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Summary: Model-Based Trace-Checking
Yvonne Howard, Stefan Gruner, Andrew M Gravell, Carla Ferreira, Juan Carlos Augusto
DSSE, Department of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton
Southampton, SO17 1BJ
Email: ymh@ecs.soton.ac.uk
Abstract
Trace analysis can be a useful way to discover problems in a program under test.
Rather than writing a special purpose trace analysis tool, this paper proposes that
traces can usefully be analysed by checking them against a formal model using a
standard model-checker or else an animator for executable specifications. These
techniques are illustrated using a Travel Agent case study implemented in J2EE. We
added trace beans to this code that write trace information to a database. The traces
are then extracted and converted into a form suitable for analysis by Spin, a popular
model-checker, and Pro-B, a model-checker and animator for the B notation. This
illustrates the technique, and also the fact that such a system can have a variety of
models, in different notations, that capture different features. These experiments have
demonstrated that model-based trace-checking is feasible. Future work is focussed on
scaling up the approach to larger systems by increasing the level of automation.
1 Introduction
From the tester's perspective, tracing is perhaps considered a last resort. When a program or
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