Using Constraints to Detect Equivalent Mutants

Mutation testing is a software testing technique that is considered to be very powerful, but is very expensive to apply. One open problem in mutation testing is how to automatically detect equivalent mutant programs. Currently, equivalent mutants are detected by hand, which makes it a very expensive and time-consuming process, and restricts the use of mutation testing. This paper presents a technique that uses mathematical constraints to automatically detect equivalent mutants. A tool Equivalencer has been developed to demonstrate this technique, and experimental results from using this tool are presented. Supported by the National Science Foundation under grant CCR-93-11967.

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