-CDSChecker: A Model Checker for C11 and C++11 Atomics
+C11Tester: A Testing tool for C11 and C++11 Atomics
=====================================================
-Copyright © 2013 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
+C11Tester is a testing tool for C11/C++11 which randomly explores the
+behaviors of code under the C/C++ memory model.
-CDSChecker is distributed under the GPL v2. See the LICENSE file for details.
-
-
-Overview
---------
-
-CDSChecker is a model checker for C11/C++11 which exhaustively explores the
-behaviors of code under the C/C++ memory model. It uses partial order reduction
-as well as a few other novel techniques to eliminate time spent on redundant
-execution behaviors and to significantly shrink the state space. The model
-checking algorithm is described in more detail in this paper (published in
-OOPSLA '13):
+C11Tester is constructed as a dynamically-linked shared library which
+implements the C and C++ atomic types and portions of the other thread-support
+libraries of C/C++ (e.g., std::atomic, std::mutex, etc.).
-> <http://demsky.eecs.uci.edu/publications/c11modelcheck.pdf>
+C11Tester compiles on Linux. Instrumenting programs requires using
+our LLVM pass. It likely can be ported to other \*NIX flavors.
-It is designed to support unit tests on concurrent data structure written using
-C/C++ atomics.
+Mailing List
+------------
-CDSChecker is constructed as a dynamically-linked shared library which
-implements the C and C++ atomic types and portions of the other thread-support
-libraries of C/C++ (e.g., std::atomic, std::mutex, etc.). Notably, we only
-support the C version of threads (i.e., `thrd_t` and similar, from `<threads.h>`),
-because C++ threads require features which are only available to a C++11
-compiler (and we want to support others, at least for now).
+If you have questions, you can contact us at c11tester@googlegroups.com.
-CDSChecker should compile on Linux and Mac OSX with no dependencies and has been
-tested with LLVM (clang/clang++) and GCC. It likely can be ported to other \*NIX
-flavors. We have not attempted to port to Windows.
+You can sign up for the C11Tester mailing list at:
+<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/c11tester>
Getting Started
---------------
-If you haven't done so already, you may download CDSChecker using
-[git](http://git-scm.com/):
-
- git clone git://demsky.eecs.uci.edu/model-checker.git
-
-Source code can also be downloaded via the snapshot links on Gitweb (found in
-the __See Also__ section).
+If you haven't done so already, you may download C11Tester using git:
-Get the benchmarks (not required; distributed separately), placing them as a
-subdirectory under the `model-checker` directory:
+ git clone git://plrg.eecs.uci.edu/c11tester.git
- cd model-checker
- git clone git://demsky.eecs.uci.edu/model-checker-benchmarks.git benchmarks
+Get the benchmarks (not required; distributed separately):
-Compile the model checker:
+ git clone git://plrg.eecs.uci.edu/c11concurrency-benchmarks.git
- make
-
-Compile the benchmarks:
+Get the LLVM frontend using git and follow its directions to build:
- make benchmarks
+ git clone git://plrg.eecs.uci.edu/c11llvm.git
-Run a simple example (the `run.sh` script does some very minimal processing for
-you):
+Compile the fuzzer:
- ./run.sh test/userprog.o
+ make
-To see the help message on how to run CDSChecker, execute:
+To see the help message on how to run C11Tester, execute:
./run.sh -h
Useful Options
--------------
-`-m num`
-
- > Controls the liveness of the memory system. Note that multithreaded programs
- > often rely on memory liveness for termination, so this parameter is
- > necessary for such programs.
- >
- > Liveness is controlled by `num`: the number of times a load is allowed to
- > see the same store when a newer store exists---one that is ordered later in
- > the modification order.
-
-`-y`
-
- > Turns on CHESS-like yield-based fairness support (requires `thrd_yield()`
- > instrumentation in test program).
-
-`-f num`
-
- > Turns on alternative fairness support (less desirable than `-y`). A
- > necessary alternative for some programs that do not support yield-based
- > fairness properly.
-
`-v`
> Verbose: show all executions and not just buggy ones.
-`-s num`
-
- > Constrain how long we will run to wait for a future value past when it is
- > expected
-
-`-u num`
-
- > Value to provide to atomics loads from uninitialized memory locations. The
- > default is 0, but this may cause some programs to throw exceptions
- > (segfault) before the model checker prints a trace.
-
-Suggested options:
-
-> -m 2 -y
-
-or
-
-> -m 2 -f 10
+`-x num`
+ > Specify the number number of executions to run.
Benchmarks
-------------------
-Many simple tests are located in the `tests/` directory. You may also want to
-try the larger benchmarks (distributed separately), which can be placed under
-the `benchmarks/` directory. After building CDSChecker, you can build and run
-the benchmarks as follows:
+Many simple tests are located in the `test/` directory. These are
+manually instrumented and can just be run.
