[SMT-LIB] your feedback on the future of SMT-COMP

[Tinelli, Cesare]

Dear members of the SMT community,

The Steering Committee of the SMT workshop, which is also in charge of appointing the organizers of SMT-COMP, seeks your input on the future of the competition.

Two of the SMT-COMP organizers, Roberto Bruttomesso and Alberto Griggio, are stepping down this year, at the end of their two-year appointment. They have both been asked and have agreed to chair SMT'13, and so are not in a position to co-organize the next SMT-COMP.
While the other organizer, David Cok, is willing to continue for another year with the help of new partners, this seems like a good time to reassess SMT-COMP and discuss its future.

Although the benefits of SMT-COMP to the fields are undeniable, it appears that after 8 years a certain level of fatigue and diminished enthusiasm has set in. The barriers to entry for new solvers seems as high as they have ever been. Even for some established solvers and their developers participation in the competition has become quite onerous and offers unclear rewards, for a number of reasons.

So we would like to hear from you, and in particular of course from SMT solver developers, about whether we should 

- continue with SMT-COMP or not in the first place,
- keep it as an annual event or perhaps make it biennial and, 
  if so, starting when,
- change the format, the focus, or any other aspect of the competition 
  to make it more attractive/relevant/etc. to participants or "spectators".

Your feedback on this as well as expressions of interest in becoming an SMT-COMP organizer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,


Cesare, for the SMT SC