Automated Systematic Testing of Open Distributed Programs

We present an algorithm for automatic testing of distributed programs, such as Unix processes with inter-process communication and Web services. Specifically, we assume that a program consists of a number of asynchronously executing concurrent processes or actors which may take data inputs and communicate using asynchronous messages. Because of the large numbers of possible data inputs as well as the asynchrony in the execution and communication, distributed programs exhibit very large numbers of potential behaviors. Our goal is two fold: to execute all reachable statements of a program, and to detect deadlock states. Specifically, our algorithm uses simultaneous concrete and symbolic execution, or concolic execution, to explore all distinct behaviors that may result from a program's execution given different data inputs and schedules. The key idea is as follows. We use the symbolic execution to generate data inputs that may lead to alternate behaviors. At the same time, we use th...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: FASE
• Authors: Koushik Sen, Gul Agha
• Keywords: Data Inputs, FASE 2006, Program's Execution, Software Engineering, Symbolic Execution