Experiences from Exporting Major Proof Assistant Libraries
This work addresses the problem of interoperability for theorem proving systems, which is incremental as it builds on prior translation efforts.
The authors tackled the challenge of translating libraries from multiple proof assistants (Coq, HOL Light, IMPS, Isabelle, Mizar, PVS) into a universal OMDoc/MMT format, encountering theoretical, technical, and social obstacles, and they surveyed and evaluated their solutions to these issues.
The interoperability of proof assistants and the integration of their libraries is a highly valued but elusive goal in the field of theorem proving. As a preparatory step, in previous work, we translated the libraries of multiple proof assistants, specifically the ones of Coq, HOL Light, IMPS, Isabelle, Mizar, and PVS into a universal format: OMDoc/MMT. Each translation presented tremendous theoretical, technical, and social challenges, some universal and some system-specific, some solvable and some still open. In this paper, we survey these challenges and compare and evaluate the solutions we chose. We believe similar library translations will be an essential part of any future system interoperability solution and our experiences will prove valuable to others undertaking such efforts.