Towards model checking with Java PathFinder for autonomic systems specified and generated with ASSL.

Autonomic computing has been recognized as a valid approach to the development of large-scale self-managing complex systems. The Autonomic System Specification Language (ASSL) is an initiative for the development of autonomic systems where we approach the problem of formal specification, validation, and code generation of such systems within a framework. As part of our research on ASSL, we have developed and investigated different approaches to software verification. Currently, the latter is possible via built-in consistency checking and functional testing where handling logical errors is a daunting task. In this paper, we discuss our work on model checking with NASA’s Java PathFinder tool, which is an explicit-state model checker that works directly on the generated Java code. We propose optional automatic generation of test drivers in the form of PathFinder API calls seeded in the ASSL-generated code.