MergeBot: A platform of semi-structured merge conflict resolution for C/C++ code

IF 2.4 4区计算机科学 Q2 COMPUTER SCIENCE, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

SoftwareX Pub Date : 2025-04-08 DOI:10.1016/j.softx.2025.102144

Hua He , Xiaofan Liu , Lei Xu , Guanghui Mei , Jifeng Xuan

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In software version control systems, like Git, merge conflicts typically arise when multiple developers edit the same segment of a source file from different branches. Detecting merge conflicts can be automated; however, resolving merge conflicts is tedious and demanding. Developers have to manually read and trace the conflicts to reconcile the changes. In this paper, we introduce MergeBot, a platform designed for resolving merge conflicts in C/C++ codebases. MergeBot utilizes the techniques of static program analysis to recommend the resolution of merge conflicts via a user-friendly graphical user interface. In the resolution of merge conflicts, MergeBot can help reduce introducing potential errors via real-time visualization of code differences between pre-resolution and post-resolution versions; meanwhile, MergeBot can avoid error propagation via the prevention of staging or committing unresolved conflicts. We demonstrate the extensibility of semi-structured merge through an implementation in C/C++. The semi-structured merge combines structural merge of program entities (e.g., functions, classes) with unstructured merge of code lines. A preliminary evaluation on 10 widely-used open-source C/C++ projects demonstrates the effectiveness of MergeBot with the precision of 62.9% and the accuracy of 42.4% in resolving merge conflicts.

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来源期刊

SoftwareX COMPUTER SCIENCE, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING-

CiteScore

5.50

自引率

2.90%

发文量

184

审稿时长

9 weeks

期刊介绍： SoftwareX aims to acknowledge the impact of software on today''s research practice, and on new scientific discoveries in almost all research domains. SoftwareX also aims to stress the importance of the software developers who are, in part, responsible for this impact. To this end, SoftwareX aims to support publication of research software in such a way that: The software is given a stamp of scientific relevance, and provided with a peer-reviewed recognition of scientific impact; The software developers are given the credits they deserve; The software is citable, allowing traditional metrics of scientific excellence to apply; The academic career paths of software developers are supported rather than hindered; The software is publicly available for inspection, validation, and re-use. Above all, SoftwareX aims to inform researchers about software applications, tools and libraries with a (proven) potential to impact the process of scientific discovery in various domains. The journal is multidisciplinary and accepts submissions from within and across subject domains such as those represented within the broad thematic areas below: Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Environmental Sciences; Medical and Biological Sciences; Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Originating from these broad thematic areas, the journal also welcomes submissions of software that works in cross cutting thematic areas, such as citizen science, cybersecurity, digital economy, energy, global resource stewardship, health and wellbeing, etcetera. SoftwareX specifically aims to accept submissions representing domain-independent software that may impact more than one research domain.