ReAssert: a tool for repairing broken unit tests

Abstract

Successful software systems continuously change their requirements and thus code. When this happens, some existing tests get broken because they no longer reflect the intended behavior, and thus they need to be updated. Repairing broken tests can be time-consuming and difficult. We present ReAssert, a tool that can automatically suggest repairs for broken unit tests. Examples include replacing literal values in tests, changing assertion methods, or replacing one assertion with several. Our experiments show that ReAssert can repair many common test failures and that its suggested repairs match developers' expectations.