ConfFix: Repairing Configuration Compatibility Issues in Android Apps

Huang，Huaxun1; Xu，Chi2; Wen，Ming3; Liu，Yepang2,4; Cheung，Shing Chi1

10.1145/3597926.3598074

2023

32nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (ISSTA)

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 32ND ACM SIGSOFT INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOFTWARE TESTING AND ANALYSIS, ISSTA 2023

JUL 17-21, 2023

null,Seattle,WA

1601 Broadway, 10th Floor, NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES

ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY

XML configuration files are widely-used to specify the user interfaces (UI) of Android apps. Configuration compatibility (CC) issues are induced owing to the inconsistent handling of such XML configuration files across different Android framework versions. CC issues can cause software crashes and inconsistent look-and-feels, severely impacting the user experience of Android apps. However, there is no universal solution to resolve CC issues and app developers need to handle CC issues case by case. Existing tools are designed based on predefined rules or visual features that are possibly manifested by CC issues. Unfortunately, they can fail or generate overfitting patches when the CC issues are beyond their capabilities. To fill the above research gaps, we first empirically studied the app developers' common strategies in patching real-world CC issues. Based on the findings, we propose ConfFix, an automatic approach to repair CC issues in Android apps. ConfFix is driven by the knowledge of how an XML element is handled inconsistently in different versions of the Android framework and generates patches to eliminate such inconsistencies. We evaluated ConfFix on a set of 77 reproducible CC issues in 13 open-source Android apps. The results show that ConfFix outperforms baselines in successfully repairing 64 CC issues with a high precision. Encouragingly, the patches for 38 CC issues have been confirmed and merged by app developers.

XML Configuration Android Compatibility Automated Repair

其他

英语

EI ; CPCI-S

National Natural Science Foundation of China["61932021","62002125"]

Computer Science

Computer Science, Software Engineering ; Computer Science, Theory & Methods

WOS:001122661400042

Web of Science

1.The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,Hong Kong
2.Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,China
3.Huazhong University of Science and Technology,Wuhan,China
4.Department of Computer Science and Engineering,The Research Institute of Trustworthy Autonoumous Systems,Southern University of Science and Technology,China

Huang，Huaxun,Xu，Chi,Wen，Ming,et al. ConfFix: Repairing Configuration Compatibility Issues in Android Apps[C]. 1601 Broadway, 10th Floor, NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES:ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY,2023.