Safe Comp 96 pp 126-135 | Cite as

Tolerant Software Interfaces: Can COTS-based Systems be Trusted Without Them?

  • J. Voas
  • F. Charron
  • K. Miller
Conference paper

Abstract

We have investigated an assessment technique for studying the failure-tolerance of large-scale component-based information systems. Our technique assesses the tolerance of the interfaces between component objects in order to predict how the software will behave if anomalous failures exit certain components and enter others. (Note that we are not talking about graphical user interfaces, but rather the mechanisms that link software components together.) These failures can originate from incorrect code, bad input data from a failed hardware devices. or bad input data from human operators. Our approach is applicable to systems for which source code is available, as well as systems for which no source code is known (e.g., systems composed from executable Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components), and addresses several of the larger problems associated with software maintenance.

Keywords

Source Code Error Message Software Maintenance System Command Advance Technology Program 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. [1]
    N.G. Leveson. Safeware: System Safety and Computers. Addison-Wesley, 1995.Google Scholar
  2. [2]
    J. Voas. G. McGraw, A. Ghosh, F. Charron, and K. Miller. Defining an adaptive software security metric from a dynamic software failure tolerance measure. In Proc, of Ninth Annual Conference on Computer Assurance, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, June 1996.Google Scholar
  3. [3]
    J.Voasand K. Miller. Dynamic testability analysis for assessing fault tolerance. High Integrity Systems Journal, 1(2):171–178, 1994.Google Scholar
  4. [4]
    J. Voasand K. Miller. Software Testability: The New Verification. IEEE Software, 12(3):17–28, May 1995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. [5]
    Reliable Software Technologies Corporation. PiSCES Software Analysis Toolkit (R) Users Manual, 1996. Version 2.0.Google Scholar
  6. [6]
    B. P. Miller, L. Fredrikson, and B. So. An empirical study of the reliability of unix utilities. Communications of the ACM, 33(12):32–44, December 1990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag London Limited 1997

Authors and Affiliations

  • J. Voas
    • 1
  • F. Charron
    • 1
  • K. Miller
    • 2
  1. 1.Reliable Software Technologies CorporationSterlingUSA
  2. 2.Department of Computer ScienceSangamon State UniversitySpringfieldUSA

Personalised recommendations