Equivalence Checking of Non-deterministic Operations

Abstract

Checking the semantic equivalence of operations is an important task in software development. For instance, regression testing is a routine task performed when software systems are developed and improved, and software package managers require the equivalence of operations in different versions of a package within the same major number version. A solid foundation is required to support a good automation of this process. It has been shown that the notion of equivalence is not obvious when non-deterministic features are present. In this paper, we discuss a general notion of equivalence in functional logic programs and develop a practical method to check it. Our method is integrated in a property-based testing tool which is used in a software package manager to check the semantic versioning of software packages.