Software Evolution Practical Session: GitHub Bots

This repository contains materials and scripts for the Software Evolution practical session focused on identifying and analyzing bots in GitHub repositories.

Overview

The practical session aims to provide hands-on experience in detecting and analyzing automated agents (bot accounts and GitHub Apps) contributing to GitHub repositories. Participants will utilize bot identification tools, GitHub API, and data analysis techniques to understand the presence and behavior of bots in practice.

Repository Structure

• Contains CSV files with GitHub account information.
• Includes Python scripts for bot identification and analysis.
• Contains JupyterLab notebooks for data analysis tasks.
• List of required Python packages.

Instructions for Participants

1. Fork this repository to your GitHub account.
2. Set up a Python virtual environment and install required packages from requirements.txt.
3. Create a personal access token for querying the GitHub API and store it securely.
4. Use provided scripts and notebooks to analyze GitHub account data and identify bots.
5. Document your findings and analysis in the notebooks and commit changes to your forked repository.
6. Submit your work as per the instructions provided by the teaching assistant.

Resources

• GitHub API Documentation
• BotHunter Repository
• BoDeGHa Repository
• RABBIT Repository