Boost the Impact of Continuous Formal Verification in Industry

TL;DR

This paper proposes integrating software model checking into DevOps workflows by automating continuous formal verification guided by regression tests, aiming to enhance scalability and practical adoption in industry.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to embed formal verification into continuous integration, focusing on incremental verification guided by regression tests within developer workflows.

Findings

Improves scalability of formal verification in industry settings.

Facilitates integration of formal methods into daily software development.

Enhances verification efficiency through regression test-guided processes.

Abstract

Software model checking has experienced significant progress in the last two decades, however, one of its major bottlenecks for practical applications remains its scalability and adaptability. Here, we describe an approach to integrate software model checking techniques into the DevOps culture by exploiting practices such as continuous integration and regression tests. In particular, our proposed approach looks at the modifications to the software system since its last verification, and submits them to a continuous formal verification process, guided by a set of regression test cases. Our vision is to focus on the developer in order to integrate formal verification techniques into the developer workflow by using their main software development methodologies and tools.