System and method to classify automated code inspection services defect output for defect analysis

• US 8,527,955 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2009
• Issued: 09/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bassin, Kathryn A., Kagan, Steven, Skrabanek, Susan E., Baker, Ian E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Das, Chameli
• Application Number:
  US12/558,274
• Publication Number:
  US 20110067006A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,453 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/126
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3604 Software analysis for verifying properties of programs byte-code verification G06F9/44589
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3668 Software testing software testing in telephone exchanges H04M3/242, testing of hardware G06F11/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44589 Program code verification, e.g. Java bytecode verification, proof-carrying code high-level semantic checks G06F8/43; testing and debugging software G06F11/36

Abstract

A method is implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium having programming instructions. The programming instructions are operable to receive a tool error output determined by a code inspection tool and select at least one defect classification mapping profile based on the code inspection tool. Additionally, the programming instructions are operable to map the tool error output to one or more output classifications using the selected at least one defect classification mapping profile and generate at least one report based on the one or more output classifications.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage memory having programming instructions operable to:

receive a tool error output determined by a code inspection service;

determine an identification of a code inspection tool used by the code inspection service to generate the tool error output;

select at least one defect classification mapping profile that is specific to the identified code inspection tool;

map the tool error output to one or more output classifications using the selected at least one defect classification mapping profile; and

generate at least one report based on the one or more output classifications,

wherein the determining the identification of the code inspection tool used by the code inspection service to generate the tool error output comprises comparing the tool error output received from the code inspection service to a listing of possible error outputs for a plurality of code inspection tools; and

the selecting the at least one defect classification mapping profile that is specific to the identified code inspection tool comprises selecting the at least one defect classification mapping profile from a defect analysis storage system comprising a plurality of classification mapping profiles for each of the plurality of code inspection tools.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the code inspection tool comprises at least one of a plurality of code inspection tools.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more output classifications comprise at least one of:

a target, a trigger, an impact, a type, a qualifier and a severity.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the target indicates a high level cause of a defect;

the trigger indicates at least one of how the defect was discovered and circumstances surrounding a defect discovery;

the impact indicates an impact to a user;

the type indicates a size and complexity of a fix for the defect;

the qualifier indicates whether the defect is related to incorrect, extraneous or missing code; and

the severity indicates a relative severity of the defect.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each defect classification mapping profile for a particular code inspection tool comprises:

a listing of possible tool error outputs for the particular code inspection tool; and

corresponding output classifications for each of the possible tool error outputs.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the listing of possible tool error outputs for each particular code inspection tool are different from one another; and

the output classifications for each of the particular code inspection tools utilize a common classification schema.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the selecting the at least one defect classification mapping profile that is specific to the identified code inspection tool comprises selecting one or more designated defect classification mapping profiles, which each comprise:

the listing of possible tool error outputs for the particular code inspection tool; and

for each of the possible tool error outputs, a corresponding output classification with the common classification schema.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the tool error output comprises one or more error texts; and

the mapping the tool error output to one or more output classifications using the selected at least one defect classification mapping profile comprises for each of the one or more error texts, determining a corresponding output classification.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the corresponding output classification comprises at least one of a corresponding target, a corresponding trigger, a corresponding impact, a corresponding type, a corresponding qualifier and a corresponding severity in accordance with a common classification schema.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the tool error output identifies at least one code defect which is at least one of an accessibility defect, a memory defect, a security defect and a technical quality defect.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one report based on the one or more output classifications indicates at least one of:

defect analysis metrics; and

opportunities for preventing the injection of defects.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one report based on the one or more output classifications quantifies defects by error type and severity.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one report based on the one or more output classifications comprises a trigger summary including a quantification of at least one of accessibility defects, memory defects, security defects and technical quality defects by trigger and severity.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computer infrastructure.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein steps are provided by a service provider on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis.

16. A system, comprising:

an error output receiving tool implemented in a processor and operable to;

receive a tool error output determined by a code inspection service, and

determine an identification of a code inspection tool used by the code inspection service to generate the tool error output;

a selection tool operable to select at least one defect classification mapping profile that is specific to the identified code inspection tool;

a defect classification mapping tool operable to map the tool error output to one or more output classifications using the selected at least one defect classification mapping profile; and

a report generation tool operable to generate at least one report based on the one or more output classifications,

wherein the determining the identification of the code inspection tool used by the code inspection service to generate the tool error output comprises comparing the tool error output received from the code inspection service to a listing of possible error outputs for a plurality of code inspection tools; and

the selecting the at least one defect classification mapping profile that is specific to the identified code inspection tool comprises selecting the at least one defect classification mapping profile from a defect analysis storage system comprising a plurality of classification mapping profiles for each of the plurality of code inspection tools.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the one or more output classifications comprise at least one of;

a target, a trigger, an impact, a type, a qualifier and a severity;

each defect classification mapping profile for a particular code inspection tool comprises;

a listing of possible tool error outputs for the particular code inspection tool; and

corresponding output classifications for each of the possible tool error outputs;

the listing of possible tool error outputs for each particular code inspection tool are different from one another; and

the output classifications for each of the particular code inspection tools utilize a common classification schema.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein:

the target indicates a high level cause of a defect;

the trigger indicates at least one of how the defect was discovered and circumstances surrounding a defect discovery;

the impact indicates an impact to a user;

the type indicates a size and complexity of a fix for the defect;

the qualifier indicates whether the defect is related to incorrect, extraneous or missing code; and

the severity indicates a relative severity of the defect.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the tool error output comprises one or more error texts,

the defect classification mapping tool is further operable to, for each of the one or more error texts, determine a corresponding output classification, and

the corresponding output classification comprises at least one of a corresponding target, a corresponding trigger, a corresponding impact, a corresponding type, a corresponding qualifier and a corresponding severity in accordance with a common classification schema.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more output classifications comprise at least one of:

a target, a trigger, an impact, a type, a qualifier and a severity.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one report based on the one or more output classifications indicates at least one of:

defect analysis metrics; and

opportunities for preventing the injection of defects.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one report based on the one or more output classifications quantifies defects by error type and severity.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one report based on the one or more output classifications comprises a trigger summary including a quantification of at least one of accessibility defects, memory defects, security defects and technical quality defects by trigger and severity.

24. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage memory having readable program code embodied in the storage memory, the computer program product includes at least one component operable to:

receive a tool error output determined by a code inspection service;

compare the tool error output received from the code inspection service to a listing of possible error outputs for a plurality of code inspection tools to determine an identification of a code inspection tool used by the code inspection service to generate the tool error output;

select at least one defect classification mapping profile that is specific to the identified code inspection tool;

map the tool error output to one or more output classifications using the selected at least one defect classification mapping profile; and

generate at least one defect analysis metric based on the one or more output classifications,

wherein the selecting the at least one defect classification mapping profile that is specific to the identified code inspection tool comprises selecting the at least one defect classification mapping profile from a defect analysis storage system comprising a plurality of classification mapping profiles for each of the plurality of code inspection tools.

25. A computer system for classifying automated code inspection services defect output for defect analysis, the system comprising:

a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to receive a tool error output determined by at least one code inspection service;

second program instructions to compare the tool error output received from the at least one code inspection service to a listing of possible error outputs for a plurality of code inspection tools used by the at least one code inspection service;

third program instructions to determine an identification of at least one code inspection tool used by the at least one code inspection service to generate the tool error output;

fourth program instructions to select at least one defect classification mapping profile that is specifically designed to respectively map the tool error output for the identified at least code inspection tool to one or more output classifications;

fifth program instructions to map the tool error output to the one or more output classifications using the selected at least one defect classification mapping profile; and

sixth program instructions to generate at least one defect analysis metric based on the one or more output classifications,

wherein the first through sixth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory; and

the selecting the at least one defect classification mapping profile that is specifically designed to respectively map the tool error output comprises selecting the at least one defect classification mapping profile from a defect analysis storage system comprising a plurality of classification mapping profiles for each of the plurality of code inspection tools.