Effective testing and debugging methods and its supporting system with program deltas

Abstract

In the maintenance phase of software development, it is necessary to check that all features still perform correctly after some changes have been applied to existing software. However, it is not easy to debug the software when a defect is found in those features which have not changed during the modification, even using a regression test. Existing approaches employ program deltas to specify defects; they have the limitation of it being hard to enact them, and they don't support any actual debugging activities. Moreover, such a system is hard to introduce into an actual environment. In this paper, we propose DMET (Debugging METhod) to solve such problems. DMET supports debugging activities when a defect is found by regression tests through detection, indication and reflection procedures. We also implement DSUS (Debugging SUpporting System) based on DMET. DSUS executes DMET procedures automatically, and it is easy to configure for an existing environment. Through experimentation with DMET and DSUS, we have confirmed that DMET/DSUS reduce the debugging time of software significantly. As a result, DMET/DSUS help in evolving the software for the software maintenance aspects.