Verification Condition Generation for Permission Logics with Abstraction Functions

Abstract predicates are the primary abstraction mechanism for program logics based on access permissions, such as separation logic and implicit dynamic frames. In addition to abstract predicates, it is often useful to also support classical abstraction functions, for instance, to encode side-effect free methods of the program and use them in specifications. However, combining abstract predicates and abstraction functions in a verification condition generator leads to subtle interactions, which complicate reasoning about heap modifications. Such complications may compromise soundness or cause divergence of the prover in the context of automated verification. In this paper, we present an encoding of abstract predicates and abstraction functions in the verification condition generator Boogie. Our encoding is sound and handles recursion in a way that is suitable for automatic verification using SMT solvers. It is implemented in the automatic verifier Chalice.