Testing Apache OpenOffice Writer using statistical usage testing technique

Abstract

Statistical usage testing (SUT) technique is the testing technique defined it cleanroom software engineering. It based on developing the usage models and then performing statistical tests on the usage models (Runeson and Wohlin, IEEE Trans Softw Eng 20:494–499, 1994). The failure data from testing is then used in a software reliability model to certify the reliability of the software. The main purpose of SUT is to test a software product from a user’s point of view. Hence, usage models are designed and then test cases are developed from the models (Prowell et al., Cleanroom software engineering technology and process, 1999). The paper tests Apache OpenOffice Writer using SUT Technique. The paper makes use of two software RAM Commander and ITEM toolkit for testing. In this paper, Markov chains are used to represent the usage models. The development of Usage Markov Chain, the Testing Markov Chain and incorporation of failure data is done using the same software. The paper also discusses the analytical results of applying SUT and its impact on software reliability.