Kristian Wiklund

Han Fu, Andreas Ermedahl, Sigrid Eldh et al.

Due to hardware-software co-development in embedded systems, continuous integration (CI) builds frequently fail because of complex cross-compilation, board configurations, and toolchain constraints. Although CI build logs contain valuable diagnostic information, they are short-lived and difficult to reuse due to heterogeneous runners, toolchains, and log formats. To address these challenges, we present PhantomRun, a unified abstraction layer and publicly reusable dataset that standardizes the retrieval, storage, and reproduction of CI build logs and metadata. Across 4628 failing CI runs, we reconstructed 91.8% of builds and preserved execution outcomes in 98% of evaluated cases. PhantomRun provides two core capabilities: retrieving the build log of any commit and faithfully re-executing the corresponding build in a controlled environment. By exposing all build artifacts and metadata in a uniform, machine-readable format, PhantomRun enables reproducible and longitudinal studies of CI failures. An empirical evaluation shows that reproduced builds closely match their originals, typically differing only in timestamps or minor nondeterministic reordering, demonstrating the feasibility of large-scale historical CI reconstruction.

Yuqing Wang, Mika V. Mäntylä, Serge Demeyer et al.

The software industry has seen an increasing interest in test automation. In this paper, we present a test automation maturity survey serving as a self-assessment for practitioners. Based on responses of 151 practitioners coming from above 101 organizations in 25 countries, we make observations regarding the state of the practice of test automation maturity: a) The level of test automation maturity in different organizations is differentiated by the practices they adopt; b) Practitioner reported the quite diverse situation with respect to different practices, e.g., 85\% practitioners agreed that their test teams have enough test automation expertise and skills, while 47\% of practitioners admitted that there is lack of guidelines on designing and executing automated tests; c) Some practices are strongly correlated and/or closely clustered; d) The percentage of automated test cases and the use of Agile and/or DevOps development models are good indicators for a higher test automation maturity level; (e) The roles of practitioners may affect response variation, e.g., QA engineers give the most optimistic answers, consultants give the most pessimistic answers. Our results give an insight into present test automation processes and practices and indicate chances for further improvement in the present industry.

Yuqing Wang, Mika Mäntylä, Sigrid Eldh et al.

Test automation is important in software industry but self-assessment instruments for assessing its maturity are not sufficient. The two objectives of this study are to synthesize what an organization should focus to assess its test automation; develop a self-assessment instrument (a survey) for assessing test automation maturity and scientifically evaluate it. We carried out the study in four stages. First, a literature review of 25 sources was conducted. Second, the initial instrument was developed. Third, seven experts from five companies evaluated the initial instrument. Content Validity Index and Cognitive Interview methods were used. Fourth, we revised the developed instrument. Our contributions are as follows: (a) we collected practices mapped into 15 KAs that indicate where an organization should focus to assess its test automation; (b) we developed and evaluated a self-assessment instrument for assessing test automation maturity; (c) we discuss important topics such as response bias that threatens self-assessment instruments. Our results help companies and researchers to understand and improve test automation practices and processes.