GiveMe Trace: A Software Evolution Traceability Support Tool

Traceability is a key factor in the analysis of the changes that software undergoes throughout its evolution. The main purpose of analysis is to minimize the side effects of these changes and, when it is made to the source at a lower level of abstraction (methods) and in an integrated manner, it can provide more accurate data in order to support decision making. This article presents the GiveMe Trace tool, integrated with a multiple view interactive environment that, among other features, can generate information about the traceability between source code and artifacts its different versions. This information is based on software versions analysis from software repository. As a result, occurrences of changes in classes or methods are shown. A proof of concept was carried out through which repositories versions of two distinct real projects were analyzed. At the end, it was possible to obtain evidences on the feasibility of the use of GiveMe Trace to support traceability between the source code and versions.