Stack bound inference for abstract Java Bytecode

Abstract

Ubiquitous embedded systems are often resource-constrained. Developing software for these systems should take into account resources such as memory space. In this paper, we develop and implement an analysis framework to infer statically stack usage bounds for assembly-level programs in abstract Java Bytecode. Our stack bound inference process, extended from a theoretical framework proposed earlier by some of the authors, is composed of deductive inference rules in multiple passes. Based on these rules, a usable tool has been developed for processing programs to capture the stack memory needs of each procedure in terms of the symbolic values of its parameters. The final result contains path-sensitive information to achieve better precision. The tool invokes a Presburger solver to perform fixed point analysis for loops and recursive procedures. Our initial experiments have confirmed the viability and power of the approach. © 2010 IEEE.