Graph-Driven Exploration of Issue Handling Schemes in Software Projects

Abstract

The Issue Tracking System (ITS) repositories are rich sources of software development documentation that are useful in assessing the status and quality of software projects. An original model is proposed for tracing issue handling activities and their impact on project progress. As opposed to classical data mining of software repositories, we consider fine-grained features of issues which provide a better insight into project evolution. A thorough analysis of repository contents allows us to define useful metrics for characterizing issue handling schemes. These metrics are derived from the introduced graph model and developed original data mining algorithms targeting timing, issue flow progress and project actor activity aspects. This study is associated with issue processing states and their sequences (handling paths), leading to problem resolution. The introduced taxonomy of issue processing schemes facilitates the creation of a pertinent knowledge database and the identification of both bad (anomalies) and good practices. The proposed approach is illustrated with experimental results related to a representative set of ITS project repositories. These results enhance experts’ knowledge of the project and can be used for correct decision-making actions. They reveal weak points in project development and possible directions for improvement.