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An Exploratory Study on Build Issue Resolution Among Computer Science Students

Sunzhou Huang, Na Meng, Xueqing Liu, Xiaoyin Wang

TL;DR

This paper presents a dual-phase, exploratory study of build issue resolution among CS students using open-source projects in a software engineering course. Phase I analyzes 198 build outcomes from 33 students to characterize symptoms, resolution strategies, and the influence of prior experience. Phase II introduces an intervention providing explicit, project-specific build information and resources, demonstrating significant improvements in build success (e.g., Spring Boot up to 91% success; Bitcoin up to 82%; $p<0.001$). The work highlights common trap issues that hinder student resolution and offers actionable guidance for educators, researchers, OSS contributors, and learners to improve OSS-based CS education and tooling. The dataset and materials are available for replication and further study, enabling broader evaluation across courses and projects.

Abstract

When Computer Science (CS) students try to use or extend open-source software (OSS) projects, they often encounter the common challenge of OSS failing to build on their local machines. Even though OSS often provides ready-to-build packages, subtle differences in local environment setups can lead to build issues, costing students tremendous time and effort in debugging. Despite the prevalence of build issues faced by CS students, there is a lack of studies exploring this topic. To investigate the build issues frequently encountered by CS students and explore methods to help them resolve these issues, we conducted a novel dual-phase study involving 330 build tasks among 55 CS students. Phase I characterized the build issues students faced, their resolution attempts, and the effectiveness of those attempts. Based on these findings, Phase II introduced an intervention method that emphasized key information (e.g., recommended programming language versions) to students. The study demonstrated the effectiveness of our intervention in improving build success rates. Our research will shed light on future directions in related areas, such as CS education on best practices for software builds and enhanced tool support to simplify the build process.

An Exploratory Study on Build Issue Resolution Among Computer Science Students

TL;DR

This paper presents a dual-phase, exploratory study of build issue resolution among CS students using open-source projects in a software engineering course. Phase I analyzes 198 build outcomes from 33 students to characterize symptoms, resolution strategies, and the influence of prior experience. Phase II introduces an intervention providing explicit, project-specific build information and resources, demonstrating significant improvements in build success (e.g., Spring Boot up to 91% success; Bitcoin up to 82%; ). The work highlights common trap issues that hinder student resolution and offers actionable guidance for educators, researchers, OSS contributors, and learners to improve OSS-based CS education and tooling. The dataset and materials are available for replication and further study, enabling broader evaluation across courses and projects.

Abstract

When Computer Science (CS) students try to use or extend open-source software (OSS) projects, they often encounter the common challenge of OSS failing to build on their local machines. Even though OSS often provides ready-to-build packages, subtle differences in local environment setups can lead to build issues, costing students tremendous time and effort in debugging. Despite the prevalence of build issues faced by CS students, there is a lack of studies exploring this topic. To investigate the build issues frequently encountered by CS students and explore methods to help them resolve these issues, we conducted a novel dual-phase study involving 330 build tasks among 55 CS students. Phase I characterized the build issues students faced, their resolution attempts, and the effectiveness of those attempts. Based on these findings, Phase II introduced an intervention method that emphasized key information (e.g., recommended programming language versions) to students. The study demonstrated the effectiveness of our intervention in improving build success rates. Our research will shed light on future directions in related areas, such as CS education on best practices for software builds and enhanced tool support to simplify the build process.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 28 sections, 5 figures, 4 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Methodology
  3. Resolution Strategy Study
  4. Intervention Study
  5. Participants and Tasks
  6. Data Collection
  7. Qualitative and Quantitative Data Analysis
  8. Resolution Strategies Study
  9. Intervention Study
  10. Resolution Strategies Study
  11. As learners of OSS, are students able to accurately interpret the build issues that block build tasks? (RQ1)
  12. How often do build tasks end with unresolved issues? (RQ2)
  13. What are the common symptoms of unresolved build issues, and to what degree can they be mitigated? (RQ3)
  14. What strategies have students employed to successfully address these unresolved build issues, and are these strategies effective? (RQ4)
  15. Are there any prior experiences that may correlate with students’ ability to resolve build issues? (RQ5)
  16. ...and 13 more sections

Figures (5)

  • Figure 1: Data Collection Framework for Build Tasks
  • Figure 2: Root symptoms from resolution strategies study
  • Figure 3: Distribution of prior experiences
  • Figure 4: Spearman’s rank correlation of prior experiences on build success
  • Figure 5: Helpfulness rating for intervention (diamond markers indicates means)