Many organizations that develop software are utilizing continuous integration processes, in which engineers merge code frequently with the mainline codebase, and continuously regression test it. The pace at which evolution occurs in such environments, and the numbers of tests that must be run, can be staggering. To ensure the quality of software in these situations, testing processes need to adapt quickly to changes in available resources, testing request frequency, and product release cycles. Tests must be chosen and scheduled appropriately, tests must be analyzed for robustness, and testing processes must be appropriately monitored. The proposed work addresses these needs, and by focusing on software dependability, the work promises to benefit both producers (i.e., software developers) and consumers (i.e., the public at large) of software.

This work will create new techniques for scheduling test cases during continuous testing based on their historical effectiveness, the relationships between tests and changes, and their potential for execution; these techniques will also be able to adapt to release practices and environmental changes, and will be supported by analysis techniques that are efficient enough for use in CI testing situations. The work will involve studying the effect of problems related to test design, and developing lightweight static and dynamic techniques for analyzing test cases and test suites to determine whether they may be problematic. The work will lead to the creation of new approaches for test monitoring, and the definition of new metrics that capture test and test suite attributes and states for the assessment of testing results in continuous testing processes. Finally, the work will result in the creation of infrastructure to support rigorous empirical assessments of the techniques developed.

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2015-08-01
Budget End
2018-07-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
$425,000
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Lincoln
State
NE
Country
United States
Zip Code
68503