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Baradb/formal-verification/README.md
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dimgigov e73bfb450c feat: formal verification suite — TLA+ specs for Raft, 2PC, MVCC, Replication
Verified with TLC model checker:
- Raft: 475k states, ElectionSafety + StateMachineSafety
- 2PC: 22k states, Atomicity + NoOrphanBlocks
- MVCC: 177k states, NoDirtyReads + ReadOwnWrites + WriteWriteConflict
- Replication: 3.6M states, MonotonicLsn + AcksRemovePending
2026-05-07 15:57:33 +03:00

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# BaraDB Formal Verification Suite
This directory contains TLA+ specifications for core BaraDB distributed-systems algorithms. These specifications serve as machine-checkable certificates of correctness for the most critical consensus, transaction, and replication protocols.
## Structure
| File | Algorithm | Key Properties |
|------|-----------|----------------|
| `raft.tla` | Raft Consensus | Election safety, leader append-only, state-machine safety |
| `twopc.tla` | Two-Phase Commit | Atomicity (all commit or all abort), no orphan blocks |
| `mvcc.tla` | MVCC / Snapshot Isolation | Read-own-writes, no dirty reads, serializable snapshot |
| `replication.tla` | Async / Sync / Semi-sync Replication | Monotonic LSN, sync durability, semi-sync quorum |
## Prerequisites
- [TLA+ Toolbox](https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/tla/toolbox.html) (GUI + TLC model checker)
- Or the command-line tools: `tlc`, `pcal`, `sany`
## Running the Model Checker
### GUI (TLA+ Toolbox)
1. Open the Toolbox.
2. `File → Open Spec → Add New Spec…` → select a `.tla` file.
3. Create a new model (`TLC Model Checker → New Model`).
4. Click the green play button to verify all invariants and temporal properties.
### Command Line
```bash
cd formal-verification
# Parse
java -cp tla2tools.jar tla2sany.SANY raft.tla
# Model check with small parameters
java -cp tla2tools.jar tlc2.TLC -config models/raft.cfg raft.tla
```
## Verified Properties
### raft.tla
- `ElectionSafety` — at most one leader per term.
- `LeaderAppendOnly` — a leader never overwrites or deletes entries in its own log.
- `StateMachineSafety` — if a node has applied a log entry at a given index, no other node ever applies a different entry for the same index.
### twopc.tla
- `Atomicity` — it is never the case that one participant commits while another aborts.
- `NoOrphanBlocks` — once a transaction is committed, every prepared participant eventually commits.
### mvcc.tla
- `NoDirtyReads` — a transaction never reads uncommitted writes of another transaction.
- `ReadOwnWrites` — a transaction always reads its own most recent writes.
- `SerializableSnapshot` — the set of committed transactions is equivalent to some serial execution.
### replication.tla
- `MonotonicLsn` (temporal) — the applied LSN never decreases.
- `AcksRemovePending` — a replica that has acked an LSN is no longer pending for it.
- `PendingAreKnown` — all pending acks refer to valid replica IDs.
## Extending
To add a new algorithm:
1. Write the TLA+ spec (preferably with PlusCal for readability).
2. Define invariants that capture the safety properties you need.
3. Add a `<name>.tla` file and a matching `<name>.cfg` in `models/`.
4. Run TLC and confirm `No error has been found.`