Path-Sensitive Inference of Function Precedence Protocols

Function precedence protocols define ordering relations among function calls in a program. In some instances, precedence protocols are well-understood (e.g., a call to pthread mutex init must always be present on all program paths before a call to pthread mutex lock ). Oftentimes, however, these protocols are neither welldocumented, nor easily derived. As a result, protocol violations can lead to subtle errors that are difficult to identify and correct. In this paper, we present CHRONICLER, a tool that applies scalable inter-procedural path-sensitive static analysis to automatically infer accurate function precedence protocols. CHRONICLER computes precedence relations based on a program's control-flow structure, integrates these relations into a repository, and analyzes them using sequence mining techniques to generate a collection of feasible precedence protocols. Deviations from these protocols found in the program are tagged as violations, and represent potential sources of bu...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: ICSE
• Authors: Murali Krishna Ramanathan, Ananth Grama, Suresh Jagannathan
• Keywords: Feasible Precedence Protocols, Function Precedence Protocols, ICSE 2007, Precedence Protocol Violations, Software Engineering