[Software]Novel approach improves automatic software repair by generating test cases

[GreenBoys]

IMDEA Software researchers Facundo Molina, Juan Manuel Copia and Alessandra Gorla present FIXCHECK, a novel approach to improve patch fix analysis that combines static analysis, randomized testing and large language models.

Generating patches that fix software defects is a crucial task in the maintenance of software systems. Typically, software defects are reported via test cases, which unveil undesirable behaviors in the software.

In response to these defects, developers create patches that must undergo validation before being committed to the codebase, ensuring that the test provided no longer exposes the defect. However, patches may still fail to effectively address the underlying bug or introduce new bugs, resulting in what is known as bad fixes or incorrect patches.

The detection of these incorrect patches can significantly impact the time and effort spent on bug fixes by developers and the overall maintenance of software systems.

Automatic program repair (APR) provides software developers with tools capable of automatically generating patches for buggy programs. However, their use has uncovered numerous incorrect patches that fail to address the bug.

https://techxplore.com/news/2024-07-approach-automatic-software-generating-cases.html