What rules do Microsoft have turned on internally?

I've recently received a few requests asking about the Code Analysis rules we run internally against Microsoft's own code. While it might come as a surprise, we do not actually run every single rule against our own binaries. There are many reasons for this:

  • Applicability. Not every rule is applicable to every project, for example, the Design rules might be turned off if you are writing a Windows Application
  • Noise rate. Some rules have a low signal-to-noise ratio. While we try remove as much noise as possible from a rule, some rules, due to limitations in our analysis engine, still remain to be too noisy to be run regularly over large code bases. For example, some of the performance rules lack real context to make a good judge of whether a particular issue will really affect the performance of an application.
  • Time. We have to ship eventually - attempting to fix every single violation, for every single binary is just not feasible nor advisable. Therefore we make calls to turn off some rules that may lack value and do not impact the security of the product.

Please note that the following rule sets are applicable only to the Developer Division (although Windows does actually follow the same bar), other divisions, such as MSN, Office, etc each have their own set of enabled rules that may or may not be match what is shown below.

There are two rule sets; the first, Public Rule Set, is for assemblies that design for public consumption. That is, assemblies that are designed to have user take a reference to them in their own projects (such as System.Core.dll). The second, Non-Public Rule Set, is for assemblies are not designed to be consumed by users (such as FxCopCmd.exe). Both sets are listed below:

Public Rule Set:

Design
CA1008 EnumsShouldHaveZeroValue
CA1009 DeclareEventHandlersCorrectly
CA1011 ConsiderPassingBaseTypesAsParameters
CA1012 AbstractTypesShouldNotHaveConstructors
CA1014 MarkAssembliesWithClsCompliant
CA1017 MarkAssembliesWithComVisible
CA1018 MarkAttributesWithAttributeUsage
CA1019 DefineAccessorsForAttributeArguments
CA1023 IndexersShouldNotBeMultidimensional
CA1025 ReplaceRepetitiveArgumentsWithParamsArray
CA1026 DefaultParametersShouldNotBeUsed
CA1027 MarkEnumsWithFlags
CA1028 EnumStorageShouldBeInt32
CA1030 UseEventsWhereAppropriate
CA1032 ImplementStandardExceptionConstructors
CA1034 NestedTypesShouldNotBeVisible
CA1036 OverrideMethodsOnComparableTypes
CA1038 EnumeratorsShouldBeStronglyTyped
CA1039 ListsAreStronglyTyped
CA1040 AvoidEmptyInterfaces
CA1041 ProvideObsoleteAttributeMessage
CA1043 UseIntegralOrStringArgumentForIndexers
CA1044 PropertiesShouldNotBeWriteOnly
CA1045 DoNotPassTypesByReference
CA1046 DoNotOverloadOperatorEqualsOnReferenceTypes
CA1050 DeclareTypesInNamespaces
CA1051 DoNotDeclareVisibleInstanceFields
CA1052 StaticHolderTypesShouldBeSealed
CA1053 StaticHolderTypesShouldNotHaveConstructors
CA1054 UriParametersShouldNotBeStrings
CA1055 UriReturnValuesShouldNotBeStrings
CA1056 UriPropertiesShouldNotBeStrings
CA1057 StringUriOverloadsCallSystemUriOverloads
CA1058 TypesShouldNotExtendCertainBaseTypes
CA1059 MembersShouldNotExposeCertainConcreteTypes
 
Globalization
CA1300 SpecifyMessageBoxOptions
CA1301 AvoidDuplicateAccelerators
CA1304 SpecifyCultureInfo
CA1305 SpecifyIFormatProvider
CA1306 SetLocaleForDataTypes
CA1307 SpecifyStringComparison
CA1309 UseOrdinalStringComparison
CA2101 SpecifyMarshalingForPInvokeStringArguments
 
Interoperability
CA1401 PInvokesShouldNotBeVisible
CA1402 AvoidOverloadsInComVisibleInterfaces
CA1403 AutoLayoutTypesShouldNotBeComVisible
CA1404 CallGetLastErrorImmediatelyAfterPInvoke
CA1405 ComVisibleTypeBaseTypesShouldBeComVisible
CA1406 AvoidInt64ArgumentsForVB6Clients
CA1408 DoNotUseAutoDualClassInterfaceType
CA1413 AvoidNonpublicFieldsInComVisibleValueTypes
 
