Abstract

Formal methods have been traditionally used to model and verify operating systems. Different methods verify different operating systems properties, such as process management, mutual exclusion and inter-process communication. Moreover, various methods may capture different design errors, such as deadlocks or unspecified receptions. The system kernel supports higher-level system services. Hence, kernel verification is essential for the proper operation of the system. In addition, providing clear kernel specification improves the interoperability between its various implementations. In this paper, we describe commonly used methods for kernel specification and verification. Some methods provide a mathematical model, and use logic to prove properties of interest. These include PVS and Boyer-Moore logic. Others use a programming language to simulate the system, then apply verification tools to capture system errors. These include the SPIN tool. Distributed operating systems are susceptible ...

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