ComReg: A Complex Network Approach to Prioritize Test Cases for Regression Testing

Abstract. Regression testing is a testing process that is performed to provide confidence that changes in a part of software do not affect other parts of the software. Execution of the all existing test cases is the best way to re-establish the confidence. However, regression testing is an ex-pensive process; there might be insufficient resources (e.g., time, testers) to allow for the re-execution of all test cases. Regression test prioritiza-tion techniques attempt to re-order a regression test suite based on some criteria so that highest priority test cases are executed earlier. This paper presents ComReg, a test case prioritization technique based on the dependency network of faults. We model a fault dependency net-work as a directed graph and identify leading faults to prioritize test cases for regression testing. We use a centrality aggregation technique which considers six network representative centrality metrics to identify leading faults in the fault dependency network. We also discuss the use of fault communities to select an arbitrary percentage of the test cases from a prioritized regression test suite. Finally, we present a case study which shows the use of the technique in a software development process