McErlang: a model checker for a distributed functional programming language

Abstract

We present a model checker for verifying distributed programs written in the Erlang programming language. Providing a model checker for Erlang is especially rewarding since the language is by now being seen as a very capable platform for developing industrial strength distributed applications with excellent failure tolerance characteristics. In contrast to most other Erlang verification attempts, we provide support for a very substantial part of the language. The model checker has full Erlang data type support, support for general process communication, node semantics (inter-process behave subtly different from intra-process communication), fault detection and fault tolerance through process linking, and can verify programs written using the OTP Erlang component library (used by most modern Erlang programs).