An improvement to fault localization technique based on branch-coverage spectra

Xu, S, Xu, J, Yang, H, Yang, J, Guo, C, Yuan, L, Song, W and Si, G (2015) 'An improvement to fault localization technique based on branch-coverage spectra.' In: Ahamed, S.I, Chang, C.K, Chu, W, Crnkovic, I, Hsiung, P-A, Huang, G and Yang, J, eds. Proceedings: 2015 IEEE 39th Annual Computer Software and Applications Conference Workshops. IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos, pp. 282-287. ISBN 9781467365642

Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1109/COMPSAC.2015.53

Abstract

For trust in software, developers spend much effort debugging to ensure that software behaviors as expected. Spectrum-based fault localization techniques (SFL) make use of runtime coverage of program elements, like statements, branches and du-pairs, and then check codes in the order of the rank of suspiciousness. So, correct elements with higher suspiciousness than faulty elements cause the loss of precision. In this paper, we focus on a situation where suspiciousness calculated according to coverage and outcome, i.e. Successful or failing, is higher than it should be. It is found that when a branch structure is repeatedly executed, which is normal in real-life programs, and all of its branches are covered within a run, a branch related to faults could lead other branches to be doubted. To reduce effects between branches, we do the following things: First, we utilize branches to monitor program behaviors, second, we take test cases with high similarities as triggered by the same fault, third, for branches mentioned, we propose an algorithm to infer which branch is more likely to be faulty in the failure, finally, experiments based on Siemens benchmark set and flex show that our approach is useful to heighten the ranking of faulty elements by reducing suspiciousness of correct branches.

Item Type:	Book Chapter or Section
Note:	ISSN 0730-3157
Keywords:	Flexible printed circuits, Benchmark testing, Software, Measurement, Debugging, Probability, Instruments
Divisions:	Bath School of Design
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1109/COMPSAC.2015.53
Date Deposited:	21 Mar 2017 17:33
Last Modified:	05 Jan 2022 16:07
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/9442

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