Model checking a cache coherence protocol of a Java DSM implementation

Jackal is a fine-grained distributed shared memory implementation of the Java pro-gramming language. It aims to implement Java’s memory model and allows mul-tithreaded Java programs to run unmodified on a distributed memory system. Itemploys a multiple-writer cache coherence protocol. In this paper, we report onour analysis of this protocol. We present its formal specification in μCRL, and dis-cuss the abstractions that were made to avoid state explosion. Requirements wereformulated and model checked with respect to several configurations. Our analysisrevealed two errors in the implementation.