Microsoft Corporation
SOFTWARE DIAGNOSIS USING TRANSPARENT DECOMPILATION

Abstract:

Embodiments provide improved diagnosis of software defects. Static analysis services and other source-based diagnostic tools and techniques are applied even when the source code underlying software is unavailable. Diagnosis obtains diagnostic artifacts, extracts diagnostic context from the artifacts, decompiles to get source, and submits decompiled source to a source-based software analysis service. The analysis service may be a static analysis tool, an antipattern scanner, or a machine learning model trained on source code, for example. The diagnostic context may also guide the analysis, e.g., by localizing decompilation or prioritizing possible causes. Likely causes are culled from analysis results and identified to a software developer. Changes to mitigate the defect's impact are suggested. Thus, the software developer receives debugging leads without providing source code for the defective program, and without manually navigating through a decompiler and through the analysis services.