Bug propagation and debugging in asymmetric software structures

Abstract

Software dependence networks are shown to be scale-free and asymmetric. We then study how software components are affected by the failure of one of them, and the inverse problem of locating the faulty component. Software at all levels is fragile with respect to the failure of a random single component. Locating a faulty component is easy if the failures only affect their nearest neighbors, while it is hard if the failures propagate further.

arXiv comment4 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Statistical mechanics of complex networks
• Error and attack tolerance of complex networks
• Epidemic spreading in scale-free networks
• The diameter of the world wide web
• Software systems as complex networks: structure, function, and evolvability of software collaboration graphs
• Scale-free Networks from Optimal Design
• The Fractal Properties of Internet
• Signatures of small-world and scale-free properties in large computer programs

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Analyzing and Modeling Real-World Phenomena with Complex Networks: A Survey of Applications
• Empirical Tests of Zipf's law Mechanism In Open Source Linux Distribution
• A Large-Scale Study of Call Graph-based Impact Prediction using Mutation Testing
• Hierarchy of Temporal Responses of Multivariate Self-Excited Epidemic Processes
• Crossover from Endogenous to Exogenous Activity in Open-Source Software Development
• Sustainable growth in complex networks
• Closed source versus open source in a model of software bug dynamics
• Information Theory and the Length Distribution of all Discrete Systems
• Power-Laws and the Conservation of Information in discrete token systems: Part 1 General Theory