Reliability demonstration testing for discrete-type software products

A procedure for reliability demonstration testing for discrete-type software products is discussed. In the proposed procedure a software product is tested with a number of input data sets, and is accepted if the number of software failures occurring in the test is equal to or less than the prespecified maximum allowable number of software failure, and is rejected otherwise. A formulation for determining values of these variables is provided on the basis of the producer´s and the consumer´s risks. The result is found to be identical to that for a sampling inspection by attribute of a hardware item under the condition in this study. A procedure for zero-failure reliability demonstration testing which tests a software product with input data sets and accepts the software product only if no software failure occurs during the test is discussed. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the proposed methods