A Qualitative Study on the Sources, Impacts, and Mitigation Strategies of Flaky Tests
Test flakiness forms a major testing concern. Flaky tests manifest non-deterministic outcomes that cripple continuous integration and lead developers to investigate false alerts. Industrial reports indicate that on a large scale, the accrual of flaky tests breaks the trust in test suites and entails significant computational cost. To alleviate this, practitioners are constrained to identify flaky tests and investigate their impact. To shed light on such mitigation mechanisms, we interview 14 practitioners and perform a grey literature review with the aim to identify (i) sources of flakiness within the testing ecosystem, (ii) impacts of flakiness, (iii) measures adopted by practitioners when addressing flakiness, and (iv) automation opportunities for these measures. Our analysis shows that, besides tests and code, flakiness stems from interactions between the system components, the testing infrastructure, and external factors. We also highlight the impact of flakiness on testing practices and product quality and show that the adoption of guidelines together with a stable infrastructure are key measures in mitigating the problem.
Wed 6 AprDisplayed time zone: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna change
16:45 - 18:00 | ICST Empirical StudyJournal-First Papers / Research Papers at Margaret Hamilton Chair(s): Mohammad Reza Mousavi King's College London | ||
16:45 15mTalk | An experimental and practical study on the equivalent mutant connection: An evolutionary approach Journal-First Papers Link to publication DOI | ||
17:00 15mTalk | A Qualitative Study on the Sources, Impacts, and Mitigation Strategies of Flaky Tests Research Papers Sarra Habchi University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Guillaume Haben University of Luxembourg, Mike Papadakis University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Maxime Cordy University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Yves Le Traon University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg Pre-print | ||
17:15 15mTalk | As Code Testing: Characterizing Test Quality in Open Source Ansible Development Research Papers Pre-print File Attached | ||
17:30 15mTalk | A Survey on How Test Flakiness Affects Developers and What Support They Need To Address It Research Papers Pre-print | ||
17:45 15mLive Q&A | Discussion and Q&A Research Papers |