In this paper we show how the FLAVERS data flow analysis technique, originally formulated for programs with the rendezvous model of concurrency, can be applied to concurrent Java programs. The general approach of FLAVERS is based on modeling a concurrent program as a flow graph and using a data flow analysis algorithm over this graph to check statically if a property holds on all executions of the program. The accuracy of this analysis can be improved by supplying additional information, represented as finite state automata, to the data flow analysis algorithm. In this paper we present a straightforward approach for modeling Java programs that uses the accuracy improving mechanism to represent the possible communications among threads in Java programs, instead of representing them directly in the flow graph model. We also discuss a number of error-prone thread communication patterns that can arise in Java and describe how FLAVERS can be used to check for the presence of these. 1

Finite-state verification (e.g., model checking) provides a powerful means to detect concurrency errors, which are often subtle and difficult to reproduce. Nevertheless, widespread use of this technology by developers is unlikely until tools provide automated support for extracting the required finite-state models directly from program source. Unfortunately, the dynamic features of modern languages such as Java complicate the construction of compact finitestate models for verification. In this paper, we show how shape analysis, which has traditionally been used for computing alias information in optimizers, can be used to greatly reduce the size of finite-state models of concurrent Java programs by determining which heap-allocated variables are accessible only by a single thread, and which shared variables are protected by locks. We also provide several other state-space reductions based on the semantics of Java monitors. A prototype implementation of the reductions demonstrates their ...

This paper presents some issues about the design and implementation of a concurrency analysis tool for deadlock detection on Java programs based on Promela and SPIN. An abstract formal model expressed in Promela is generated from the Java source using the Java2Spin translator. Then the model is analyzed by SPIN and possible error traces are converted back to traces of Java statements and reported to the user. We carried out a set of experiments, to evaluate the extent to which this approach is feasible, and found that non-trivial Java programs can be successfully analyzed.