Dogfooding the Formal Semantics of mCRL2

Abstract

Abstract-The mCRL2 language is a formal specification language that is used to specify, model, analyze and verify behavioral properties for distributed systems and protocols. The semantics of the mCRL2 language is defined formally using Structural Operational Semantics (SOS). In [32] we propose an approach that takes the SOS of a formal language, along with a concrete model, that serves as an initialization, and transforms it to a Linear Process Specification (LPS). In this paper we extend the approach and show that it can be applied to a formal language that is actually used to specify and model discussed systems. Hence, we take mCRL2's own operational semantics and transform it into an mCRL2 specification. In essence, this means that we are feeding the mCRL2 toolset its own formal language definition. This semantic dogfooding approach validates the implemented behavior for the mCRL2 language against its formal definition. By performing this exercise we revealed gaps between the defined and implemented semantics. These gaps have subsequently been resolved.

An Overview of the mCRL2 Toolset and Its Recent Advances

“…To further investigate the applicability of the approach, we took the formal definition of the mCRL2 language itself and encoded it into mCRL2 again by applying the same procedure [46]. The SOS consisted of 43 deduction rules and resulted in an mCRL2 specification of slightly over 1000 lines of code.…”