We challenge everyone interested in SBSE to apply their tools by analyzing all or a part of a program from a selected list. We want you to apply your tools and use your SBSE expertise to do interesting things to or with the software, and/or uncover interesting things related to it. The best competition entry will be awarded a XBox 360 system, sponsored by Microsoft Research, plus 1,000 Euro cash prize, sponsored by CREST, UCL.
Taking part in the challenge
In order to take part, you need to:
- Center your investigation on one of the programs that we have selected (see the next section for more details).
- Report your interesting challenge findings in a 6-page paper.
- Submit your challenge paper on or before the short paper conference deadline (May 10, Midnight HST).
- If your report is accepted, present your findings at SBSE 2013.
Challenge Programs
Your investigation and report must center on one of the following programs. You are free to concentrate on any particular version available, a comparison of different versions, or a smaller part of one particular version. You may also use associated documents/resources associated with those projects that you find online, e.g. test cases, version histories, information from bug databases etc.
Apache Ant (Java)
Apache Ant is a build-tool invoked from either the command line or an IDE plugin. The Ant website has links to the project’s subversion repository, enabling past versions to be analyzed, as well as a bug database. The source code includes JUnit tests.
Pidgin (C/C++)
Pidgin is a GUI-based instant messaging (IM) program that works with a number of IM networks. See https://developer.pidgin.im in order to browse its source code, visit the bug database and other documentation.
WordPress(PHP)
WordPress is a popular website CMS/blogging framework written in PHP. The “Core Contributor Handbook” contains links to the project’s repository, bug tracker, and information about unit tests (with PHPUnit)
Your Report
Your report should describe the results of your findings. It should provide a brief introduction to the problem being addressed, the program that you used, your approach/tool, followed by your results, their implications and your conclusions.
Submission Details
The reports must be at most 6 pages long and must conform at time of submission to the SSBSE/Springer LNCS format and submission guidelines. Please submit your challenge report to EasyChair on or before the short paper deadline (May 10 – extended!). At least one author of each paper is expected to present the results at SSBSE 2013. All accepted contributions will be published in the conference electronic proceedings.
For more information
If you have any questions about the challenge, email Phil McMinn.