Generating Regression Tests using Model Checking

During the software maintenance phase, regression testing is certainly an expensive but necessary activity to make sure the new versions of the system do not “regress”. As software evolves, chances are that not only the implementation changes, but that the specification of the system changes too. We argue that guiding regression testing by the system specifications will be more accurate and cost effective. Model checking is used to reason about the truth of statements about the system specification. In this paper, we use a model checker as part of a highlyautomated regression test generation tool, providing a practical approach to specification based regression testing. Features of our approach that support different specification description styles and different test coverage criteria are also presented.