Crash graphs: An aggregated view of multiple crashes to improve crash triage

Crash reporting systems play an important role in the overall reliability and dependability of the system helping in identifying and debugging crashes in software systems deployed in the field. In Microsoft for example, the Windows Error Reporting (WER) system receives crash data from users, classifies them, and presents crash information for developers to fix crashes. However, most crash reporting systems deal with crashes individually; they compare crashes individually to classify them, which may cause misclassification. Developers need to download multiple crash data files for debugging, which requires non-trivial effort. In this paper, we propose an approach based on crash graphs, which are an aggregated view of multiple crashes. Our experience with crash graphs indicates that it reduces misclassification and helps identify fixable crashes in advance.