FILO: FIx-LOcus Recommendation for Problems Caused by Android Framework Upgrade

TL;DR

FILO is a technique that helps developers identify the specific methods in Android apps that need modification after OS upgrades, based on analyzing a single failing execution, thus easing debugging of compatibility issues.

Contribution

This paper introduces FILO, a novel method for recommending code fixes for Android app compatibility problems caused by OS upgrades, using minimal execution data.

Findings

FILO accurately identifies faulty methods in Android apps.

FILO efficiently analyzes a single failing execution.

FILO aids developers in debugging compatibility issues.

Abstract

Dealing with the evolution of operating systems is challenging for developers of mobile apps, who have to deal with frequent upgrades that often include backward incompatible changes of the underlying API framework. As a consequence of framework upgrades, apps may show misbehaviours and unexpected crashes once executed within an evolved environment. Identifying the portion of the app that must be modified to correctly execute on a newly released operating system can be challenging. Although incompatibilities are visibile at the level of the interactions between the app and its execution environment, the actual methods to be changed are often located in classes that do not directly interact with any external element. To facilitate debugging activities for problems introduced by backward incompatible upgrades of the operating system, this paper presents FILO, a technique that can recommend the method that must be changed to implement the fix from the analysis of a single failing execution. FILO can also select key symptomatic anomalous events that can help the developer understanding the reason of the failure and facilitate the implementation of the fix. Our evaluation with multiple known compatibility problems introduced by Android upgrades shows that FILO can effectively and efficiently identify the faulty methods in the apps.