IFRit

Abstract

We propose a new algorithm for dynamic data-race detection. Our algorithm reports no false positives and runs on arbitrary C and C++ code. Unlike previous algorithms, we do not have to instrument every memory access or track a full happens-before relation. Our data-race detector, which we call IFRit, is based on a run-time abstraction called an interference-free region (IFR). An IFR is an interval of one thread's execution during which any write to a specific variable by a different thread is a data race. We insert instrumentation at compile time to monitor active IFRs at run-time. If the runtime observes overlapping IFRs for conflicting accesses to the same variable in two different threads, it reports a race. The static analysis aggregates information for multiple accesses to the same variable, avoiding the expense of having to instrument every memory access in the program.