Investigating the Characteristics of the High-impact Bug Reports: A Case Study of Apache Camel Project

KARIM MD REJAUL (1551125)


Good quality bug reports are the primary means for developers to fix the bugs. However, the quality of the bug reports depends on the contents that help developers to fix the bugs. In many cases, bug reporters submit inaccurate bug reports in the bug tracking system (BTS). Consequently, developers waste their valuable time by requesting for additional information during bug fixing. This research aims to investigate the bug reports to understand what and how information provided in the bug reports, what information developers find useful to fix the bugs, and how the request for additional information affects on bug fixing. Using high-impact bug reports of Apache Camel project, we conducted a case study. In details, we manually examined each high-impact bug reports and performed a qualitative and quantitative analysis. As a result, we observed useful features for each type of high-impact bugs. Developers requested for Test Cases for the highest percentage bug reports during bug fixing. We also found that the request for additional features significantly affects on bug fixing. Our case study findings suggest that reporters should submit high-impact bug reports more accurately in order to promote bug-fixing process.