Multi-label software bug categorisation based on fuzzy similarity

Abstract

The efficiency of the software depends on timely detection of bugs. For better quality and low-cost development bug fixing time should be minimised. Categorisation of software bugs helps to understand the root cause of software bugs and to improve triaging. As the software development approach is modular and multi-skilled, it is possible that one software bug can affect multiple modules, and multiple developers can fix newly reported bugs. Hence, a multi-label categorisation of software bugs is needed. Fuzzy similarity techniques can be helpful in understanding the belongingness of software bugs in multiple categories. In this paper a multi-label fuzzy similarity based categorisation technique is presented for effective categorisation of software bugs. Fuzzy similarity between a pair of bugs is computed and, based on a user defined threshold value, the bugs are categorised. Experiments are performed on software bug data sets, and the performance of the proposed classifier is evaluated.