Introduction to MSR(C) 

Giorgio Delzanno

Dipartimento di Informatica e Scienze dell'Informazione
Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 35
16146 Genova, Italy

Abstract:

In recent works we have defined a general framework for the validation of parameterized concurrent systems based on the combination of multiset rewriting and constraints. The class of systems we are interested in consists of concurrent systems parametric in the number of individual components. Our framework provides the following features: (1) a specification language for the class of concurrent systems taken into consideration; (2) an assertional language to finitely represent infinite sets of configurations; and (3) a sound and fully automatic verification method based on symbolic state exploration. The verification procedure has been implemented in a Constraint Logic Programming systems, namely Sicstus Prolog and the clp(Q,R) library. CLP provides in fact all necessary operations to manipulate multisets and constraints both as uninterpreted and interpreted objects. Operations over constraints are delegated in fact to the clp(Q,R) library, and encapsulated into Sicstus Prolog predicates. The method can be applied to solve validation problems for communication protocols, and (potentially) of security and authentication protocols and abstractions of concurrent programs. In this paper we overview the main features of our framework and comment on some of the more interesting applications.