GSoC 2021 Project Ideas

Project Ideas

Please note that this list is not exclusive. If you have other ideas and topics related to JPF, please let us know on the JPF Google group. A possible proposal template can be found at the bottom of our GSoC page: JPF Google Summer of Code 2021.

JPF Infrastructure

Support Java 11 (bootstrap methods and other issues) for jpf-core
Support Java 12 (private API dependencies) for jpf-core

JPF Application Domains

TBA

Automatic Program Repair

TBA

Fuzzing

TBA

Smart Contract

TBA

Concolic Execution

TBA

Environment and Test Case Generation

TBA

JPF Extensions and External Systems Interfacing

TBA

Symbolic Data-race Detection

TBA

Project Description

Support Java 11 (bootstrap methods and other issues) for jpf-core

Description: jpf-core is essentially a JVM that currently fully supports only Java 8. The goal of this project is to make it up-to-date with new features of Java 11. The JPF source itself has already been made compatible with Java 11. Now, JPF should support new features of Java 11 bytecode. Thanks to work in 2019 and especially 2020, a lot of this works now, but there is still work left to do.

The key feature of Java 11 that is currently not fully supported are bootstrap methods that are generated at load time. They are used for things as common as string concatenation ("Hello, " + name). As of now, many cases are supported, but there are still many programs (and unit tests) that fail with Java 11. It is therefore very important for us that we support the general case of this feature. The current state can be seen by running the unit tests of branch java-10-gradle with Java 11 and by looking at Issue #274.

This is a high-priority project, as support for Java 8 is limited to the near future. Note: You can apply to both projects (Java 11 or 12 support); in that case, please indicate that you would like to work on either one, and what your preference would be.

Difficulty: Hard
Required skills: Knowledge of Java bytecode
Preferred skills: Knowledge of bootstrap methods in Java bytecode

Support for Java 12 (private API dependencies) for jpf-core

Related to the project above, there are also some internal APIs from Java 11 that no longer exist in Java 12 and later. This requires redesigning and reimplementing part of the code, in order to take a different approach that no longer depends on functionality that was removed in Java 12. The code in question is easily found by trying to compile branch java-10-gradle with Java 12. Note: You can apply to both projects (Java 11 or 12 support); in that case, please indicate that you would like to work on either one, and what your preference would be.

Difficulty: Medium
Required skills: Knowledge of Java internals