Simplifying and Isolating Failure-Inducing Input: A Retrospective on Delta Debugging

Zeller, Andreas; Hildebrandt, Ralf

doi:10.60882/cispa.28714898.v1

Simplifying and Isolating Failure-Inducing Input: A Retrospective on Delta Debugging

journal contribution

posted on 2025-04-02, 10:30 authored by Andreas ZellerAndreas Zeller, Ralf Hildebrandt

Delta Debugging is a technique to simplify and isolate failure-inducing changes. Its most popular application is on program inputs, where it reduces a failure-inducing input to a minimal input that still triggers the failure. This paper provides a retrospective on Delta Debugging, discussing its origins, applications, and impact. We also discuss the limitations of Delta Debugging and suggest directions for future research.

History

Primary Research Area

Threat Detection and Defenses

CISPA Affiliation

Yes

Journal

IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering

Volume

51

Page Range

820-824

Publisher

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Open Access Type

Not Open Access

Sub Type

Article

BibTeX

@article{Zeller:Hildebrandt:2025, title = "Simplifying and Isolating Failure-Inducing Input: A Retrospective on Delta Debugging", author = "Zeller, Andreas" AND "Hildebrandt, Ralf", year = 2025, month = 3, journal = "IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering", number = "3", pages = "820--824", publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)", issn = "0098-5589", doi = "10.1109/tse.2025.3537167" }