STARTS (STAtic Regression Test Selection) Overview

STARTS is a static class-level regression test selection tool for Maven-based Java programs.

Prerequisites

1. We have tested on Java 8 through Java 15
2. Maven 3.2.5 and above
3. Maven Surefire 2.14 and above
4. Operating System: Linux or OSX or Windows

Integrating STARTS Plugin from Maven Central

Change the pom.xml to add the configuration for the STARTS plugin:

<build>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>edu.illinois</groupId>
      <artifactId>starts-maven-plugin</artifactId>
      <version>1.4</version>
    </plugin>
  </plugins>
</build>

Building STARTS from source

Build from source to use the latest development version, which supports Java 8-15, on Linux, OSX, or Windows.

1. git clone https://github.com/TestingResearchIllinois/starts
2. cd starts
3. mvn install

Then, change the pom.xml to add the configuration for the latest development version of the STARTS plugin:

<build>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>edu.illinois</groupId>
      <artifactId>starts-maven-plugin</artifactId>
      <version>1.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </plugin>
  </plugins>
</build>

Using the STARTS Maven Plugin

Available Options

1. To see all the goals that STARTS provides, run mvn starts:help
2. To see the details for any of the goals, run mvn starts:help -Ddetail=true -Dgoal=<goal>; replace <goal> with the goal of interest.

Major Functionality

1. To see the types that changed since the last time STARTS was run: mvn starts:diff

2. To see the types that may be impacted by changes since the last time STARTS was run: mvn starts:impacted

3. To see the tests that are affected by the most recent changes: mvn starts:select

4. To perform RTS using STARTS (i.e., select tests and run the selected tests): mvn starts:starts

5. To remove all artifacts that STARTS stores between versions (i.e. in the .starts directories): mvn starts:clean

NOTE: By default, commands (1) - (3) will not update the checksums of files in the latest version, while the command in (4) will update the checksums of the files. Each command has a update**Checksums option that can be used to change the default behavior. For example, to update the checksums while checking the diff, run mvn starts:diff -DupdateDiffChecksums=true.

Papers on STARTS

Below is a list of research papers that describe some aspects of STARTS:

• STARTS: STAtic Regression Test Selection

  Owolabi Legunsen, August Shi, Darko Marinov
  32nd IEEE/ACM International Conference On Automated Software Engineering, Tool Demonstrations Track
  (ASE Demo 2017), pages 949-954, Urbana-Champaign, IL, October-November 2017
  

• An Extensive Study of Static Regression Test Selection in Modern Software Evolution

  Owolabi Legunsen, Farah Hariri, August Shi, Yafeng Lu, Lingming Zhang, Darko Marinov
  24th ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering
  (FSE 2016), pages 583-594, Seattle, WA, November 2016