Naming
CA1700 DoNotNameEnumValuesReserved
CA1701 ResourceStringCompoundWordsShouldBeCasedCorrectly
CA1702 CompoundWordsShouldBeCasedCorrectly
CA1703 ResourceStringsShouldBeSpelledCorrectly
CA1704 IdentifiersShouldBeSpelledCorrectly
CA1707 IdentifiersShouldNotContainUnderscores
CA1708 IdentifiersShouldDifferByMoreThanCase
CA1709 IdentifiersShouldBeCasedCorrectly
CA1710 IdentifiersShouldHaveCorrectSuffix
CA1711 IdentifiersShouldNotHaveIncorrectSuffix
CA1712 DoNotPrefixEnumValuesWithTypeName
CA1713 EventsShouldNotHaveBeforeOrAfterPrefix
CA1714 FlagsEnumsShouldHavePluralNames
CA1715 IdentifiersShouldHaveCorrectPrefix
CA1716 IdentifiersShouldNotMatchKeywords
CA1719 ParameterNamesShouldNotMatchMemberNames
CA1720 IdentifiersShouldNotContainTypeNames
CA1721 PropertyNamesShouldNotMatchGetMethods
CA1722 IdentifiersShouldNotHaveIncorrectPrefix
CA1724 TypeNamesShouldNotMatchNamespaces
 
Performance
CA1811 AvoidUncalledPrivateCode
CA1812 AvoidUninstantiatedInternalClasses
CA1813 AvoidUnsealedAttributes
CA1815 OverrideEqualsAndOperatorEqualsOnValueTypes
CA1816 DisposeMethodsShouldCallSuppressFinalize
CA1819 PropertiesShouldNotReturnArrays
 
Portability
CA1900 ValueTypeFieldsShouldBePortable
CA1901 PInvokeDeclarationsShouldBePortable
 
Reliability
CA2001 AvoidCallingProblematicMethods
CA2002 DoNotLockOnObjectsWithWeakIdentity
CA2004 RemoveCallsToGCKeepAlive
CA2006 UseSafeHandleToEncapsulateNativeResources
 
Security
CA2102 CatchNonClsCompliantExceptionsInGeneralHandlers
CA2103 ReviewImperativeSecurity
CA2104 DoNotDeclareReadOnlyMutableReferenceTypes
CA2105  ArrayFieldsShouldNotBeReadOnly
CA2106 SecureAsserts
CA2107 ReviewDenyAndPermitOnlyUsage
CA2108 ReviewDeclarativeSecurityOnValueTypes
CA2109 ReviewVisibleEventHandlers
CA2111 PointersShouldNotBeVisible
CA2112 SecuredTypesShouldNotExposeFields
CA2114 MethodSecurityShouldBeASupersetOfType
CA2115 CallGCKeepAliveWhenUsingNativeResources
CA2116 AptcaMethodsShouldOnlyCallAptcaMethods
CA2117 AptcaTypesShouldOnlyExtendAptcaBaseTypes
CA2118 ReviewSuppressUnmanagedCodeSecurityUsage
CA2119 SealMethodsThatSatisfyPrivateInterfaces
CA2120 SecureSerializationConstructors
CA2121 StaticConstructorsShouldBePrivate
CA2122 DoNotIndirectlyExposeMethodsWithLinkDemands
CA2123 OverrideLinkDemandsShouldBeIdenticalToBase
CA2124 WrapVulnerableFinallyClausesInOuterTry
CA2126 TypeLinkDemandsRequireInheritanceDemands
CA2127 SecurityTransparentAssembliesShouldNotContainSecurityCriticalCode
CA2128 SecurityTransparentCodeShouldNotAssert
CA2129 SecurityTransparentCodeShouldNotReferenceNonpublicSecurityCriticalCode
 
