ATSM: A coverage‐based framework and a tool for test suite minimization

Abstract

Software projects grow larger every year, which, in turn, makes the testing process harder. One of the most useful methods for testing large projects is unit‐test generation. However, some tests can repeatedly cover the same parts of the code, making it difficult to maintain a growing test codebase. In software testing, test suite minimization plays a crucial role in reducing the cost of testing and improving the efficiency of the testing process. In this paper, we provide an extensible minimization engine that detects redundant tests using one of the supported minimization algorithms without changing the coverage metrics. We also performed a comprehensive analysis of existing approaches and techniques, developed an engine structure, and implemented multiple algorithms of different kinds. Finally, we evaluated our tool on various open‐source projects to demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency.