Model Checking for Software Product Lines with SNIP

International audienceWe present SNIP, an efficient model checker for software product lines (SPLs). Variability in software prod- uct lines is generally expressed in terms of features, and the number of potential products is exponential in the number of features. Whereas classical model checkers are only capa- ble of checking properties against each individual product in the product line, SNIP exploits specifically designed algo- rithms to check all products in a single step. This is done by using a concise mathematical structure for product line behaviour, that exploits similarities and represents the behav- iour of all products in a compact manner. Specification of an SPL in SNIP relies on the combination of two specification languages: TVL to describe the variability in the product line, and fPromela to describe the behaviour of the individ- ual products. SNIP is thus one of the first tools equipped with specification languages to formally express both the variabil- ity and the behaviours of the products of the product line. The paper assesses SNIP and suggests that this is the first model checker for SPLs that can be used outside the academic arena