A Test Restoration Method based on Genetic Algorithm for effective fault localization in multiple-fault programs

Automatic fault localization is essential for software engineering. However, fault localization suffers from the interactions among multiple faults. Our previous research revealed that the fault-coupling effect is responsible for the weakened fault localization performance in multiple-fault programs. On the basis of this finding, we propose a Test Case Restoration Method based on the Genetic Algorithm (TRGA) to search potential coupling test cases and conduct a restoration process for eliminating the coupling effect. The major contributions of the current study are as follows: (1) the construction of a fitness function to measure the possibility of failed test cases becoming coupling test cases; (2) the development of a TRGA that searches potential coupling test cases; (3) and an evaluation of the TRGA efficiency across 14 open-source programs, three spectrum-based fault localizations, and two parallel debugging techniques. The results revealed the TRGA outperformed the original fault localization techniques in 74.28% and 78.57% of the scenarios in the best and worst cases, respectively. On average, the percentage improvement was 4.43% for the best case and 2% for the worst case. A detailed discussion of TRGA parameter settings is also provided.