Towards Deriving Verification Properties

Abstract

Formal software verification uses mathematical techniques to establish that software has certain properties. For example, that the behaviour of a software system satisfies certain logically-specified properties. Formal methods have a long history, but a recurring assumption is that the properties to be verified are known, or provided as part of the requirements elicitation process. This working note considers the question: where do the verification properties come from? It proposes a process for systematically identifying verification properties.