Why is My Component and Connector Views Specification Unsatisfiable?

Component and connector (C&C) views specifications, with corresponding verification and synthesis techniques, have been recently suggested as a means for formal yet intuitive structural specification of component and connector models. One challenge for effective use of C&C views synthesis relates to the case where the specification is unsatisfiable. In this work we present an approach to deal with unsatisfiable C&C views specifications. First, we define a notion of a C&C views specification core, a locally minimal unsatisfiable subset of the views specification. Second, based on the core, we generate explicit, concrete, structured natural-language report, which explains the cause of unsatisfiability. Finally, we extend our work to support specifications with architecture styles, library components, and Boolean formulas beyond simple conjunctions. Our views core computation relies on a new translation to SAT, via Alloy, which is refined enough to allow the extraction of detailed explanations. We implemented our work and evaluated it using 12 synthetic and real-world C&C views specifications. The evaluation examines the cost of the core computation and its effectiveness in reducing the size of the specification