Mysteries of DropBox: Property-Based Testing of a Distributed Synchronization Service

@article{Hughes2016MysteriesOD,
  title={Mysteries of DropBox: Property-Based Testing of a Distributed Synchronization Service},
  author={John Hughes and Benjamin C. Pierce and Thomas Arts and Ulf Norell},
  journal={2016 IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST)},
  year={2016},
  pages={135-145}
}
  • John Hughes, B. Pierce, U. Norell
  • Published 11 April 2016
  • Computer Science
  • 2016 IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST)
File synchronization services such as Dropbox are used by hundreds ofmillions of people to replicate vital data. Yet rigorous models of theirbehavior are lacking. We present the first formal -- and testable -- model ofthe core behavior of a modern file synchronizer, and we use it to discoversurprising behavior in two widely deployed synchronizers. Our model isbased on a technique for testing nondeterministic systems that avoidsrequiring that the system's internal choices be made visible to the… 
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