Error Delayed is Not Error Handled: Understanding and Fixing Propagated Error-Handling Bugs
Error handling is critical for software reliability. In software systems, error handling may be delayed to other functions. Such propagated error handling (PEH) could easily be missed and lead to bugs. Our research reveals that PEH bugs are prevalent in software systems and, on average, take 42.3 days to fully address. Existing approaches have primarily focused on the error-handling bug within individual functions, which makes it difficult to fully address PEH bugs.
In this paper, we conducted the first in-depth study on PEH bugs in 6 mature software systems, examining how errors propagate and how they should be handled. We introduce EH-Fixer, an LLM-based tool for automated program repair specifically designed to address PEH bugs. For each PEH bug, EH-Fixer constructs its propagation path, and repairs them through retrieval-augmented generation. To assess the performance of our approach, we collected 58 historical PEH bugs from the Linux Kernel as well as 4 widely used applications. The experimental results show that EH-Fixer can fix 82.8% (48/58) of PEH bugs.
Mon 23 JunDisplayed time zone: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna change
14:00 - 15:30 | BugsResearch Papers / Industry Papers / Ideas, Visions and Reflections at Pirsenteret 150 Chair(s): Ying Zou Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario | ||
14:00 20mTalk | Dissecting Real-World Cross-Language Bugs Research Papers DOI | ||
14:20 20mTalk | Towards Understanding Fine-Grained Programming Mistakes and Fixing Patterns in Data Science Research Papers Weihao Chen Purdue University, Jia Lin Cheoh Purdue University, Manthan Keim Purdue University, Sabine Brunswicker Purdue University, Tianyi Zhang Purdue University DOI | ||
14:40 20mTalk | Error Delayed is Not Error Handled: Understanding and Fixing Propagated Error-Handling Bugs Research Papers Haoran Liu National University of Defense Technology, Shanshan Li National University of Defense Technology, Zhouyang Jia National University of Defense Technology, Yuanliang Zhang National University of Defense Technology, Linxiao Bai National University of Defense Technology, Si Zheng National University of Defense Technology, Xiaoguang Mao National University of Defense Technology, Liao Xiangke National University of Defense Technology DOI | ||
15:00 10mTalk | “Silent Is Not Actually Silent”: An Investigation of Toxicity on Bug Report Discussion Ideas, Visions and Reflections Mia Mohammad Imran Missouri University of Science and Technology, Jaydeb Sarker University of Nebraska at Omaha Pre-print | ||
15:10 20mTalk | Behind the Hot Fix: Demystifying Hot Fixing Industrial Practices at Zühlke and Beyond Industry Papers Carol Hanna University College London, David Elliman Zuhlke Engineering Ltd, Wolfgang Emmerich Zuhlke Engineering Ltd, Federica Sarro University College London, Justyna Petke University College London | ||
This room is located outside Clarion Hotel
This room is located in the Pirsenteret (The Pier Center) convention center. It is just outside the hotel, on the back, towards the fjord.
You should be able to go through the emergency exit at Clarion, just on the side of the Cosmos 3 wing, which will be bring you close to Pirsenteret.
The entrance to the center is from here:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/dU3qH6kAimXGBNHe7
Once inside, go all straight and you will find signage to reach the room. The room is known as room 150 inside the center.