Dataset and Replication package for Platform-Specific APIs, Defensive Code, and Security Issues: Are They Related?

Dataset "Platform-Specific APIs, Defensive Code, and Security Issues: Are They Related?" submitted to ICSME (Visions and Emerging Results Track). We provide a roadmap to replicate all the steps of our methodology. More information in the REPLICABILITY.md file. Herein, we present a concise abstract of the study: A platform-specific API is an interface implemented for a particular platform (e.g., Windows or Linux) that may not function correctly on others. This paper presents a first empirical study of platform-specific APIs in the Python Standard Library, examining their relationship with defensive structures and their association with security issues.Our results show that platform-specific API usage is common in the Python Standard Library.We identified 12,728 cases of platform-specific APIs, of which 74% occur without defensive structures (RQ1). Furthermore, Bandit reported 2,417 security issues, of which 23% are related to platform-specific APIs (RQ2).These findings reveal that APIs that facilitate cross-platform compatibility can also introduce potential security issues.We conclude by discussing implications for both practitioners and researchers concerning cross-platform development and the trade-off between compatibility and security in the Python Standard Library.