Test-suite-based automated program repair (APR) techniques acquire information from an input test suite to guide the repair process, aiming to produce a repair that can pass all test cases of the input test suite. Obviously, the input test suite has a critical impact on the repair effectiveness of APR techniques. This article reports on a study of the APR input test suites from a new perspective. We first propose a novel method of constructing the APR input test suites, using information derived from violated metamorphic relations. We then empirically evaluate our construction method using three APR techniques (Angelix, CETI, and GenProg), comparing it with random and code-coverage-based construction methods that are used as the experimental control. The results show that our approach is complementary to these two input test suite construction methods. This article illustrates a new use of metamorphic relations for program repair.

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用于程序修复的输入测试套件：一种基于变态关系的新构造方法

基于测试套件的自动程序修复（APR）技术从输入测试套件中获取信息以指导修复过程，旨在产生可以通过输入测试套件的所有测试用例的修复。显然，输入测试套件对APR技术的修复效果具有至关重要的影响。本文从一个新的角度报告了对APR输入测试套件的研究。我们首先提出一种新颖的方法来构造APR输入测试套件，它使用从违反的变形关系中获得的信息。然后，我们使用三种APR技术（Angelix，CETI和GenProg）以经验方式评估我们的构造方法，并将其与用作实验控制的基于随机和基于代码覆盖率的构造方法进行比较。结果表明，我们的方法是这两种输入测试套件构建方法的补充。本文说明了变态关系在程序修复中的新用途。