Abstract
Localizing the cause of an error in an error trace is one of the most time-consuming aspects of debugging. We develop a novel technique to automate this task. For this purpose, we introduce the concept of error invariants. An error invariant for a position in an error trace is a formula over program variables that over-approximates the reachable states at the given position while only capturing states that will still produce the error, if execution of the trace is continued from that position. Error invariants can be used for slicing error traces and for obtaining concise error explanations. We present an algorithm that computes error invariants from Craig interpolants, which we construct from proofs of unsatisfiability of formulas that explain why an error trace violates a particular correctness assertion. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm by using it to localize faults in real-world programs.
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Ermis, E., Schäf, M., Wies, T. (2012). Error Invariants. In: Giannakopoulou, D., Méry, D. (eds) FM 2012: Formal Methods. FM 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7436. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32759-9_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32759-9_17
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