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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The compiled kernel is available for Windows, Linux, Sun, and MacOS. The kernel is written in standard C.
In order to use the graphical interface it is necessary to install Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 1.3.1 or above. If you don't have it, you can always use the kernel via command line (use the option --help for all the details).
To view the graphical representation of the processes under analysis it is necessary to install Graphviz. Again it is non necessary, but it is useful.
We recall that JRE, Graphviz, and CoPS are free.
INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION INSTRUCTIONS
We give four different binary versions of the tool: 1 CoPS.zip (for Windows) and 3 CoPS.tgz (for Linux, Sun, and MacOS). Download the file you need and uncompress it where you prefer. It contains one directory (named CoPS) with two files:
- checker (or checker.exe on Windows): the kernel of CoPS;
- copsgui.jar: the Java jar package of the CoPS graphical interface. To use it you need Java Runtime Environment 1.3.1 (or above). To launch the graphical interface execute the command java -jar copsgui.jar from command prompt. If you have not the java.exe (or java on non Windows systems) file path on your predefined path, you must specified it. For example c:\jre1.3.1\bin\java -jar copsgui.jar.
Graphviz bin directory must be in the default path (Graphviz installation usually does this for you). Otherwise you need to set the path of the dot executable file in the settings from the Edit|Settings... menu. Similarly you can set the checker's path, if you move it from the CoPS' directory.
If you are using Windows and you prefer to click&go, download the setup program. This provides you with a menu icons group in the program menu, .spa files associated with CoPS, and an uninstall program.
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS
We suggest you to use at least the JRE version 1.4.2, otherwise you can have problems because of the bug reported by Sun here (id 4762039). In this case you will find a log file with the error. In JRE 1.4.2 the bug has been fixed.
You can use CoPS without Graphviz. In this case remember to remove the check "Generate graph image" from the settings (menu Edit|Settings...) or to specify the parameter -nog if you are using CoPS via command line. If you use Graphviz, the output graphs are stored in temporary files (outputGraph.*) by CoPS. Notice that the graph image can be exponential in the size of the process. However, you can always disable the graph generation from the settings (menu Edit|Settings...).
The SPA language allows to define infinite states system. In this case CoPS can loop or carry out a memory overflow error. You can always stop the execution by clicking the stop button on the toolbar.
The configurations are saved into the file checker.props. If you delete it all the settings return to default values.
If you do not know the function of one toolbar's button, bring your mouse pointer over it and wait for view the tooltip.
One last advice: save your files with .spa extension.