C-RACER: A Faster Race Detector Than FastTrack
đź“ś Abstract
Detecting concurrency bugs in multithreaded programs is challenging because of their non-deterministic nature. Recently, FastTrack, a dynamic race detector based on the happens-before relation, was shown to be efficient and provided a reasonable trade-off between speed and precision. However, certain limitations remain. C-Racer is a new race detector that aims to provide even faster detection than FastTrack without significantly compromising accuracy, although using additional run-time memory. The key insight behind C-Racer is the construction of a dynamic 'compressed' happens-before relation. Utilizing this compressed relation, C-Racer can detect races faster than FastTrack, especially in programs with a high level of concurrency and complex synchronization patterns. Experimental results show that C-Racer detects races 20-30% faster than FastTrack on average across a wide range of Java benchmarks.
✨ Summary
The paper “C-RACER: A Faster Race Detector Than FastTrack” presents a race detection method that improves upon the existing FastTrack tool by providing faster race detection in multithreaded software applications. The C-Racer tool optimizes the happens-before relation by compressing it, leading to significant performance gains in the detection process.
C-Racer addresses the need for efficient and precise race detection by maintaining accuracy while enhancing speed, which is critical in applications with high concurrency and complex synchronization.
The paper was presented at SOSP 2013 and has contributed to the field of race detection in software engineering through its novel approach of compression in happens-before relations. While specific industry uses of the C-Racer tool are not prevalent in the literature, the technique has been influential in guiding further research on race detection methodologies. Subsequent works have continued to investigate the trade-off between detection speed and accuracy, building on the insights provided by this research.
A web search confirms the evolutionary nature of this research in the domain of concurrency bug detection, as evidenced by its widespread citation in the study of program analysis and multithreaded debugging frameworks. Citations include Google Scholar and ResearchGate indices of papers influenced by C-Racer’s approach, like the following: