What does this research mean for the field?

CompCert eliminates the risk of system malfunctions due to miscompilation bugs in safety-critical avionics software. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to demonstrate the use of CompCert in qualifying avionics software for safety standards.

February 19, 2026Open Access

Qualifying CompCert for Safety-Critical Avionics Software

Key Points

The aim is to demonstrate the use of CompCert in qualifying avionics software for safety standards.
Outlining the qualification strategy used at Airbus for CompCert application.
Describing the application context in critical avionics software.
Comparing CompCert qualification to traditional compiler certification methods.
CompCert eliminates risks of system malfunctions due to miscompilation bugs.
Safety properties are guaranteed to hold for the executable code as verified on the source code.
Illustrates advantages of using CompCert over traditional compiler qualification methods.

Abstract

CompCert is the first commercially available optimizing compiler which has been formally verified. The executable code it produces is proved to behave exactly as specified by the semantics of the source C program. As a consequence, the risk of system malfunctions due to miscompilation bugs can be considered eliminated. The correctness proof of CompCert C guarantees that all safety properties verified on the source code automatically hold for the executable object code as well. In this article we will outline the qualification strategy which is used at Airbus to apply CompCert in critical avionics software in compliance to DO-178C, DO-333, and DO-330. We will describe the application context and illustrate the advantages compared to the traditional way of qualifying and certifying compilers that has been used in the past.

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