Usage
CA1806 DoNotIgnoreMethodResults
CA2207 InitializeValueTypeStaticFieldsInline
CA2208 InstantiateArgumentExceptionsCorrectly
CA2209 AssembliesShouldDeclareMinimumSecurity
CA2211 NonConstantFieldsShouldNotBeVisible
CA2213 DisposableFieldsShouldBeDisposed
CA2214 DoNotCallOverridableMethodsInConstructors
CA2216 DisposableTypesShouldDeclareFinalizer
CA2217 DoNotMarkEnumsWithFlags
CA2218 OverrideGetHashCodeOnOverridingEquals
CA2220 FinalizersShouldCallBaseClassFinalizer
CA2221 FinalizersShouldBeProtected
CA2224 OverrideEqualsOnOverloadingOperatorEquals
CA2225 OperatorOverloadsHaveNamedAlternates
CA2227 CollectionPropertiesShouldBeReadOnly
CA2228 DoNotShipUnreleasedResourceFormats
CA2229 ImplementSerializationConstructors
CA2230 UseParamsForVariableArguments
CA2233 OperationsShouldNotOverflow
CA2234 PassSystemUriObjectsInsteadOfStrings
CA2235 MarkAllNonSerializableFields
CA2236 CallBaseClassMethodsOnISerializableTypes
CA2237 MarkISerializableTypesWithSerializable
CA2240 ImplementISerializableCorrectly

Non-Public Rule Set:

Globalization
CA2101 SpecifyMarshalingForPInvokeStringArguments
 
Portability
CA1900 ValueTypeFieldsShouldBePortable
CA1901 PInvokeDeclarationsShouldBePortable
 
Reliability
CA2002 DoNotLockOnObjectsWithWeakIdentity
 
Security
CA2100 ReviewSqlQueriesForSecurityVulnerabilities
CA2102 CatchNonClsCompliantExceptionsInGeneralHandlers
CA2103 ReviewImperativeSecurity
CA2104 DoNotDeclareReadOnlyMutableReferenceTypes
CA2105 ArrayFieldsShouldNotBeReadOnly
CA2106 SecureAsserts
CA2107 ReviewDenyAndPermitOnlyUsage
CA2108 ReviewDeclarativeSecurityOnValueTypes
CA2109 ReviewVisibleEventHandlers
CA2111 PointersShouldNotBeVisible
CA2112 SecuredTypesShouldNotExposeFields
CA2114 MethodSecurityShouldBeASupersetOfType
CA2115 CallGCKeepAliveWhenUsingNativeResources
CA2116 AptcaMethodsShouldOnlyCallAptcaMethods
CA2117 AptcaTypesShouldOnlyExtendAptcaBaseTypes
CA2118 ReviewSuppressUnmanagedCodeSecurityUsage
CA2119 SealMethodsThatSatisfyPrivateInterfaces
CA2120 SecureSerializationConstructors
CA2121 StaticConstructorsShouldBePrivate
CA2122 DoNotIndirectlyExposeMethodsWithLinkDemands
CA2123 OverrideLinkDemandsShouldBeIdenticalToBase
CA2124 WrapVulnerableFinallyClausesInOuterTry
CA2126 TypeLinkDemandsRequireInheritanceDemands
CA2127 SecurityTransparentAssembliesShouldNotContainSecurityCriticalCode
CA2128 SecurityTransparentCodeShouldNotAssert
CA2129 SecurityTransparentCodeShouldNotReferenceNonpublicSecurityCriticalCode
 
Usage
CA2233 OperationsShouldNotOverflow

Now, while the above rules are set and mandated at the Division-level, individual teams can (and do) add additional rules. For example, most assemblies, whether public or not, at a minimum follow the Public Rule Set. The Code Analysis team itself actually turns on every single rule to run over the binaries that we release.

Also note that because they are set at the start of a product cycle and are not changed again until the start of the next cycle, rule sets do not include rules that are new to Visual Studio 2008 (with exception to security rules). This is prevent the situation of the introduction of a new rule causing existing code to be no longer be Code Analysis clean (ie moving the basket).

These rule sets will be revisited for Rosario and beyond.