Dual-Slices Algorithm for Software Fault Localization

Abstract

After software fault is detected by runtime monitor, fault localization is always very difficult. A new method to fault localization based on dual-slices algorithm is proposed. The algorithm reduces software fault area by slicing faulty trace into segments firstly and then slicing the trace segments based on trace slice. It mainly includes two steps: Firstly, the faulty run trace is divided into segments by analyzing the differences between correct run and faulty run, and only the segments that inducing the differences between dual-traces will be regarded as suspicious fault-area; Secondly, the suspicious fault-area will be further sliced by trace slice to reduce the fault-area, and the more accuracy fault-area will be gained finally. This method could overcome some drawbacks of manual debugging, and increase the efficiency of fault localization. Keywords-–fault localization; dual-slices algorithm; runtime monitoring; edit distance; trace slice.