URBiVA: Uniform reduction to bit-vector arithmetic

Abstract

We describe a system URBiVA for specifying and solving a range of problems by uniformly reducing them to bit-vector arithmetic (bva). A problem description is given in a C-like specification language and this high-level specification is transformed to a bva formula by symbolic execution. The formula is passed to a bva solver and, if it is satisfiable, its models give solutions of the problem. The system can be used for efficient modelling (specifying and solving) of a wide class of problems. Several state-of-the-art solvers for bva are currently used (Boolector, MathSAT, Yices) and additional solvers can be easily included. Hence, the system can be used not only as a specification and solving tool, but also as a platform for evaluation and comparison between bva solvers. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.