Cppcheck is an analysis tool for C/C++ code. It provides unique code analysis to detect bugs and focuses on detecting undefined behaviour and dangerous coding constructs. The goal is to detect only real errors in the code, and generate as few false positives (wrongly reported warnings) as possible. Cppcheck is designed to analyze your C/C++ code even if it has non-standard syntax, as is common in for example embedded projects.
Supported code and platforms:
The checks in Cppcheck are not perfect. There are bugs that should be found, that Cppcheck fails to detect.
The kinds of bugs that you can find with static analysis are:
There are many bugs that you can not find with static analysis. Static analysis tools do not have human knowledge about what your program is intended to do. If the output from your program is valid but unexpected then in most cases this is not detected by static analysis tools. For instance, if your small program writes “Helo” on the screen instead of “Hello” it is unlikely that any tool will complain about that.
Static analysis should be used as a complement in your quality assurance. It does not replace any of;
It is not required but creating a new project file is a good first step. There are a few options you can tweak to get good results.
In the project settings dialog, the first option you see is “Import project”. It is recommended that you use this feature if you can. Cppcheck can import:
When you have filled out the project settings and clicked on OK, the Cppcheck analysis will start.
Here is some simple code:
int main()
{
char a[10];
a[10] = 0;
return 0;
}If you save that into file1.c and execute:
cppcheck file1.cThe output from Cppcheck will then be:
Checking file1.c...
[file1.c:4]: (error) Array 'a[10]' index 10 out of boundsNormally a program has many source files. Cppcheck can check all source files in a directory:
cppcheck pathIf “path” is a folder, then Cppcheck will recursively check all source files in this folder:
Checking path/file1.cpp...
1/2 files checked 50% done
Checking path/file2.cpp...
2/2 files checked 100% doneWith Cppcheck you can check files manually by specifying files/paths to check and settings. Or you can use a build environment, such as CMake or Visual Studio.
We don’t know which approach (project file or manual configuration) will give you the best results. It is recommended that you try both. It is possible that you will get different results so that to find the largest amount of bugs you need to use both approaches. Later chapters will describe this in more detail.
With --file-filter=<str> you can set a file filter and only those files matching the filter will be checked.
For example: if you want to check only those files and folders starting from a subfolder src/ that start with “test” you have to type:
cppcheck src/ --file-filter=src/test*Cppcheck first collects all files in src/ and will apply the filter after that. So the filter must start with the given start folder.
To exclude a file or folder, there are two options. The first option is to only provide the paths and files you want to check:
cppcheck src/a src/bAll files under src/a and src/b are then checked.
The second option is to use -i, which specifies the files/paths to ignore. With this command no files in src/c are checked:
cppcheck -isrc/c srcThis option is only valid when supplying an input directory. To ignore multiple directories supply the -i flag for each directory individually. The following command ignores both the src/b and src/c directories:
cppcheck -isrc/b -isrc/cBy default Cppcheck uses an internal C/C++ parser. However there is an experimental option to use the Clang parser instead.
Install clang. Then use Cppcheck option --clang.
Technically, Cppcheck will execute clang with its -ast-dump option. The Clang output is then imported and converted into the normal Cppcheck format. And then normal Cppcheck analysis is performed on that.
You can also pass a custom Clang executable to the option by using for example --clang=clang-10. You can also pass it with a path. On Windows it will append the .exe extension unless you use a path.
The possible severities for messages are:
error
when code is executed there is either undefined behavior or other error, such as a memory leak or resource leak
warning
when code is executed there might be undefined behavior
style
stylistic issues, such as unused functions, redundant code, constness, operator precedence, possible mistakes.
performance
run time performance suggestions based on common knowledge, though it is not certain any measurable speed difference will be achieved by fixing these messages.
portability
portability warnings. Implementation defined behavior. 64-bit portability. Some undefined behavior that probably works “as you want”, etc.
information
configuration problems, which does not relate to the syntactical correctness, but the used Cppcheck configuration could be improved.
