[clean-list] Call for Papers: FLOSS-FM & OpenCert 2008 Joint Workshop

[Ralf Treinen]

(apologies if you have received this before)


                      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: June 7, 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

 Papers must be submitted electronically via:
   http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=flossfmopencert2008

 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_at_inv.it.uc3m.es, opencert_at_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