The road ahead for Mining Software Repositories

Source control repositories, bug repositories, archived communications, deployment logs, and code repositories are examples of software repositories that are commonly available for most software projects. The mining software repositories (MSR) field analyzes and cross-links the rich data available in these repositories to uncover interesting and actionable information about software systems. By transforming these repositories from static record-keeping ones into active repositories, we can guide decision processes in modern software projects. For example, data in source control repositories, traditionally used to archive code, could be linked with data in bug repositories to help practitioners propagate complex changes and to warn them about risky code based on prior changes and bugs. In this paper, we present a brief history of the MSR field and discuss several recent achievements and results of using MSR techniques to support software research and practice. We then discuss the various opportunities and challenges that lie in the road ahead for this important and emerging field.