Automated Bug Triaging in an Industrial Context

There is an increasing need to introduce some form of automation within the bug triaging process, so that no time is wasted on the initial assignment of issues. However, there is a gap in current research, as most of the studies deal with open source projects, ignoring the industrial context and needs. In this paper, we report our experience in dealing with the automation of the bug triaging process within a research-industry cooperation. After reporting the requirements and needs that were set within the industrial project, we compare the analysis results with those from an open source project used frequently in related research (Firefox). In spite of the fact that the projects have different size and development process, the data distributions are similar and the best models as well. We found out that more easily configurable models (such as SVM+TF-IDF) are preferred, and that top-x recommendations, number of issues per developers, and online learning can all be relevant factors when dealing with an industrial collaboration.