An automated verification method for distributed systems software based on model extraction

Abstract

AbstractÐSoftware verification methods are used only sparingly in industrial software development today. The most successful methods are based on the use of model checking. There are, however, many hurdles to overcome before the use of model checking tools can truly become mainstream. To use a model checker, the user must first define a formal model of the application, and to do so requires specialized knowledge of both the application and of model checking techniques. For larger applications, the effort to manually construct a formal model can take a considerable investment of time and expertise, which can rarely be afforded. Worse, it is hard to secure that a manually constructed model can keep pace with the typical software application, as it evolves from the concept stage to the product stage. In this paper, we describe a verification method that requires far less specialized knowledge in model construction. It allows us to extract models mechanically from source code. The model construction process now becomes easily repeatable, as the application itself continues to evolve. Once the model is constructed, existing model checking techniques allow us to perform all checks in a mechanical fashion, achieving nearly complete automation. The level of thoroughness that can be achieved with this new type of software testing is significantly greater than for conventional techniques. We report on the application of this method in the verification of the call processing software for a new telephone switch that was recently developed at Lucent Technologies.

Automatic Verification of Finite Precision Implementations of Linear Controllers

“…However, the equality of the exact equivalence condition (20) will never hold because of the floating-point error terms (e.g., E A ) and the numerical errors in the implementation's controller parameters (e.g.,Â) due to the optimization of the code generator. To overcome this problem, we define and use an approximate equivalence relation ≈ ρ on matrices such that M ≈ ρM if and only if M −M ≤ ρ where ρ is a given precision (i.e., threshold for approximate equivalence).…”

“…Note that the approximate equivalence relation ≈ ρ is not transitive, thus not an equivalence relation unless ρ = 0. With ≈ ρ for a precision ρ, the equations (20) are relaxed as follows:…”

A transformational framework for testing and model checking implicit-invocation systems

“…An Eventua program can be transformed to the ς-calculus, the underlying formalism, for execution. Bandera [4] and the Spin model checker [12] provide automatic translation from a general purpose programming language to a standard model checker. Our approach differs in that we limit ourselves to a special-purpose II language.…”

Quasar: A New Tool for Concurrent Ada Programs Analysis

“…In the same perspective, [BW99], [GSX99] or [BWB + 00] are intentions papers for Ada95 while in Vienna, J. Blieberger and its team use symbolic data flow analysis framework for detecting deadlocks in Ada programs with tasks [BBS00]. With a quite different approach, some very interesting work is being done at Bell Laboratories by G.J Holzmann's team [HS99], [Hol00b] [Hol00a], [GS02]. In particular this team developped the tool FeaVer [HS00], based on the Spin model-checker, that allows the verification of distributed applications written in ANSI-C source code.…”