Chapter 1. Introduction

This guide is for engineers, consultants, and others who want to create custom XML-based rules for Migration Toolkit for Runtimes (MTR) tools.

For more information, see the Introduction to the Migration Toolkit for Runtimes for an overview and the CLI Guide for details.

The Migration Toolkit for Runtimes (MTR) contains rule-based migration tools that analyze the APIs, technologies, and architectures used by the applications you plan to migrate. In fact, the MTR analysis process is implemented using MTR rules. MTR uses rules internally to extract files from archives, decompile files, scan and classify file types, analyze XML and other file content, analyze the application code, and build the reports.

MTR builds a data model based on the rule execution results and stores component data and relationships in a graph database, which can then be queried and updated as needed by the migration rules and for reporting purposes.

MTR rules use the following rule pattern:

when(condition)
  perform(action)
otherwise(action)

when(condition)
  perform(action)
otherwise(action)

MTR provides a comprehensive set of standard migration rules out-of-the-box. Because applications may contain custom libraries or components, MTR allows you to write your own rules to identify use of components or software that may not be covered by the existing ruleset.

If you plan to write your own custom rules, see the Rules Development Guide for detailed instructions.