Isolating Compiler Faults via Multiple Pairs of Adversarial Compilation Configurations

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Main Authors: Li, Qingyang, Yang, Yibiao, Sun, Maolin, Wu, Jiangchang, Shi, Qingkai, Zhou, Yuming
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Li, Qingyang
Yang, Yibiao
Sun, Maolin
Wu, Jiangchang
Shi, Qingkai
Zhou, Yuming
author_facet Li, Qingyang
Yang, Yibiao
Sun, Maolin
Wu, Jiangchang
Shi, Qingkai
Zhou, Yuming
contents Compilers are fundamental to modern software development, making the effective identification and resolution of compiler faults essential. However, localizing these faults to specific source files remains highly challenging due to the complexity and scale of modern compiler infrastructures. In this study, we propose MultiConf, a novel approach that automatically isolates compiler faults by constructing multiple pairs of adversarial compilation configurations. Each adversarial compilation configuration pair consists of a failing configuration and its corresponding passing configuration, which differ in only a small number of fine-grained options. MultiConf generates failing configurations through a lightweight construction process and derives the corresponding passing configurations by selectively disabling bug-related fine-grained options. We then employ a Spectrum-Based Fault Localization (SBFL) formula to rank the suspiciousness of compiler source files. Each adversarial configuration pair independently produces a ranking, which is subsequently aggregated using a weighted voting scheme to derive a final suspiciousness ranking, enabling more accurate and robust fault localization. We evaluate MultiConf on a benchmark of 60 real-world GCC compiler bugs. The results demonstrate that MultiConf significantly outperforms existing compiler fault localization techniques in both effectiveness and efficiency. In particular, MultiConf successfully localizes 27 out of 60 bugs at the Top-1 file level, representing improvements of 35.0% and 28.6% over the two state-of-the-art approaches, Odfl(20) and Basic(21), respectively.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_22538
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Isolating Compiler Faults via Multiple Pairs of Adversarial Compilation Configurations
Li, Qingyang
Yang, Yibiao
Sun, Maolin
Wu, Jiangchang
Shi, Qingkai
Zhou, Yuming
Software Engineering
Compilers are fundamental to modern software development, making the effective identification and resolution of compiler faults essential. However, localizing these faults to specific source files remains highly challenging due to the complexity and scale of modern compiler infrastructures. In this study, we propose MultiConf, a novel approach that automatically isolates compiler faults by constructing multiple pairs of adversarial compilation configurations. Each adversarial compilation configuration pair consists of a failing configuration and its corresponding passing configuration, which differ in only a small number of fine-grained options. MultiConf generates failing configurations through a lightweight construction process and derives the corresponding passing configurations by selectively disabling bug-related fine-grained options. We then employ a Spectrum-Based Fault Localization (SBFL) formula to rank the suspiciousness of compiler source files. Each adversarial configuration pair independently produces a ranking, which is subsequently aggregated using a weighted voting scheme to derive a final suspiciousness ranking, enabling more accurate and robust fault localization. We evaluate MultiConf on a benchmark of 60 real-world GCC compiler bugs. The results demonstrate that MultiConf significantly outperforms existing compiler fault localization techniques in both effectiveness and efficiency. In particular, MultiConf successfully localizes 27 out of 60 bugs at the Top-1 file level, representing improvements of 35.0% and 28.6% over the two state-of-the-art approaches, Odfl(20) and Basic(21), respectively.
title Isolating Compiler Faults via Multiple Pairs of Adversarial Compilation Configurations
topic Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.22538