A Test Generation Method Based on Model Reduction for Parallel Software

Modeling and testing for parallel software systems is difficult, because the number of states and execution fragments expand significantly caused by parallel behaviors, so that many traditional testing methods cannot work effectively for this kind of software. In this paper, a test sequence generation method based on model reduction for parallel software systems is shown. Firstly, a formal model for software system specification is constructed based on Coloured Petri Net (CPN), called system model; and a model reduction method based on trace-equivalent principle is shown and applied on system model, which could generate an external behavior equivalent model with smaller scale. Secondly, a linear behavior sequence of the system is specified using CPN, called LBS model, which represents testing purpose in a test case, and some operations between state space diagrams of system model and LBS model are defined, so that a sub-graph of system model state space diagram is generated, which could cover all executions of system model that involves behaviors of LBS. Finally, a performance analysis shows the effectiveness of the method.