It makes $20M a year. That sounds like great code.
I would:
1. Get it in source control without “fixing anything”.
2. Get a clone of the prod server up and running, vs a clown of the db.
3. Put in something to log all
of the request/response pairs.
4. Take snapshots of the database at several time points and note where they occur on the log history from number 3.
You now have the raw material to make test cases that verify the system works as it did before, but for bug, when you refactor. If the same set of requests creates the same overall db changes and response messages, you “pass tests”.
First thing to refactor is stochastic code. Make it consistent even if it’s a little slower so you can test.
Once you can refactor, you can do anything. Including a full rewrite but in steps that don’t break it.
If you try to rewrite it from scratch it will probably just never be deployable. But you’d an rewrite it safely in chunks with the above.
I would: 1. Get it in source control without “fixing anything”. 2. Get a clone of the prod server up and running, vs a clown of the db. 3. Put in something to log all of the request/response pairs. 4. Take snapshots of the database at several time points and note where they occur on the log history from number 3.
You now have the raw material to make test cases that verify the system works as it did before, but for bug, when you refactor. If the same set of requests creates the same overall db changes and response messages, you “pass tests”.
First thing to refactor is stochastic code. Make it consistent even if it’s a little slower so you can test.
Once you can refactor, you can do anything. Including a full rewrite but in steps that don’t break it.
If you try to rewrite it from scratch it will probably just never be deployable. But you’d an rewrite it safely in chunks with the above.