English

Fault Localization in Multi-Threaded C Programs using Bounded Model Checking (extended version)

Logic in Computer Science 2015-09-09 v1 Software Engineering

Abstract

Software debugging is a very time-consuming process, which is even worse for multi-threaded programs, due to the non-deterministic behavior of thread-scheduling algorithms. However, the debugging time may be greatly reduced, if automatic methods are used for localizing faults. In this study, a new method for fault localization, in multi-threaded C programs, is proposed. It transforms a multi-threaded program into a corresponding sequential one and then uses a fault-diagnosis method suitable for this type of program, in order to localize faults. The code transformation is implemented with rules and context switch information from counterexamples, which are typically generated by bounded model checkers. Experimental results show that the proposed method is effective, in such a way that sequential fault-localization methods can be extended to multi-threaded programs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1509.02490,
  title  = {Fault Localization in Multi-Threaded C Programs using Bounded Model Checking (extended version)},
  author = {Erickson H. da S. Alves and Lucas C. Cordeiro and Eddie B. de Lima Filho},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.02490},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

extended version of paper published at SBESC'15

R2 v1 2026-06-22T10:52:06.468Z