BCG_CMP manual page
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Name

bcg_cmp - equivalence comparison of normal, probabilistic, or stochastic labeled transitions systems (LTS) encoded in the BCG format

Synopsis

bcg_cmp [bcg_options] [-strong | -branching | -divbranching | -observational | -sharp [-total | -partial | -gate] sharp_filename] | -divsharp [-total | -partial | -gate] sharp_filename] [-normal | -prob | -rate [-self]] [-epsilon eps] [-format format_string] [-class class_file] [-diag [-bfs|-dfs] diag_file.bcg] input_1.bcg input_2.bcg

where bcg_options is defined below (see GENERAL OPTIONS).

bcg_cmp takes as inputs the BCG graphs input_1.bcg and input_2.bcg, and compares these graphs according to some bisimulation relation.

Description

bcg_cmp implements various algorithms to perform comparison of graphs encoded in the BCG format according to strong bisimulation, branching bisimulation, divbranching bisimulation, observational equivalence, sharp bisimulation, or divsharp bisimulation. A graph input by bcg_cmp can be:

General Options

The following bcg_options are currently supported: -version, -create, -update, -remove, -cc, -tmp, -uncompress, -compress, -register, -short, -medium, and -size. See the bcg manual page for a description of these options.

Particular Options

The following options are also supported:
-strong      
Perform LTS comparison according to strong bisimulation [Par81]. On (Discrete or Continuous Time) Markov Chains and on Markov Reward Models, this equivalence agrees with lumpability of [KS76,KSK76,Buc94,Hil94] (see ANNEX 1, ANNEX 2, and BIBLIOGRAPHY of the bcg_min manual page). Default option.

-branching
Perform LTS comparison according to branching bisimulation [GW96]. It is worth noticing that the notion of branching bisimulation is rather meaningless for probabilistic systems. Not a default option.

-divbranching
Perform LTS comparison according to divbranching (shorthand for divergence-preserving branching) bisimulation [GW96]. Divbranching bisimulation differs from branching bisimulation only in the way cycles of internal transitions (also called divergences) are treated. It is known that all states traversed by a cycle of internal transitions belong to the same branching equivalence class. While divergences are ignored by ordinary branching bisimulation, they are assimilated to a self-looping internal transition in each such equivalence class by divbranching bisimulation. Unlike branching bisimulation, divbranching bisimulation preserves inevitability properties. Like branching bisimulation, it is worth noticing that the notion of divbranching bisimulation is rather meaningless for probabilistic systems. Not a default option.

-observational
Perform LTS comparison according to observational equivalence [Mil89]. It is worth noticing that observational equivalence is computationally more expensive than branching bisimulation, so that comparison may fail even for graphs containing only few thousands of states. To reduce the risk of failure, in a first step the input graphs are automatically reduced according to branching bisimulation. This is sound because branching bisimulation is a graph relation stronger than observational equivalence. However, this optimisation is not applied if the -class option is set, so that bcg_cmp can print the equivalence classes relatively to the states of the input graphs, instead of the states of the branching minimal intermediate graph produced in the first step. This option cannot be combined with neither -prob nor -rate options. Not a default option.

-sharp [ -total|-partial|-gate ] sharp_filename
Perform LTS comparison according to sharp bisimulation (the variant of the bisimulation defined in [LMM20] that does not preserve the divergences present in input1.bcg and input2.bcg), using the rules defined in sharp_filename to partition labels between strong and weak actions. See Section FORMAT FOR SHARP LABEL PARTITIONING of the bcg_min manual page for details on the syntax of sharp_filename. The -total, -partial, and -gate options specify the "total matching", "partial matching", and "gate matching" semantics, respectively.

In "total matching" semantics, the regular expressions contained in sharp_filename denote full labels (i.e., gates possibly followed by experiment offers). A label matches if it matches some rule in sharp_filename entirely.

In "partial matching" semantics, the regular expressions contained in sharp_filename denote substrings of labels. A label matches if it contains a substring that matches some rule in sharp_filename.

At last, in "gate matching" semantics, the regular expressions contained in sharp_filename denote gates. A label matches if its first word (called gate) matches some rule in sharp_filename. In this case, regular expressions in sharp_filename should not contain characters forbidden in gate identifiers (e.g., " ", "(", or "!").

Option -total is the default.

This option cannot be combined with neither -prob nor -rate options. Not a default option.

-divsharp [ -total|-partial|-gate ] sharp_filename
Perform LTS comparison according to divsharp bisimulation (the variant of the bisimulation defined in [LMM20] that preserves the divergences present in input1.bcg and input2.bcg). See -sharp option above for the partitioning of labels between strong and weak actions. This option cannot be combined with neither -prob nor -rate options. Not a default option.

-normal
Consider input_1.bcg and input_2.bcg as normal LTSs. With this option, labels of the form "rate %f" or "label; rate %f" or "prob %p" or "label; prob %p" are processed as ordinary labels, without special meaning attached. Default option.

