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Published August 29, 2025 | Version v3
Software Open

AriesLinter: Sniffing Test Smells Before They Happen

  • 1. Federal University of Bahia
  • 2. ROR icon Instituto Federal do Tocantins

Description

## Artifact Description

Software quality depends not only on production code but also on the quality of test code. Among the factors that compromise this quality, test smells stand out, poor implementation patterns in tests that negatively affect the readability, maintainability, and reliability of the test suite. Although tools such as tsDetect and JNose support test smell detection, they operate post-hoc, requiring the code to be complete and analyzed outside the development environment. 

Other tools, like RAIDE, offer detection within the IDE via plugins; however, the analysis is not instantaneous and still occurs after the code is written. These reactive approaches result in delayed feedback and significantly increase the refactoring effort. In this context, we propose AriesLinter, a static analysis tool that can be integrated into major development environments and is capable of detecting test smells in real time, as the test code is being written. 

Built on top of the Checkstyle infrastructure, AriesLinter automatically detects 10 of the most recurrent test smells reported in the literature and commonly found in Java projects. The tool is cross-platform and compatible with multiple IDEs. By anticipating the detection of poor patterns and embedding it into the natural workflow of developers, AriesLinter acts proactively, reducing the likelihood of test smells being introduced into the codebase and fostering a culture of continuous attention to test quality. Link to the video: https://youtu.be/Cj6mQGGHlvk

## Requested Badges

- [x] *Available:* The artifact is publicly available in a repository with a DOI and an open-source license (MIT).
- [x] *Functional:* The artifact is well-documented and includes clear instructions for installation and use, allowing for the reproduction of results. It has been tested and is executable both via Docker and pre-compiled binaries.

## Required Skills

To run and use AriesLinter, the following skills are required:

*   *Basic command-line interface (CLI) knowledge:* The tool is executed from a terminal.
*   *Basic Linux and Windows knowledge:* It is necessary to know how to install the requirements (git and sqlite3) on the system and add them to the PATH.
*   *Basic IDE knowledge:* It is necessary to know how to configure the IDE in which you want to use the tool.

## Required Resources

To run the AriesLinter artifact, the following resources are required:

*   *Operating System:* Compatible with Linux and Windows.
*   *Disk Space:* Minimum of 100 MB of free disk space for the tool and its temporary artifacts.
*   *Git:* Git must be installed and configured on the system to clone repositories.

Files

arieslinter_artifacts.zip

Files (809.1 kB)

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Additional details

Software

Repository URL
https://github.com/viRafael/arieslinter
Programming language
Java