Rapid: Identifying Bug Signatures to Support Debugging Activities

Abstract

Most existing fault-localization techniques focus on identifying and reporting single statements that may contain a fault. Even in cases where a fault involves a single statement, it is generally hard to understand the fault by looking at that statement in isolation. Faults typically manifest themselves in a specific context, and knowing that context is necessary to diagnose and correct the fault. In this paper, we present a novel fault-localization technique that identifies sequences of statements that lead to a failure. The technique works by analyzing partial execution traces corresponding to failing executions and identifying common segments in these traces, incrementally. Our approach provides developers a context that is likely to result in a more directed approach to fault understanding and a lower overall cost for debugging.