FSE 2025
Mon 23 - Fri 27 June 2025 Trondheim, Norway

This program is tentative and subject to change.

Wed 25 Jun 2025 14:00 - 14:20 at Cosmos 3C - Empirical Studies 2 Chair(s): Yuchao Jiang

GitHub Issues is a widely used issue tracking tool in open-source software projects. Originally designed with broad flexibility, its lack of standardization led to incomplete issue reports, impeding software development and maintenance efficiency. To counteract this, GitHub introduced issue templates in 2016, which rapidly became popular. Our study assesses the current use and evolution of these templates in large-scale open-source projects and their impact on issue tracking metrics, including resolution time, number of reopens, and number of issue comments. Employing a comprehensive analysis of 350 templates from 100 projects, we also evaluated over 1.9 million issues for template conformity and impact. Additionally, we solicited insights from open-source software maintainers through a survey. Our findings highlight issue templates’ extensive usage in 99 of the 100 surveyed projects, with a growing preference for YAML-based templates, a more structured template variant. Projects with a template exhibited markedly reduced resolution time (381.02 days to 103.18 days) and reduced issue comment count (4.95 to 4.32) compared to those without. The use of YAML-based templates further significantly decreased resolution time, the number of reopenings, and the discussion extent. Thus, our research underscores issue templates’ positive impact on large-scale open-source projects, offering recommendations for improved effectiveness.

This program is tentative and subject to change.

Wed 25 Jun

Displayed time zone: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna change

14:00 - 15:30
14:00
20m
Talk
An Empirical Analysis of Issue Templates Usage in Large-Scale Projects on GitHub
Journal First
Emre Sülün Bilkent University, Metehan Saçakcı Bilkent University, Eray Tüzün Bilkent University
14:20
20m
Talk
The Landscape of Toxicity: An Empirical Investigation of Toxicity on GitHub
Research Papers
Jaydeb Sarker University of Nebraska at Omaha, Asif Kamal Turzo Wayne State University, Amiangshu Bosu Wayne State University
DOI Pre-print
14:40
20m
Talk
Expressing and Checking Statistical Assumptions
Research Papers
Alexi Turcotte CISPA, Zheyuan Wu Saarland University
DOI
15:00
20m
Talk
Why the Proof Fails in Different Versions of Theorem Provers: An Empirical Study of Compatibility Issues in Isabelle
Research Papers
Xiaokun Luan Peking University, David Sanan Singapore Institute of Technology, Zhe Hou Griffith University, Qiyuan Xu Nanyang Technological University, Chengwei Liu Nanyang Technological University, Yufan Cai National University of Singapore, Yang Liu Nanyang Technological University, Meng Sun Peking University
DOI
15:20
10m
Talk
Missing Threats: Dealing with the Treatment-sensitive Factorial Structure Bias in Empirical Software Engineering
Ideas, Visions and Reflections
Sabato Nocera University of Salerno, Giuseppe Scanniello University of Salerno

Information for Participants
Wed 25 Jun 2025 14:00 - 15:30 at Cosmos 3C - Empirical Studies 2 Chair(s): Yuchao Jiang
Info for room Cosmos 3C:

Cosmos 3C is the third room in the Cosmos 3 wing.

When facing the main Cosmos Hall, access to the Cosmos 3 wing is on the left, close to the stairs. The area is accessed through a large door with the number “3”, which will stay open during the event.