An Exploratory Study on Architectural Knowledge in Issue Tracking Systems

TL;DR

This study investigates how architectural knowledge is represented and co-occurs in issue tracking systems, providing insights to improve search tools for architectural knowledge reuse.

Contribution

It offers an empirical analysis of architectural knowledge concepts in issue trackers and links them to source code changes, aiding future search tool development.

Findings

Architectural knowledge concepts are textually represented as adjectives and other terms in issues.

Certain architectural concepts frequently co-occur in issues, indicating common patterns.

The study supports the development of empirically-grounded search tools for architectural knowledge.

Abstract

Software developers use issue trackers (e.g. Jira) to manage defects, bugs, tasks, change requests, etc. In this paper we explore (a) how architectural knowledge concepts (e.g. architectural component behavior, contextual constraints) are textually represented in issues (e.g. as adjectives), (b) which architectural knowledge concepts commonly occur in issues, and (c) which architectural knowledge concepts appear together. We analyzed issues in the Jira issue trackers of three large Apache projects. To identify ``architecturally relevant'' issues, we linked issues to architecturally relevant source code changes in the studied systems. We then developed a code book by manually labeling a subset of issues. After reaching conceptual saturation, we coded remaining issues. Our findings support empirically-grounded search tools to identify architectural knowledge concepts in issues for future reuse.