Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A mini challenge: build a verifiable filesystem

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Formal Aspects of Computing

Abstract

We propose tackling a “mini challenge” problem: a nontrivial verification effort that can be completed in 2–3 years, and will help establish notational standards, common formats, and libraries of benchmarks that will be essential in order for the verification community to collaborate on meeting Hoare’s 15-year verification grand challenge. We believe that a suitable candidate for such a mini challenge is the development of a filesystem that is verifiably reliable and secure. The paper argues why we believe a filesystem is the right candidate for a mini challenge and describes a project in which we are building a small embedded filesystem for use with flash memory.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Hoare T (2003) The verifying compiler: a grand challenge for computing research. J ACM 50(1):63–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Workshop on the verification grand challenge (2005) SRI international, Menlo Park, CA. See http://www.csl.sri.com/users/shankar/VGC05

  3. Conference on Verified software: theories, tools, experiments. Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Zürich, 10–13, October 2006. See http://vstte.ethz.ch

  4. Pnueli A (2005) Looking Ahead. Presentation at the Workshop on The Verification Grand Challenge, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA. Slides available at http://www.csl.sri.com/users/shankar/VGC05/pnueli.pdf

  5. The Open Group (2003) The POSIX 1003.1, 2003 edition specification. available online at http://www.opengroup.org/certification/idx/posix.html

  6. Morgan C, Sufrin B (1984) Specification of the UNIX filing system. IEEE Transa Softw Engi SE-10(2):128–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bevier WR, Cohen R, Turner J (1995) A specification for the synergy file system. Technical Report 120, Computational Logic, Inc., September 1995

  8. Yang J, Twohey P, Engler D, Musuvathi M (2004) Using model checking to find serious file system errors. In: Proceedings of the conference on operating systems design and implementation (OSDI), San Francisco, December 2004, pp 273–288

  9. Data I/O A collection of NAND flash application notes, whitepapers and articles. available at http://www.data-io.com/ NAND/NANDApplicationNotes.asp

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Reliable Software, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA

    Rajeev Joshi & Gerard J. Holzmann

  2. 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 301-285, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA

    Rajeev Joshi

Authors
  1. Rajeev Joshi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gerard J. Holzmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rajeev Joshi.

Additional information

The work described in this paper was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Joshi, R., Holzmann, G.J. A mini challenge: build a verifiable filesystem. Form Asp Comp 19, 269–272 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00165-006-0022-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00165-006-0022-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation