Auteur : Cyrille Artho (AIST) Titre : Iterative Delta Debugging: Analyzing the evolution of components Abstract: Automated debugging attempts to locate the reason for a failure. Delta debugging minimizes the difference between two inputs, where one input is processed correctly while the other input causes a failure, using a series of test runs to determine the outcome of applied changes. Delta debugging is applicable to inputs or to the program itself, as long as a correct version of the program exists. However, complex errors are often masked by other program defects, making it impossible to obtain a correct version of the program through delta debugging in such cases. Iterative delta debugging extends delta debugging and removes series of defects step by step, until the final unresolved defect alone is isolated. The method is automated and managed to localize a bug in some real-life examples. We believe that this idea of analyzing software changes over time can also be applied to the evolution of software components/packages, and help with finding conflict defects between multiple software packages.