-> make benchmarks
-> cd benchmarks
->
-> # run barrier test with fairness/memory liveness
-> ./run.sh barrier/barrier -y -m 2
->
-> # Linux reader/write lock test with fairness/memory liveness
-> ./run.sh linuxrwlocks/linuxrwlocks -y -m 2
->
-> # run all benchmarks and provide timing results
-> ./bench.sh
+You may also want to try the larger benchmarks (distributed
+separately). These require LLVM to instrument.
Running your own code
---------------------
-You likely want to test your own code, not just our simple tests. To do so, you
-need to perform a few steps.
-
-First, because CDSChecker executes your program dozens (if not hundreds or
-thousands) of times, you will have the most success if your code is written as a
-unit test and not as a full-blown program.
-
-Second, because CDSChecker must be able to manage your program for you, your
-program should declare its main entry point as `user_main(int, char**)` rather
-than `main(int, char**)`.
-
-Third, test programs must use the standard C11/C++11 library headers (see below
-for supported APIs) and must compile against the versions provided in
-CDSChecker's `include/` directory. Notably, we only support C11 thread syntax
-(`thrd_t`, etc. from `<thread.h>`).
-
-Test programs may also use our included happens-before race detector by
-including <librace.h> and utilizing the appropriate functions
-(`store_{8,16,32,64}()` and `load_{8,16,32,64}()`) for storing/loading data
-to/from non-atomic shared memory.
+You likely want to test your own code, not just our tests. You will
+likely need to use our LLVM pass to instrument your program. You will
+have to modify your build environment to do this.
-CDSChecker can also check boolean assertions in your test programs. Just
-include `<model-assert.h>` and use the `MODEL_ASSERT()` macro in your test program.
-CDSChecker will report a bug in any possible execution in which the argument to
-`MODEL_ASSERT()` evaluates to false (that is, 0).
+Test programs should be compiled against our shared library
+(libmodel.so). Then the shared library must be made available to the
+dynamic linker, using the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` environment variable, for
+instance.
-Test programs should be compiled against our shared library (libmodel.so) using
-the headers in the `include/` directory. Then the shared library must be made
-available to the dynamic linker, using the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` environment
-variable, for instance.
-
-
-### Supported C11/C++11 APIs ###
-
-To model-check multithreaded code properly, CDSChecker needs to instrument any
-concurrency-related API calls made in your code. Currently, we support parts of
-the following thread-support libraries. The C versions can be used in either C
-or C++.
-
-* `<atomic>`, `<cstdatomic>`, `<stdatomic.h>`
-* `<condition_variable>`
-* `<mutex>`
-* `<threads.h>`
-
-Because we want to extend support to legacy (i.e., non-C++11) compilers, we do
-not support some new C++11 features that can't be implemented in C++03 (e.g.,
-C++ `<thread>`).
Reading an execution trace
--------------------------
-When CDSChecker detects a bug in your program (or when run with the `--verbose`
+When C11Tester detects a bug in your program (or when run with the `--verbose`
flag), it prints the output of the program run (STDOUT) along with some summary
trace information for the execution in question. The trace is given as a
sequence of lines, where each line represents an operation in the execution
-trace. These lines are ordered by the order in which they were run by CDSChecker
+trace. These lines are ordered by the order in which they were run by C11Tester
(i.e., the "execution order"), which does not necessarily align with the "order"
of the values observed (i.e., the modification order or the reads-from
relation).
The following list describes each of the columns in the execution trace output:
* \#: The sequence number within the execution. That is, sequence number "9"
- means the operation was the 9th operation executed by CDSChecker. Note that
+ means the operation was the 9th operation executed by C11Tester. Note that
this represents the execution order, not necessarily any other order (e.g.,
modification order or reads-from).
* Location: The memory location on which this operation is operating. This is
well-defined for atomic write/read/RMW, but other operations are subject to
- CDSChecker implementation details.
+ C11Tester implementation details.
* Value: For reads/writes/RMW, the value returned by the operation. Note that
for RMW, this is the value that is *read*, not the value that was *written*.
- For other operations, 'value' may have some CDSChecker-internal meaning, or
+ For other operations, 'value' may have some C11Tester-internal meaning, or
it may simply be a don't-care (such as `0xdeadbeef`).
* Rf: For reads, the sequence number of the operation from which it reads.
So for any thread i, we say CV[i] is the sequence number of the most recent
operation in thread i such that operation i happens-before this operation.
- Notably, thread 0 is reserved as a dummy thread for certain CDSChecker
+ Notably, thread 0 is reserved as a dummy thread for certain C11Tester
operations.
See the following example trace:
End of Execution Summary
------------------------
-CDSChecker prints summary statistics at the end of each execution. These
+C11Tester prints summary statistics at the end of each execution. These
summaries are based off of a few different properties of an execution, which we
will break down here:
-* An _infeasible_ execution is an execution which is not consistent with the
- memory model. Such an execution can be considered overhead for the
- model-checker, since it should never appear in practice.
