Hi,
You don’t mention what the differences are between the two methods. It would be interesting to know the details of that.
I can’t say there’s a real preference in general, but I can throw out some facts that may help you make your own decision:
- We have seen in the past that merely having the FindBugs/SpotBugs plugin on board lengthens analysis duration even if you’re not using any of the rules in your profile. I have no idea whether this is still the case, but at least in the past it seems that the plugin ran all its rules and then filtered the output based on which rules were included the active Quality Profile. IMO that’s a point against the plugin
- If you do use the plugin, then you have its full rule description on board, which can lead to a better developer experience when trying to understand the issues SpotBugs raises.
HTH,
Ann