APRSuite: A Suite of Components and Use Cases Based on Categorical Decomposition of Automatic Program Repair Techniques and Tools

<strong>During the last decade, we are witnessing the advent of a proliferation of techniques and associated tools for automatic program repair (APR). The current techniques and tools provide rich sources of knowledge that should be taken into consideration for future research. An overview of the current APR techniques and tools can serve the research community as a knowledge accumulator. However, APR techniques and tools differ in many aspects making knowledge accumulation challenging. To overcome this challenge, in this paper, we propose to leverage common components that constitute the APR techniques and tools. To achieve this objective, we surveyed current APR techniques and tools to identify the APR Suite of common constituent components, namely as APRSuite. Repair source and defect class are examples of identified components. We grouped these components into several categories such as patch evaluation and target defects. We have also identified some of the possible use cases per component as well as different lessons learned in studies for each component and for each use case. In addition, we developed a principled way for application of the components. The <em>APRSuite</em> and the <em>principled way</em> to apply it comprise a <em>framework</em> for knowledge accumulation, evaluation, and comparison of APR techniques and tools. The novelty of our work lies in its original viewpoint to the process of literature review in the APR research field. To demonstrate the applicability of the framework, we mapped out several concrete APR techniques, as a first instantiation of the framework. We observed that the framework brings discipline into the evaluation and/or comparison of APR techniques and tools. The framework offers these benefits objectively and systematically. We concluded that knowledge accumulation and characterization through literature reviews can be therefore facilitated through the identified suite of components while at the same time the existing component suite can be modified, augmented, or improved.</strong>近十年来，自动程序修复（Automatic Program Repair，APR）相关技术及配套工具呈现出爆发式增长的发展态势，相关研究蓬勃兴起。现有APR技术与工具蕴含着丰富的知识储备，可为后续研究提供重要的参考依据。对当前APR技术与工具进行系统性梳理，可为领域研究共同体提供知识整合与积累的重要支撑。然而，不同APR技术与工具在诸多维度上存在显著差异，这为知识整合与积累带来了挑战。为破解这一难题，本文提出利用构成APR技术与工具的通用组件来推进相关工作。为达成上述目标，我们对当前主流APR技术与工具开展了全面调研，识别出APR通用组件套件（APRSuite），修复源与缺陷类型即为本次识别出的组件中的典型示例。我们将识别出的组件划分为多个类别，例如补丁评估、目标缺陷等类别。此外，我们还针对每个组件及其对应的典型应用场景，梳理了其可能的应用模式，以及相关研究中总结的经验教训。除此之外，我们还提出了一套规范化的组件应用方法。APR通用组件套件（APRSuite）与对应的规范化应用方法共同构成了一套用于APR技术与工具的知识整合、评估及对比的框架。本研究的创新之处在于，为APR领域的文献综述流程提供了全新的研究视角。为验证该框架的适用性，我们选取若干具体的APR技术作为框架的首批应用实例进行了映射分析。经分析发现，该框架可为APR技术与工具的评估及对比工作引入系统性与规范性。该框架可客观且系统地实现上述优势。综上，通过本文识别出的组件套件，可有效推动基于文献综述的APR知识整合与特征刻画工作，同时现有组件套件也可根据实际需求进行修改、扩充或优化。