Automating Deductive Verification for Weak-Memory Programs

Writing correct programs for weak memory models such as the C11 memory model is challenging because of the weak consistency guarantees these models provide. The first program logics for the verification of such programs have recently been proposed, but their usage has been limited thus far to manual proofs. Automating proofs in these logics via first-order solvers is non-trivial, due to reasoning features such as higher-order assertions, modalities and rich permission resources. In this paper, we provide the first implementation of a weak memory program logic using existing deductive verification tools. We tackle three recent program logics: Relaxed Separation Logic and two forms of Fenced Separation Logic, and show how these can be encoded using the Viper verification infrastructure. In doing so, we illustrate several novel encoding techniques which could be employed for other logics. Our work is implemented, and has been evaluated on examples from existing papers as well as the Facebook open-source Folly library.Comment: Extended version of TACAS 2018 publicatio

Continuous Reasoning: Scaling the impact of formal methods

This paper describes work in continuous reasoning, where formal reasoning about a (changing) codebase is done in a fashion which mirrors the iterative, continuous model of software development that is increasingly practiced in industry. We suggest that advances in continuous reasoning will allow formal reasoning to scale to more programs, and more programmers. The paper describes the rationale for continuous reasoning, outlines some success cases from within industry, and proposes directions for work by the scientific community

Separation Logic

Separation logic is a key development in formal reasoning about programs, opening up new lines of attack on longstanding problems