Extending detectEr, a runtime verification tool for Erlang

Abstract

The aim of this project is optimise DetectEr, an asynchronous runtime verification tool programmed in Erlang. This will be done by identifying inefficiencies within DetectEr, designing and implementing optimisations and then verifying that these optimisations provide a more efficient solution. Formally proving the correctness of these optimisations is beyond the scope of this project and will be left for future work. A case study was set up using the YAWS web server as a representative Erlang program to determine the effectiveness of the optimisations using metrics such as response time, CPU utilisation and the number of processes alive. Results clearly showed that the there was a significant improvement in all areas. Moreover, whereas in the original Detect Er resource usage increased as more trace events are processed, with these optimisations implemented overheads are kept low and at a stable level making DetectEr a more practical runtime verification tool.