Verification of Well-Structured Graph Transformation Systems

The aim of this thesis is the definition of a high-level framework for verifying concurrent and distributed systems. Verification in computer science is challenging, since models that are sufficiently expressive to describe real-life case studies suffer from the undecidability of interesting problems. This also holds for the graph transformation systems used in this thesis. To still be able to analyse these system we have to restrict either the class of systems we can model, the class of states we can express or the properties we can verify. In fact, in the framework we will present, all these limitations are possible and each allows to solve different verification problems. For modelling we use graphs as the states of the system and graph transformation rules to model state changes. More precisely, we use hypergraphs, where an edge may be incident to an arbitrary long sequence of nodes. As rule formalism we use the single pushout approach based on category theory. This provides us with a powerful formalisms that allows us to use a finite set of rules to describe an infinite transition system. To obtain decidability results while still maintaining an infinite state space we use the theory of well-structured transition systems (WSTS), the main source of decidability results in the infinite case. We need to equip our state space with a well-quasi-order (wqo) which is a simulation relation for the transition relation (this is also known as compatibility condition or monotonicity requirement). If a system can be seen as a WSTS and some additional conditions are satisfied, one can decide the coverability problem, i.e., the problem of verifying whether, from a given initial state one can reach a state that covers a final state, i.e. is larger than the final state with respect to a chosen order. This problem can be used for verification by giving a finite set of minimal error states that represent an infinite class of erroneous states (i.e. all larger states). By checking whether one of these minimal states is coverable, we verify whether an error is reachable. The theory of WSTS provides us with a generic backwards algorithm to solve this problem. For graphs we will introduce three orders, the minor ordering, the subgraph ordering and the induced subgraph ordering, and investigate which graph transformation systems form WSTS with these orders. Since only the minor ordering is a wqo on all graphs, we will first define so-called Q-restricted WSTS, where we only require that the chosen order is a wqo on the downward-closed class Q. We examine how this affects the decidability of the coverability problem and present appropriate classes Q such that the subgraph ordering and induced subgraph ordering form Q-restricted WSTS. Furthermore, we will prove the computability of the backward algorithm for these Q-restricted WSTS. More precisely, we will do this in the form of a framework and give necessary conditions for orders to be compatible with this framework. For the three mentioned orders we prove that they satisfy these conditions. Being compatible with different orders strengthens the framework in the following way: On the one hand error specifications have to be invariant wrt. the order, meaning that different orders can describe different properties. On the other hand, there is the following trade-off: coarser orders are wqos on larger sets of graphs, but fewer GTS are well-structured wrt. coarse orders (analogously the reverse holds for fine orders). Finally, we will present the tool Uncover which implements most of the theoretical framework defined in this thesis. The practical value of our approach is illustrated by several case studies and runtime results

Vérification formelle de systèmes d'information

Cette thèse s'intéresse à l'étude des méthodes formelles de spécification et de vérification dans le cadre des systèmes d'information. Les systèmes d'informations sont des systèmes dynamiques constitués d'entités et d'associations représentées par la composition en parallèle de processus répliqués issus de différentes classes. De plus, ces systèmes font partie de la classe des systèmes paramétrés. On propose un modèle de spécification de systèmes paramétrés, nommé PASTD, qui est adapté aux systèmes d'information et qui est basé sur la notation des diagrammes états-transitions algébriques (ASTD). Puis, on étudie le problème de sûreté pour les PASTD, à travers la méthode de vérification de couverture pour les systèmes de transitions bien structurés (WSTS). Cette méthode repose sur trois conditions principales : la monotonie, le beau préordre et la pred-base effective. Les PASTD sont montrés comme étant monotones et on définit une sous-classe vérifiant la propriété de beau préordre. Enfin, on décrit une nouvelle méthode, adaptée aux systèmes paramétrés, qui explicite un ensemble de conditions permettant de prouver la pred-base effective. Ces conditions définissent une nouvelle classe appelée RMTS (\emph{Ranked Monotone Transition Systems}). Cette méthode est appliquée aux PASTD

Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Foundations of Software Science and Computational Structures, FOSSACS 2020, which took place in Dublin, Ireland, in April 2020, and was held as Part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2020. The 31 regular papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 98 submissions. The papers cover topics such as categorical models and logics; language theory, automata, and games; modal, spatial, and temporal logics; type theory and proof theory; concurrency theory and process calculi; rewriting theory; semantics of programming languages; program analysis, correctness, transformation, and verification; logics of programming; software specification and refinement; models of concurrent, reactive, stochastic, distributed, hybrid, and mobile systems; emerging models of computation; logical aspects of computational complexity; models of software security; and logical foundations of data bases.

Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Foundations of Software Science and Computational Structures, FOSSACS 2020, which took place in Dublin, Ireland, in April 2020, and was held as Part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2020. The 31 regular papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 98 submissions. The papers cover topics such as categorical models and logics; language theory, automata, and games; modal, spatial, and temporal logics; type theory and proof theory; concurrency theory and process calculi; rewriting theory; semantics of programming languages; program analysis, correctness, transformation, and verification; logics of programming; software specification and refinement; models of concurrent, reactive, stochastic, distributed, hybrid, and mobile systems; emerging models of computation; logical aspects of computational complexity; models of software security; and logical foundations of data bases.

Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems

This open access two-volume set constitutes the proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems, TACAS 2021, which was held during March 27 – April 1, 2021, as part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2021. The conference was planned to take place in Luxembourg and changed to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The total of 41 full papers presented in the proceedings was carefully reviewed and selected from 141 submissions. The volume also contains 7 tool papers; 6 Tool Demo papers, 9 SV-Comp Competition Papers. The papers are organized in topical sections as follows: Part I: Game Theory; SMT Verification; Probabilities; Timed Systems; Neural Networks; Analysis of Network Communication. Part II: Verification Techniques (not SMT); Case Studies; Proof Generation/Validation; Tool Papers; Tool Demo Papers; SV-Comp Tool Competition Papers

Programming Languages and Systems

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 30th European Symposium on Programming, ESOP 2021, which was held during March 27 until April 1, 2021, as part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2021. The conference was planned to take place in Luxembourg and changed to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 24 papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 79 submissions. They deal with fundamental issues in the specification, design, analysis, and implementation of programming languages and systems

Algorithmique et complexité des systèmes à compteurs

One fundamental aspect of computer systems, and in particular of critical systsems, is the ability to run simultaneously many processes sharing resources. Such concurrent systems only work correctly when their behaviours are independent of any execution ordering. For this reason, it is particularly difficult to ensure the correctness of concurrent systems.In this thesis, we study formal verification, an algorithmic approach to the verification of concurrent systems based on mathematical modeling. We consider two of the most prominent models, Petri nets and vector addition systems, and their usual verification problems considered in the literature.We show that the reachability problem for vector addition systems (with states) restricted to two counters is PSPACE-complete, that is, it is complete for the class of problems solvable with a polynomial amount of memory. Hence, we establish the precise computational complexity of this problem, left open for more than thirty years.We develop a new approach to the coverability problem for Petri nets which is primarily based on applying forward coverability in continuous Petri nets as a pruning criterion inside a backward coverability framework. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by implementing it in a tool named QCover.We complement these results with a study of well-structured transition systems which form a general abstraction of vector addition systems and Petri nets. We consider infinitely branching well-structured transition systems, a class that includes Petri nets with special transitions that may consume or produce arbitrarily many tokens. We develop mathematical tools in order to study these systems and we delineate the decidability frontier for the termination, boundedness, maintainability and coverability problems for these systems.L'un des aspects fondamentaux des systèmes informatiques modernes, et en particulier des systèmes critiques, est la possibilité d'exécuter plusieurs processus, partageant des ressources communes, de façon simultanée. De par leur nature concurrentielle, le bon fonctionnement de ces systèmes n'est assuré que lorsque leurs comportements ne dépendent pas d'un ordre d'exécution prédéterminé. En raison de cette caractéristique, il est particulièrement difficile de s'assurer qu'un système concurrent ne possède pas de faille. Dans cette thèse, nous étudions la vérification formelle, une approche algorithmique qui vise à automatiser la vérification du bon fonctionnement de systèmes concurrents en procédant par une abstraction vers des modèles mathématiques. Nous considérons deux de ces modèles, les réseaux de Petri et les systèmes d'addition de vecteurs, et les problèmes de vérification qui leur sont associés. Nous montrons que le problème d'accessibilité pour les systèmes d'addition de vecteurs (avec états) à deux compteurs est PSPACE-complet, c'est-à-dire complet pour la classe des problèmes solubles à l'aide d'une quantité polynomiale de mémoire. Nous établissons ainsi la complexité calculatoire précise de ce problème, répondant à une question demeurée ouverte depuis plus de trente ans. Nous proposons une nouvelle approche au problème de couverture pour les réseaux de Petri, basée sur un algorithme arrière guidé par une caractérisation logique de l'accessibilité dans les réseaux de Petri dits continus. Cette approche nous a permis de mettre au point un nouvel algorithme qui s'avère particulièrement efficace en pratique, tel que démontré par notre implémentation logicielle nommée QCover. Nous complétons ces résultats par une étude des systèmes de transitions bien structurés qui constituent une abstraction générale des systèmes d'addition de vecteurs et des réseaux de Petri. Nous considérons le cas des systèmes de transitions bien structurés à branchement infini, une classe qui inclut les réseaux de Petri possédant des arcs pouvant consommer ou produire un nombre arbitraire de jetons. Nous développons des outils mathématiques facilitant l'étude de ces systèmes et nous délimitons les frontières au-delà desquelles la décidabilité des problèmes de terminaison, de finitude, de maintenabilité et de couverture est perdue