Verifying safety properties with the TLA+ proof system

Kaustuv Chaudhuri, Damien Doligez, Leslie Lamport, Stephan Merz

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

TLAPS, the TLA+ proof system, is a platform for the development and mechanical verification of TLA+ proofs. The TLA+ proof language is declarative, and understanding proofs requires little background beyond elementary mathematics. The language supports hierarchical and non-linear proof construction and verification, and it is independent of any verification tool or strategy. Proofs are written in the same language as specifications; engineers do not have to translate their high-level designs into the language of a particular verification tool. A proof manager interprets a TLA+ proof as a collection of proof obligations to be verified, which it sends to backend verifiers that include theorem provers, proof assistants, SMT solvers, and decision procedures. The first public release of TLAPS is available from [1], distributed with a BSD-like license. It handles almost all the non-temporal part of TLA+ as well as the temporal reasoning needed to prove standard safety properties, in particular invariance and step simulation, but not liveness properties. Intuitively, a safety property asserts what is permitted to happen; a liveness property asserts what must happen; for a more formal overview, see [3,10].

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAutomated Reasoning - 5th International Joint Conference, IJCAR 2010, Proceedings
Pages142-148
Number of pages7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Aug 2010
Externally publishedYes
Event5th International Joint Conference on Automated Reasoning, IJCAR 2010 - Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Duration: 16 Jul 201019 Jul 2010

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume6173 LNAI
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference5th International Joint Conference on Automated Reasoning, IJCAR 2010
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityEdinburgh
Period16/07/1019/07/10

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