STARTS (STAtic Regression Test Selection) Overview

STARTS is a tool for static class-level regression test selection tool for Maven-based Java programs.

Prerequisites

1. Java 1.8 and above
2. Maven 3.2.5 and above
3. Maven Surefire 2.14 and above

Installing STARTS from source

1. git clone https://github.com/TestingResearchIllinois/starts
2. cd starts
3. mvn install

NOTE: Step 3 is required to install the YASGL graph library.

Integrating the STARTS Maven Plugin

To integrate STARTS Maven plugin into your project, change the pom.xml to achieve the following:

1. Add the configuration for STARTS plugin.
2. Add an excludesFile tag to Surefire plugin.

Below is a sketch:

<project>
  ...
  <build>
    ...
    <plugins>
      ...
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.19.1</version>
        <configuration>
          ...
          <excludesFile>myExcludes</excludesFile>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
      ...
      <plugin>
        <groupId>edu.illinois</groupId>
        <artifactId>starts-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
</project>

The line, <excludesFile>myExcludes</excludesFile>, is only needed if the pom.xml file did not already declare an </excludesFile>, in which case the excludes file name must be myExcludes, as shown above. STARTS requires the <excludesFile> tag as shown above and will work even if the myExcludes file does not already exist on the filesystem. See the FAQ Section below for more information.

Using the STARTS Maven Plugin

Available Options

1. To see all the goals that STARTS provides, run mvn starts:help
2. To see the details for any of the goals, run mvn starts:help -Ddetail=true -Dgoal=<goal>; replace <goal> with the goal of interest.

Major Functionality

1. To see the types that changed since the last time STARTS was run: mvn starts:diff

2. To see the types that may be impacted by changes since the last time STARTS was run: mvn starts:impacted

3. To see the tests that are affected by the most recent changes: mvn starts:select

4. To perform RTS using STARTS (i.e., select tests and run the selected tests): mvn starts:starts

5. To remove all artifacts that STARTS stores between versions (i.e. in the .starts directories): mvn starts:clean

NOTE: By default, commands (1) - (3) will not update the checksums of files in the latest version, while the command in (4) will update the checksums of the files. Each command has a update**Checksums option that can be used to change the default behavior. For example, to update the checksums while checking the diff, run mvn starts:diff -DupdateDiffChecksums=true.

FAQ

• I got the following error after integrating STARTS and running mvn test: Failed to load list from file: myExcludes.

  Solution: Once the pom.xml file is modified as described above, it is assumed that the user is only interested to run STARTS goals. Unfortunately, this currently breaks the usual mvn test invocation which expects the <excludesFile> to exist on the filesystem. If you must run mvn test with STARTS integrated with the pom.xml file, either run STARTS in a Maven profile, or make sure that the file myExcludes, which is specified in the Surefire <excludesFile> tag exists on the filesystem for every Maven module in your project.