In the software maintenance process, postmaintenance testing is one of the phases that is least supported by systematic methodologies and automated aids, Moreover? the testing problems fac-' the maintainer once a software change has been designed and coded are both numerous and complex. Of these should mention: the definition of a.testing plan and strategy that are coherent with the modifications, that have been made, the evaluation of the post-maintenance testing effort, the establishment of a set of criteria for test coverage, the updating of the set of test cases and test data for future testing. In referring to these problems this paper deals with some methodologies and solutions adopted in the design and production of a software maintenance environment developed jointly by DIS In particular the paper describes a methodology which uses a language independent representation of the low-level design (Warnier or Jackson documents) and of code, that is produced by means of reverse engineering tools. This methodology makes it possible for the postmaintenance testing problems to be identified and then solved for unit testing and path testing strategies.1. Introduction In the software maintenance process the testing phase, which is triggered when a software change has been designed and coded[l], is undoubtedly one of the phases that is least analyzed and least supported by automated aids.Moreover, the improvement of the maintenance process and environment in Software Engineering Laboratories ( S E ' s ) requires the introduction of systematic methodologies and certain reference points and milestones in post-maintenance testing. Any discussions, developments or new solutions concerning the continuing challenge in software maintenance and software maintainability cannot ignore the requirements of post-maintenance testing and testability. This means, for instance, that in the definition and implementation of methodologies and tools for the design and execution of maintenance operations great care must be taken in the production of information? measures, documents and software that facilitate the organization of the successive and essential testing job. This point of view has been fully adopted in the software maintenance environment (see fig. 1) developed jointly by DIS and CRIAI. The heart of this environment is the MINT-DB data base which is capable of storing and supplying all the characteristic elements of a software product: fron technical specifications to high-level desigr documents, from low-level design documents to code, from the maintenance diary to the "garbage collection" of the modified or eliminated code, from measurements to statistical data, and so on.
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