AVATAR: Fixing Semantic Bugs with Fix Patterns of Static Analysis Violations

Kui Liu, Anil Koyuncu, Dongsun Kim, Tegawende F. Bissyande

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

127 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fix pattern-based patch generation is a promising direction in Automated Program Repair (APR). Notably, it has been demonstrated to produce more acceptable and correct patches than the patches obtained with mutation operators through genetic programming. The performance of pattern-based APR systems, however, depends on the fix ingredients mined from fix changes in development histories. Unfortunately, collecting a reliable set of bug fixes in repositories can be challenging. In this paper, we propose to investigate the possibility in an APR scenario of leveraging code changes that address violations by static bug detection tools. To that end, we build the AVATAR APR system, which exploits fix patterns of static analysis violations as ingredients for patch generation. Evaluated on the Defects4J benchmark, we show that, assuming a perfect localization of faults, AVATAR can generate correct patches to fix 34/39 bugs. We further find that AVATAR yields performance metrics that are comparable to that of the closely-related approaches in the literature. While AVATAR outperforms many of the state-of-The-Art pattern-based APR systems, it is mostly complementary to current approaches. Overall, our study highlights the relevance of static bug finding tools as indirect contributors of fix ingredients for addressing code defects identified with functional test cases.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSANER 2019 - Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE 26th International Conference on Software Analysis, Evolution, and Reengineering
EditorsEmad Shihab, David Lo, Xinyu Wang
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages456-467
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9781728105918
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Mar 2019
Event26th IEEE International Conference on Software Analysis, Evolution, and Reengineering, SANER 2019 - Hangzhou, China
Duration: 24 Feb 201927 Feb 2019

Publication series

NameSANER 2019 - Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE 26th International Conference on Software Analysis, Evolution, and Reengineering

Conference

Conference26th IEEE International Conference on Software Analysis, Evolution, and Reengineering, SANER 2019
Country/TerritoryChina
CityHangzhou
Period24/02/1927/02/19

Keywords

  • Automated program repair
  • fix pattern.
  • static analysis

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