Predator: A Practical Tool for Checking Manipulation of Dynamic Data Structures Using Separation Logic

separation logic, shape analysis, dynamic linked data structures, pointers, linked lists, tool support, formal verification, Linux lists

Predator is a new open source tool for verification of sequential C programs with dynamic linked data structures. The tool is conceptually based on separation logic with inductive predicates despite it uses a graph description of heaps. Predator currently handles various forms of lists, including singly-linked as well as doubly-linked lists that may be circular, hierarchically nested and that may have various additional pointer links. Predator is implemented as a gcc plug-in and it is capable of handling lists in the form they appear in real system code, especially the Linux kernel, including a limited support of pointer arithmetic. Collaboration on further development of Predator is welcome.