Proving Concurrent Data Structures Linearizable

Linearizability of concurrent data structure implementations is notoriously hard to prove. Consequently, current verification techniques can only prove linearizability for certain classes of data structures. We introduce a generic, sound, and practical technique to statically check the linearizability of concurrent data structure implementations. Our technique involves specifying the concurrent operations as a list of sub-operations and passing this specification on to an automated checker that verifies linearizability using relationships between individual suboperations. We have proven the soundness of our technique. Our approach is expressive: we have successfully verified the linearizability of 12 popular concurrent data structure implementations including algorithms that are considered to be challenging to prove linearizable such as elimination back-off stack, lazy linked list, and time-stamped stack. Our checker is effective, as it can verify the specifications in less than a second.