least memory and is the quickest indexing option.
Index only used classes in jars This option requires more memory, but includes program elements in Jar files on the classpath that are used by the Java source files.
Index all jars This option requires the most memory and is the slowest indexing option, but includes elements in all Java source and Jar files on the classpath regardless if they are used.

You should consider if your analysis task requires analyzing program artifacts that exist inside Jar files, and if so whether or not you need to include all Jar files on the classpath in your analysis. After selecting your index preferences for Jars click Apply and OK.

The Atlas program graph is stored in memory, but can be serialized to disk and later loaded back into memory. By default, Atlas automatically caches the current index to disk and keeps a few backups of your last indexes. If you don't wish to save indexes you can disable these settings by navigating to Eclipse or Window > Preferences > Atlas. After changing settings click Apply and OK.


Learning Atlas | Indexing Workspace →