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LittleDarwin vs Muter

LittleDarwin

aliparsai.github.io

Muter

github.com

Side by side

FigureLittleDarwinMuter
Price fromFreeFree
Free planYesYes
Free trial——
Open source——
macOS—Yes
LinuxYes—
Self-hosted—Yes
Plans published11
Spec score · Mutation Testing Tools8.3 (#4)7.5 (#14)
Mutation operatorsThe command-line options include null-check and method-level mutation operators, as well as an option to use all operators.The documented operators are RelationalOperatorReplacement, RemoveSideEffects, ChangeLogicalConnector, and SwapTernary.
PurposeLittleDarwin generates mutants of Java source code and runs a build command to check whether the test suite detects them.Muter is a mutation testing utility for assessing the quality of Swift test suites.
ReportsA full analysis generates a report in the `LittleDarwinResults` directory.Muter can output reports as plain text, JSON, HTML, or Xcode issue navigator results.

Plans

LittleDarwin

  • Free and open-sourceFree

LittleDarwin pricing →

Muter

  • Open-source MuterFree

Muter pricing →

In their own words

LittleDarwin

LittleDarwin is a Java mutation testing framework written in Python, available for Linux. It generates altered versions, or mutants, of Java source code, then runs a configured build command for each mutant to check whether the test suite detects the change. Its analysis has a mutation phase and a build phase, where each build is checked for success or failure. Users can select null-check or method-level mutation operators, or use all operators. The --higher-order option sets the mutation order, and the guide demonstrates second-order mutants. Project settings include a test project path and test command, build command, working directory, initial build command, cleanup commands, and build timeout. A Maven example runs `mvn clean test` for each mutant. Whitelist filters restrict analysis to selected packages or files, while blacklist filters exclude them. Generated mutants and full-analysis reports go into a LittleDarwinResults directory, and surviving mutants are reported. Installation uses pip, followed by running LittleDarwin as a Python module. The project is free under the GNU General Public License version 3 or later and is supported through donations.

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Muter

Muter is a free, open-source mutation testing utility for Swift test suites on macOS. It changes code in a complete copy of the codebase, leaving the original untouched, then reports mutation scores for the full suite and individual files. Runs can happen in Xcode, from the command line or incrementally in continuous integration. Configuration covers Xcode projects, workspaces and Swift Package Manager. Reports can be plain text, JSON, HTML or Xcode issue navigator results, including surviving mutants. Documented operators replace relational operators, remove side effects, change logical connectors and swap ternary expressions. Muter supports projects tested with xcodebuild, including iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS applications, but the utility runs only on macOS 10.15 or newer. It supports Swift, not Objective-C. Any test target or suite can be used with Swift application code, although UI tests may take a long time. The project states that it has no network access and collects no analytics.

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