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Model Checking Linearizability via Refinement

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FM 2009: Formal Methods (FM 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 5850))

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Abstract

Linearizability is an important correctness criterion for implementations of concurrent objects. Automatic checking of linearizability is challenging because it requires checking that 1) all executions of concurrent operations be serializable, and 2) the serialized executions be correct with respect to the sequential semantics. This paper describes a new method to automatically check linearizability based on refinement relations from abstract specifications to concrete implementations. Our method avoids the often difficult task of determining linearization points in implementations, but can also take advantage of linearization points if they are given. The method exploits model checking of finite state systems specified as concurrent processes with shared variables. Partial order reduction is used to effectively reduce the search space. The approach is built into a toolset that supports a rich set of concurrent operators. The tool has been used to automatically check a variety of implementations of concurrent objects, including the first algorithms for the mailbox problem and scalable NonZero indicators. Our system was able to find all known and injected bugs in these implementations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing, National University of Singapore,  

    Yang Liu & Jun Sun

  2. Microsoft Research Asia,  

    Wei Chen

  3. Computer Science Department, State University of New York at Stony Brook,  

    Yanhong A. Liu

Authors
  1. Yang Liu
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  2. Wei Chen
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  3. Yanhong A. Liu
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  4. Jun Sun
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Heslington, University of York, Y010 5DD, York, UK

    Ana Cavalcanti

  2. Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., 07974, Murray Hill, NY, USA

    Dennis R. Dams

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Liu, Y., Chen, W., Liu, Y.A., Sun, J. (2009). Model Checking Linearizability via Refinement. In: Cavalcanti, A., Dams, D.R. (eds) FM 2009: Formal Methods. FM 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5850. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05089-3_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05089-3_21

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-05088-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-05089-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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