Mining command line invocation specification from command utilities

What is it about?

Command-line tools, the ones you use by typing commands into a terminal, behave differently based on the options and arguments you provide them. These options and arguments can turn on/off features or affect how the code runs. Because of this, when we test these tools, we need to try out lots of different combinations of options. Until now, figuring out what options a command-line tool supports was mostly done manually by reading the tool's documentation. However, our new approach, which we call CLIFuzz, automates this process. It does so by running the program and observing how it processes inputs, which allows it to determine all the possible options, arguments, and their types. This information forms a sort of "language" that shows all the valid combinations of options and arguments. CLIFuzz uses this "language" to generate lots of random configurations and then tests the command-line tool with them. This way, it's able to test all the parts of the code that are affected by different options and arguments. We've found that CLIFuzz works really well: when we tested it on various utilities, it was able to examine more of their code than traditional testing methods. It even discovered new bugs in some well-established programs.

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Photo by Nathana Rebouças on Unsplash

Photo by Nathana Rebouças on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Testing command-line utilities thoroughly is crucial because these tools are often used in many critical applications, including system administration, software development, data processing, and automation tasks. If there's a bug in one of these tools, it can lead to severe problems like system crashes, data loss, or security vulnerabilities. Traditionally, the process of determining what options and arguments a tool supports has been a manual and time-consuming process. Also, it's hard to be sure you've covered all possible configurations when you're testing manually. CLIFuzz automates this process, which not only saves time and effort but also ensures that testing is comprehensive.

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