PhantomRun: Auto Repair of Compilation Errors in Embedded Open Source Software

A research team from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Mälardalen University, and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden has introduced PhantomRun, a novel framework that automates the repair of compilation failures in embedded software Continuous Integration (CI) pipelines. The system addresses a critical pain point in embedded development, where CI failures consume significant debugging time, with hardware dependencies accounting for the majority of compilation errors. By analyzing over 4,000 build failures across four major open-source embedded projects, the researchers identified that most repairs require relatively small changes, making them suitable for LLM-based automation despite the challenges of diverse build setups and limited test data.

PhantomRun leverages large language models to synthesize fixes by processing build logs, source code, historical fixes, and compiler error messages. The framework includes an adaptation layer that supports GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and four different build systems, enabling it to handle the varied infrastructures and toolchains typical in embedded development. In evaluations, PhantomRun successfully repaired up to 45% of CI compilation failures, demonstrating the viability of LLM-based automated repair for embedded systems. This represents a significant step toward reducing developer overhead and accelerating development cycles in resource-constrained embedded environments where traditional debugging approaches are particularly time-consuming.