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Rodin: an open toolset for modelling and reasoning in Event-B

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Abstract

Event-B is a formal method for system-level modelling and analysis. Key features of Event-B are the use of set theory as a modelling notation, the use of refinement to represent systems at different abstraction levels and the use of mathematical proof to verify consistency between refinement levels. In this article we present the Rodin modelling tool that seamlessly integrates modelling and proving. We outline how the Event-B language was designed to facilitate proof and how the tool has been designed to support changes to models while minimising the impact of changes on existing proofs. We outline the important features of the prover architecture and explain how well-definedness is treated. The tool is extensible and configurable so that it can be adapted more easily to different application domains and development methods.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marseille, France

    Jean-Raymond Abrial

  2. University of Southampton, Hampshire, UK

    Michael Butler

  3. Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Stefan Hallerstede

  4. ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Thai Son Hoang

  5. Systransis Ltd, Zug, Switzerland

    Farhad Mehta

  6. Systerel, Aix-En-Provence, France

    Laurent Voisin

Authors
  1. Jean-Raymond Abrial
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  2. Michael Butler
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  3. Stefan Hallerstede
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  4. Thai Son Hoang
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  5. Farhad Mehta
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  6. Laurent Voisin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Butler.

Additional information

The continued development of the Rodin toolset is funded by the EU research project ICT 214158 DEPLOY (Industrial deployment of system engineering methods providing high dependability and productivity) http://www.deploy-project.eu. The toolset was originally developed as part of the project IST 511599 RODIN (Rigorous Open Development Environment for Complex Systems). The tool may be downloaded from http://www.event-b.org.

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Abrial, JR., Butler, M., Hallerstede, S. et al. Rodin: an open toolset for modelling and reasoning in Event-B. Int J Softw Tools Technol Transfer 12, 447–466 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10009-010-0145-y

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