An automated test data generation method for void pointers and function pointers in C/C++ libraries and embedded projects

Abstract

Automated test data generation for unit testing C/C++ functions using concolic methods is well-known for improving software quality while reducing human testing effort. However, there have been only a few researches related to generating test data for void pointers and function pointers which are commonly used in C/C++ libraries and embedded projects. This paper proposes a concolic-based method named VFP (Void and Function Pointers test data generation) to generate test data for void pointers and function pointers. The key idea of VFP method is to preprocess the source code of the project under test to find all possible types of void pointers and references of function pointers. These types and references are used in the initial test data generating phase of the concolic testing method. VFP method is implemented in VFP verification tool to test on various C/C++ libraries and embedded projects. The experimental results show that VFP significantly improves the coverage of the generated test data in comparison with existing methods.