Making prophecies with decision predicates

Byron Cook, Eric Koskinen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

We describe a new algorithm for proving temporal properties expressed in LTL of infinite-state programs. Our approach takes advantage of the fact that LTL properties can often be proved more efficiently using techniques usually associated with the branchingtime logic CTL than they can with native LTL algorithms. The caveat is that, in certain instances, nondeterminism in the system's transition relation can cause CTL methods to report counterexamples that are spurious with respect to the original LTL formula. To address this problem we describe an algorithm that, as it attempts to apply CTL proof methods, finds and then removes problematic nondeterminism via an analysis on the potentially spurious counterexamples. Problematic nondeterminism is characterized using decision predicates, and removed using a partial, symbolic determinization procedure which introduces new prophecy variables to predict the future outcome of these choices. We demonstrate-using examples taken from the PostgreSQL database server, Apache web server, and Windows OS kernel- that our method can yield enormous performance improvements in comparison to known tools, allowing us to automatically prove properties of programs where we could not prove them before.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPOPL'11 - Proceedings of the 38th Annual ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages
Pages399-410
Number of pages12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
Event38th Annual ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, POPL'11 - Austin, TX, United States
Duration: 26 Jan 201128 Jan 2011

Publication series

NameConference Record of the Annual ACM Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages
ISSN (Print)0730-8566

Conference

Conference38th Annual ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, POPL'11
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAustin, TX
Period26/01/1128/01/11

Keywords

  • Formal verification
  • Linear temporal logic
  • Model checking
  • Program analysis
  • Termination

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