A Survey on Modeling Techniques for Formal Behavioral Verification of Software Product Lines

Abstract

As software product lines are increasingly used for safety-critical systems, researchers have adapted formal verification techniques such as model checking and theorem proving to cope with compiletime variability. While the focus of the ongoing debate lies on the verification mechanisms itself, it becomes increasingly difficult for researchers to maintain an overview about the various accompanying modeling techniques. We survey existing approaches as a first step towards a unifying view on variability mechanisms in formal modeling techniques for product lines. We illustrate the approaches by means of a running example to illustrate their commonalities and differences.