Open-Source Model Checking

We present GMC(2), a software model checker for GCC, the open-source compiler from the Free Software Foundation (FSF). GMC(2), which is part of the GMC static-analysis and model-checking tool suite for GCC under development at SUNY Stony Brook, can be seen as an extension of Monte Carlo model checking to the setting of concurrent, procedural programming languages. Monte Carlo model checking is a newly developed technique that utilizes the theory of geometric random variables, statistical hypothesis testing, and random sampling of lassos in Buchi automata to realize a one-sided error, randomized algorithm for LTL model checking. To handle the function call/return mechanisms inherent in procedural languages such as C/C++, the version of Monte Carlo model checking implemented in GMC(2) is optimized for pushdown-automaton models. Our experimental results demonstrate that this approach yields an efficient and scalable software model checker for GCC.