-
-* A _buggy_ execution is an execution in which CDSChecker has found a real
- bug: a data race, a deadlock, failure of a user-provided assertion, or an
- uninitialized load, for instance. CDSChecker will only report bugs in feasible
- executions.
-
-* A _redundant_ execution is a feasible execution that is exploring the same
- state space explored by a previous feasible execution. Such exploration is
- another instance of overhead, so CDSChecker terminates these executions as
- soon as they are detected. CDSChecker is mostly able to avoid such executions
- but may encounter them if a fairness option is enabled.
-
-Now, we can examine the end-of-execution summary of one test program:
-
- $ ./run.sh test/rmwprog.o
- + test/rmwprog.o
- ******* Model-checking complete: *******
- Number of complete, bug-free executions: 6
- Number of redundant executions: 0
- Number of buggy executions: 0
- Number of infeasible executions: 29
- Total executions: 35
-
-* _Number of complete, bug-free executions:_ these are feasible, non-buggy, and
- non-redundant executions. They each represent different, legal behaviors you
- can expect to see in practice.
-
-* _Number of redundant executions:_ these are feasible but redundant executions
- that were terminated as soon as CDSChecker noticed the redundancy.
-
-* _Number of buggy executions:_ these are feasible, buggy executions. These are
- the trouble spots where your program is triggering a bug or assertion.
- Ideally, this number should be 0.
-
-* _Number of infeasible executions:_ these are infeasible executions,
- representing some of the overhead of model-checking.
-
-* _Total executions:_ the total number of executions explored by CDSChecker.
- Should be the sum of the above categories, since they are mutually exclusive.
+* A _buggy_ execution is an execution in which C11Tester has found a real
+ bug: a data race, a deadlock, or a failure of a user-provided assertion.
+ C11Tester will only report bugs in feasible executions.
Other Notes and Pitfalls
------------------------
-* Many programs require some form of fairness in order to terminate in a finite
- amount of time. CDSChecker supports the `-y num` and `-f num` flags for these
- cases. The `-y` option (yield-based fairness) is preferable, but it requires
- careful usage of yields (i.e., `thrd_yield()`) in the test program. For
- programs without proper `thrd_yield()`, you may consider using `-f` instead.
-
-* Deadlock detection: CDSChecker can detect deadlocks. For instance, try the
- following test program.
-
- > ./run.sh test/deadlock.o
-
- Deadlock detection currently detects when a thread is about to step into a
- deadlock, without actually including the final step in the trace. But you can
- examine the program to see the next step.
-
-* CDSChecker has to speculatively explore many execution behaviors due to the
- relaxed memory model, and many of these turn out to be infeasible (that is,
- they cannot be legally produced by the memory model). CDSChecker discards
- these executions as soon as it identifies them (see the "Number of infeasible
- executions" statistic); however, the speculation can occasionally cause
- CDSChecker to hit unexpected parts of the unit test program (causing a
- division by 0, for instance). In such programs, you might consider running
- CDSChecker with the `-u num` option.
-
-* Related to the previous point, CDSChecker may report more than one bug for a
- particular candidate execution. This is because some bugs may not be
- reportable until CDSChecker has explored more of the program, and in the
- time between initial discovery and final assessment of the bug, CDSChecker may
- discover another bug.
-
* Data races may be reported as multiple bugs, one for each byte-address of the
data race in question. See, for example, this run:
See Also
--------
-The CDSChecker project page:
+The C11Tester project page:
-> <http://demsky.eecs.uci.edu/c11modelchecker.php>
+> <http://demsky.eecs.uci.edu/c11tester.html>
-The CDSChecker source and accompanying benchmarks on Gitweb:
+The C11Tester source and accompanying benchmarks on Gitweb:
-> <http://demsky.eecs.uci.edu/git/?p=model-checker.git>
+> <http://plrg.eecs.uci.edu/git/?p=c11tester.git>
>
-> <http://demsky.eecs.uci.edu/git/?p=model-checker-benchmarks.git>
+> <http://plrg.eecs.uci.edu/git/?p=c11llvm.git>
+>
+> <http://plrg.eecs.uci.edu/git/?p=c11concurrency-benchmarks.git>
+
Contact
Please feel free to contact us for more information. Bug reports are welcome,
and we are happy to hear from our users. We are also very interested to know if
-CDSChecker catches bugs in your programs.
+C11Tester catches bugs in your programs.
+
+Contact Weiyu Luo at <weiyul7@uci.edu> or Brian Demsky at <bdemsky@uci.edu>.
+
+
+Copyright
+---------
+
+Copyright © 2013 and 2019 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
+
+C11Tester is distributed under the GPL v2. See the LICENSE file for details.
+
+
+Acknowledgments
+---------------
+
+This material is based upon work supported by the National Science
+Foundation under Grant Numbers 1740210 and 1319786 and Google Research
+awards.
-Contact Brian Norris at <banorris@uci.edu> or Brian Demsky at <bdemsky@uci.edu>.
+Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in
+this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
+the views of the National Science Foundation.
References
projects / c11tester.git / blobdiff