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Software environments are vital to modern software development, offering tools and frameworks that enhance productivity, reduce costs, and improve software quality. Consistency across different environments is crucial for reliable and efficient builds, tests, and executions. Variations in hardware, operating systems, software dependencies, and configurations can lead to significant challenges and inefficiencies. Although approaches like containerization, virtualization, continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), and infrastructure as code (IaC) strive to make environments more reproducible and consistent, issues related to environments are still common, particularly for those with additional restrictions or limited domain knowledge.
This dissertation addresses two significant research problems related to inconsistencies across software environments. Firstly, we introduce PExReport, a novel framework designed to extract cross-project failures (CPFs) along with their execution environment. PExReport automates the generation of stand-alone executable CPF reports by leveraging build systems to prune source code and dependencies, creating a pruned environment that accurately reproduces CPFs. Demonstrated within the Maven build system as PExReport-Maven, our framework achieved a high reproduction rate of 92.93%, successfully reproducing 184 out of 198 CPFs with exact failure types and messages. Additionally, PExReport-Maven significantly reduced the required source classes and dependencies, enhancing the efficiency of CPF reproduction. Secondly, we explore the challenges faced by non-contributors, specifically Computer Science students, in handling build issues in open-source software (OSS). Our pilot study collected data from command history logs, environment variables, network information, and virtual machine snapshots, revealing that noncontributors often struggle with certain build issues. Furthermore, a dual-phase study involving 330 build tasks among 55 students characterized non-contributors’ build issues and resolution attempts. An intervention in Phase II successfully improved the build success rate by proactively addressing difficult “trap” issues.
Overall, this dissertation introduces the PExReport, which addresses environmental inconsistencies in CPF reproduction. Additionally, it presents comprehensive studies aimed at resolving build environment inconsistencies from the perspective of non-contributors. This dissertation offers tools and methodologies to mitigate these inconsistencies across various software environments and identifies potential directions for future research.
