Theoretical Analysis of Git Bisect

In this paper, we consider the problem of finding a regression in a version control system (VCS), such as git. The set of versions is modelled by a directed acyclic graph (DAG) where vertices represent versions of the software, and arcs are the changes between different versions. We assume that some...

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Vydané v:Algorithmica Ročník 86; číslo 5; s. 1365 - 1399
Hlavní autori: Courtiel, Julien, Dorbec, Paul, Lecoq, Romain
Médium: Journal Article
Jazyk:English
Vydavateľské údaje: New York Springer US 01.05.2024
Springer Nature B.V
Springer Verlag
Predmet:
Algorithm Analysis and Problem Complexity
Algorithms
Apexes
Approximation
Computer Science
Computer Systems Organization and Communication Networks
Data Structures and Algorithms
Data Structures and Information Theory
Discrete Mathematics
Graph theory
Mathematical analysis
Mathematics of Computing
Queries
Regression
Theory of Computation
Version control
Worst-case complexity
Approximation algorithm
Version control system
Regression search
Graph algorithm
ISSN:0178-4617, 1432-0541
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Shrnutí:In this paper, we consider the problem of finding a regression in a version control system (VCS), such as git. The set of versions is modelled by a directed acyclic graph (DAG) where vertices represent versions of the software, and arcs are the changes between different versions. We assume that somewhere in the DAG, a bug was introduced, which persists in all of its subsequent versions. It is possible to query a vertex to check whether the corresponding version carries the bug. Given a DAG and a bugged vertex, the Regression Search Problem consists in finding the first vertex containing the bug in a minimum number of queries in the worst-case scenario. This problem is known to be NP-complete. We study the algorithm used in git to address this problem, known as git bisect. We prove that in a general setting, git bisect can use an exponentially larger number of queries than an optimal algorithm. We also consider the restriction where all vertices have indegree at most 2 (i.e. where merges are made between at most two branches at a time in the VCS), and prove that in this case, git bisect is a 1 log 2 ( 3 / 2 ) -approximation algorithm, and that this bound is tight. We also provide a better approximation algorithm for this case. Finally, we give an alternative proof of the NP-completeness of the Regression Search Problem, via a variation with bounded indegree.
Bibliografia:ObjectType-Article-1
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content type line 14
ISSN:0178-4617
1432-0541
DOI:10.1007/s00453-023-01194-0