CodeShovel: A Reusable and Available Tool for Extracting Source Code Histories

Abstract

Being able to accurately understand how source code evolved is fundamentally important for both software engineers and researchers. Our ICSE 2021 Research Paper CodeShovel: Constructing Method-Level Source Code Histories describes a novel approach for quickly uncovering these method histories. The approach, codified in the CodeShovel tool, is available for researchers and practitioners alike to use and extend. It is available both as a public web service that can be used interactively or through a REST API and as a stand-alone Java component. This document details how to install and use CodeShovel, although all pertinent details are available online enabling CodeShovel to be reused as desired.