The location of a bug resulting from processing a sequence of input files
is determined by generating a potentially smaller sequence of the files
which result in the bug. Such files can include data, instruction, or
both. The smaller sequence can be determined by excluding portions from
the sequence, and or returning portions to the sequence, and testing the
sequence to determine if it results in the bug. In one embodiment of the
present invention, excluded and returned portions become successively
smaller by about a quotient of two. In another embodiment, individual
files are excluded from a sequence of files, preferably in reverse order
to their appearance in the sequence of files. The resulting sequence is
tested to determine if it results in the bug. If not, the file can be
returned to the sequence, and the bug location method continued with
another file of the sequence.