Formal verification of a theory of packages

Abstract

Over the years, open source distributions have become increasingly largeand complex—as an example, the latest Debian distribution contains almost 30 000packages.Consequently, the tools that deal with these distribution have also become more andmore complex. Furthermore, to deal with increasing distribution sizes optimisationhas become more important as well.To make sure that correctness is not sacrificed for complexity and optimisation, it isimportant to verify the underlying assumptions formally.In this paper, we present an example of such a verification: a formalisation in Coqof a theory of packages and their interdependencies.