Better Reliability Verification in Open-Source Software Using Efficient Test Cases

Pape, P. R., & Hamilton, J. (2016). Better Reliability Verification in Open-Source Software Using Efficient Test Cases. Crosstalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. 29(1).

With the increasing popularity of open-source solutions in projects across varying domains and levels of dependability requirements, there is a need for a way to efficiently bring open-source software to a level that passes reliability verification testing before being integrated into a pre-existing system. The primary issues with integrating open-source software into a system is that more often than not the developmental methods cannot be verified and the software is already in a post-release version. So, how do you retain the benefits of utilizing open-source solutions to problems while bringing the open-source software to a reliable operational level that meets specifications for your project? In this article, we will discuss a method for efficiently locating key areas for the placement of error handling in order to increase fault tolerance and for drastically reducing the number of tests necessary to verify that the open-source software to be integrated meets specifications.