The Deterministic Execution Hammer: How Well Does it Actually Pound Nails?

This paper takes a critical look at the benefits provided by state-of-the-art deterministic execution techniques. Specifically, we look at four applications of deterministic execution: debugging, fault-tolerant replication, testing, and security. For each application, we discuss what an ideal system would provide, and then look at how deterministic systems compare to the ideal. Further, we discuss alternative approaches, not involving determinism, and we judge whether or not these alternatives are more suitable. Along the way, we identify open questions and suggest future work. Ultimately, we find that there are competitive alternatives to determinism for debugging and replicating multithreaded programs; that determinism has high, though unproven, potential to improve testing; and that determinism has distinct security benefits in eliminating some covert timing channels. Furthermore, determinism is a unified solution for all four applications: this confers a distinct advantage over point solutions that do not compose well with one another.