FLOSS-FM & OpenCert 2008 Joint Workshop @OOS'08

FLOSS-FM & OpenCert 2008 Joint Workshop @OOS'08

[Luis Barbosa]

Apologies for cross-posting

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                       Call for Papers

                FLOSS-FM & OpenCert 2008 Joint Workshop

  OpenCert 2008: 2nd International Workshop on Foundations and  
Techniques for
                 OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE CERTIFICATION

  FLOSS-FM 2008: International Workshop on Foundations and Techniques
  bringing together Free/Libre Open Source Software and Formal Methods

                Milan, Italy - 10 September 2008
                  Satellite Event of OSS 2008

                  http://opencert.iist.unu.edu/
                  http://floss-fm.it.uc3m.es/

              Submission deadline: 7 June, 2008

OBJECTIVES

  The aim of this joint workshop is to bring together researchers from
  academia and industry who are broadly interested in (1) the quality
  assessment of open source projects, ultimately leading to the  
establishment
  of a complete certification process; (2) the application of open  
source
  technologies and techniques to the Formal Methods world, and
  conversely, in developing formal methods for use in conjunction with
  open source projects.


BACKGROUND

  Over the last decade, the importance of open source software has
  increased dramatically, some of the reasons behind the increase being:

  - the outstanding success of flagship open source projects, notably  
the
    Linux operating system, the Apache web server and the Mozilla Web
    browser;

  - the movement by local, regional and national governments
    throughout the world toward the use of open source software in their
    administrative processes in order to reduce reliance on proprietary
    formats and software and thereby achieve greater control over
    security;

  - the fact that the use of open source software often leads to
    substantial cost savings;

  - the fact that in resource-poor environments, open source development
    generally constitutes a more appropriate technology than similar or
    equivalent proprietary offerings.

  Moreover, open source development brings novel sociological and
  economic advances, notably collaborative context and worth based on
  availability rather than exclusivity.  Formal Methods developers have
  as much to gain as anyone from this changing socio-economic landscape.

  Yet other characteristics of open source software - its pervasiveness,
  an unconventional development model, the permanent public availability
  of legacy code, rapid evolution, mean that

  - it is hard to objectively assess the quality of an open source
    project at any particular moment;

  - open source projects are hard to control or predict

  and thus open source software is not only an opportunity but also a
  challenge for Formal Methods practitioners.  It can appear a risk in
  the security-sensitive domains that traditionally have been the
  preserve of Formal Methods.

  A standard approach to reducing such a risk is to establish an
  independent certification process.  However, today we lack standards
  and methods by which to certify the quality of open source software.

  The FLOSS-FM part of the joint workshop will treat themes which deal
  with the conjunction of open source software and Formal Methods in any
  way, such as the development of formal methods tools via or
  incorporating open source software, or formal methods aimed at open
  source, or models and techniques that treat of the two areas in  
synergy
  with each other.

  The OpenCert part of the joint workshop will focus in particular on
  model-based techniques and formal methods that appear promising for  
the
  facilitation of open source certification, as well as on empirical  
studies,
  case studies.

  We will accept both foundational papers and practical reports,
  including case studies and tool presentations.  Areas to address  
include:

  - Formal Methods tools constructed using open source tools or
    incorporating open source components or development techniques;

  - open source projects using formal methods in their development, or
    whose processes or products have been verified, evaluated or modeled
    using formal methods

  - new and/or existing formal methods and/or tools which are  
particularly
    suited to open source contexts, and/or experience with them;

  - new and/or existing certification processes and tools suitable for
    open source contexts, and/or experience with them;

  - foundational and methodological contributions in these areas;

  - position papers relative to the above;

  - tools and case studies that integrate techniques from
    different areas, such as

    . product and process certification
    . formal modelling
    . formal verification: model checking & theorem proving
    . reverse engineering
    . static analysis, testing and inspection
    . safety and security
    . language design and evolving systems
    . empirical software engineering

  which aim to overcome the challenges to assessment and certification
  for open source software or the secure application of open source
  techniques to Formal Methods.

  The one-day workshop will feature keynote speakers and contributed
  paper presentations.  All submitted papers will undergo a peer-review
  process.  Accepted papers will be electronically published with ISBN
  number.  Detailed information on the submission procedure will be
  available on the conference website.  Publication of a selection of  
the
  papers in a special issue of a journal is also under consideration.

  Papers not specifically directed to one of FLOSS-FM or OpenCert  
will be
  assigned by the Program Committee to one or the other.


  SUBMISSION

  Submissions to the joint workshop must not have been published or be
  concurrently considered for publication elsewhere.  All submissions
  will be judged on the basis of originality, contribution to the field,
  technical and presentation quality, and relevance to the workshop.
  Papers should be written in English and not exceed 16 pages and
  prepared using the format available at

    http://oss2008.dti.unimi.it/index.php?id=authorKit.htm

  Detailed information on the submission procedure is available on
  the workshop websites. All enquiries should be sent to one of (these
  list addresses have the same recipients):

    mailto: floss-fm@inv.it.uc3m.es, opencert@iist.unu.edu


  IMPORTANT DATES

   - Submission deadline: 7 June, 2008
   - Acceptance notification: 24 June, 2008
   - Final version due: 6 July, 2008


  ORGANISERS

   Luis Barbosa         University of Minho, Portugal
   Peter Breuer         University of Birmingham, UK
   Antonio Cerone       United Nations University, Macau SAR China
   Simon Pickin         University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain