Title
Static analysis of device drivers: we can do better!
Abstract
We argue that the device driver architecture enforced by current operating systems complicates both manual and automatic reasoning about driver behaviour. In particular, it makes it hard and in some cases impossible to statically verify that the driver correctly interacts with the rest of the kernel. This limitation cannot be addressed solely via better verification tools. We maintain that qualitative improvement in the effectiveness of static driver verification must rely on an improved driver architecture, leading to drivers that are easier to write, understand, and verify. To support our claims, we present a device driver architecture, called active drivers, that satisfies these requirements. We outline our methodology for specifying and verifying active driver protocols using existing model checking tools and describe initial experimental results.
Year
DOI
Venue
2011
10.1145/2103799.2103809
ApSys
Keywords
Field
DocType
device driver architecture,static driver verification,current operating system,improved driver architecture,automatic reasoning,driver behaviour,active driver protocol,better verification tool,existing model checking tool,active driver,static analysis,synchronization,model checking,reliability,satisfiability,operating system,message passing
Kernel (linear algebra),Synchronization,Architecture,Model checking,Computer science,Static analysis,Message passing,Embedded system
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
5
0.45
9
Authors
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Sidney Amani1675.00
Leonid Ryzhyk221216.05
Alastair F. Donaldson366152.35
Gernot Heiser42525137.42
Alexander Legg5243.17
Yanjin Zhu6191.68