-prob    
Consider input_1.bcg and input_2.bcg as probabilistic LTSs. With this option, each label of the form "prob %p" or "label; prob %p" is recognized as denoting a probabilistic transition with probability %p. bcg_cmp will stop with an error message if, for some probabilistic transition, %p is out of ]0..1], or if the probabilistic transitions going out of the same state have a cumulated sum strictly greater than 1. With this option, labels of the form "rate %f" or "label; rate %f" are processed as ordinary labels. Not a default option.

-rate [ -self ]
Consider input_1.bcg and input_2.bcg as stochastic LTSs. With this option, each label of the form "rate %f" or "label; rate %f" is recognized as denoting a stochastic transition with rate %f. bcg_cmp will stop with an error message if, for some stochastic transition, %f is less or equal to 0. If the -branching or the -divbranching option is selected, and some state has both an outgoing stochastic transition and an outgoing internal (i.e., "tau") transition, bcg_cmp will print a warning and ignore the stochastic transition in order to preserve the notion of maximal progress. With this option, labels of the form "prob %p" or "label; prob %p" are processed as ordinary labels. Not a default option.

If -self sub-option is given, all self loops (i.e., transitions that remain within the same equivalence class) having labels of the form "rate %f" are ignored. This implements the weak Markovian equivalences described in [Bra02] and [BHKW05]. Not a default sub-option.

-epsilon eps
Set the precision of floating-point comparisons to eps, where eps is a real value. When eps is out of [0..1[, bcg_cmp reports an error. Default value for eps is 1E-6.

-format format_string
Use format_string to control the format of the floating-point numbers contained in transition labels (these numbers correspond to the occurrences of %f and %p mentioned in section DESCRIPTION above). The value of format_string should obey the same conventions as the format parameter of function sprintf(3C) for values of type double. Default value for format_string is "%g", meaning that floating-point numbers are printed with at most six digits after the "." (i.e., the radix character). Other values can be used, for instance "%.9g" to obtain nine digits instead of six, or by replacing the "%g" flag with other flags, namely "%e", "%E", "%f", "%G", possibly combined with additional flags (e.g., to specify precision).

-class class_file      
If class_file is the character '-', then display the equivalence classes on standard output. Otherwise, display the equivalence classes in a file named class_file. Not a default option.

-diag [-bfs|-dfs] diag_file.bcg
When the comparison of input_1 and input_2 yields FALSE, generate a diagnostic (counterexample) in BCG format (see the bcg manual page for details) explaining this result. The diagnostic is generated by the bisimulator tool of CADP, in the file diag_file.bcg. This option has no effect when the comparison of input_1 and input_2 yields TRUE, since in this case the diagnostic would be larger than input_1 and input_2, and would not bring any useful information.

Option -bfs or -dfs, if present, is passed to bisimulator . Option -bfs may be slightly slower but generates smaller diagnostics than option -dfs. Option -bfs is the default option.

Note that diagnostics are generated only for comparisons of normal LTSs and according to strong bisimulation, branching bisimulation, divbranching bisimulation, and observational equivalence. In particular, if the -diag option is used in combination with any of the -sharp, -divsharp, -prob, and -rate options, then a warning is issued and no diagnostic is generated.

The BCG file containing the diagnostic can be visualized using the bcg_draw and bcg_edit tools of CADP (see respective manual pages for details).

The diagnostic is a directed acyclic graph included (modulo the preorder corresponding to the equivalence relation considered) both in input_1 and input_2.

If the diagnostic is a sequence of transitions, it will also be displayed on standard output using the simple SEQ format (see the seq manual page for the definition of this format). Not a default option.

Note: Options -strong, -branching, -divbranching, -sharp, -divsharp, and -observational are mutually exclusive. If they occur simultaneously on the command line, the option occurring last is selected.

Note: Options -normal, -prob, and -rate (with or without -self sub-option) are mutually exclusive. If they occur simultaneously on the command line, the option occurring last is selected.

Environment Variables

See the bcg manual page for a description of the environment variables used by all the BCG application tools.

Exit Status

Exit status is 0 if everything is alright, 1 otherwise.

Authors

bcg_cmp was developped by Frederic Lang (INRIA/CONVECS). It shares a substantial amount of code with bcg_min. See the bcg_min manual page for more information.

Operands

input_1.bcg
BCG graph (input)

input_2.bcg
BCG graph (input)

input_1@1.o
dynamic library (input or output)

input_2@1.o
dynamic library (input or output)

Files

$CADP/bin.`arch`/bcg_cmp
``bcg_cmp'' binary program

See the bcg manual page for a description of the other files.

See Also

bcg , bcg_min , seq , sprintf(3C)

Additional information is available from the CADP Web page located at http://cadp.inria.fr

Directives for installation are given in files $CADP/INSTALLATION_*.

Recent changes and improvements to this software are reported and commented in file $CADP/HISTORY.

Bugs

Please report bugs to cadp@inria.fr.


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