Cppcheck instantiates the templates in your code.
If your templates are recursive this can lead to slow analysis that uses a lot of memory. Cppcheck will write information messages when there are potential problems.
Example code:
template <int i>
void a()
{
a<i+1>();
}
void foo()
{
a<0>();
}Cppcheck output:
test.cpp:4:5: information: TemplateSimplifier: max template recursion (100) reached for template 'a<101>'. You might want to limit Cppcheck recursion. [templateRecursion]
a<i+1>();
^As you can see Cppcheck has instantiated a<i+1> until a<101> was reached and then it bails out.
To limit template recursion you can:
Example code with template specialisation:
template <int i>
void a()
{
a<i+1>();
}
void foo()
{
a<0>();
}
#ifdef __cppcheck__
template<> void a<3>() {}
#endifYou can pass -D__cppcheck__ when checking this code.
Using a Cppcheck build folder is not mandatory but it is recommended.
Cppcheck save analyzer information in that folder.
The advantages are;
On the command line you configure that through --cppcheck-build-dir=path. Example:
mkdir b
cppcheck --cppcheck-build-dir=b src # <- All files are analyzed
cppcheck --cppcheck-build-dir=b src # <- Faster! Results of unchanged files are reusedIn the GUI it is configured in the project settings.
You can import some project files and build configurations into Cppcheck.
You can import and use Cppcheck GUI project files in the command line tool:
cppcheck --project=foobar.cppcheckThe Cppcheck GUI has a few options that are not available in the command line directly. To use these options you can import a GUI project file. The command line tool usage is kept intentionally simple and the options are therefore limited.
To ignore certain folders in the project you can use -i. This will skip the analysis of source files in the foo folder.
cppcheck --project=foobar.cppcheck -ifooGenerate a compile database:
cmake -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON .The file compile_commands.json is created in the current folder. Now run Cppcheck like this:
cppcheck --project=compile_commands.jsonTo ignore certain folders you can use -i. This will skip analysis of source files in the foo folder.
cppcheck --project=compile_commands.json -ifooYou can run Cppcheck on individual project files (*.vcxproj) or on a whole solution (*.sln)
Running Cppcheck on an entire Visual Studio solution:
cppcheck --project=foobar.slnRunning Cppcheck on a Visual Studio project:
cppcheck --project=foobar.vcxprojBoth options will analyze all available configurations in the project(s). Limiting on a single configuration:
cppcheck --project=foobar.sln "--project-configuration=Release|Win32"In the Cppcheck GUI you have the option to only analyze a single debug configuration. If you want to use this option on the command line, then create a Cppcheck GUI project with this activated and then import the GUI project file on the command line.
To ignore certain folders in the project you can use -i. This will skip analysis of source files in the foo folder.
cppcheck --project=foobar.vcxproj -ifooRunning Cppcheck on a C++ Builder 6 project:
cppcheck --project=foobar.bprTo ignore certain folders in the project you can use -i. This will skip analysis of source files in the foo folder.
cppcheck --project=foobar.bpr -ifooIf you can generate a compile database, then it is possible to import that in Cppcheck.
In Linux you can use for instance the bear (build ear) utility to generate a compile database from arbitrary build tools:
bear -- makeIf you use --project then Cppcheck will automatically use the preprocessor settings in the imported project file and likely you don’t have to configure anything extra.
If you don’t use --project then a bit of manual preprocessor configuration might be required. However Cppcheck has automatic configuration of defines.
Cppcheck automatically test different combinations of preprocessor defines to achieve as high coverage in the analysis as possible.
Here is a file that has 3 bugs (when x,y,z are assigned).
#ifdef A
x=100/0;
#ifdef B
y=100/0;
#endif
#else
z=100/0;
#endif
#ifndef C
#error C must be defined
#endifThe flag -D tells Cppcheck that a name is defined. There will be no Cppcheck analysis without this define. The flag -U tells Cppcheck that a name is not defined. There will be no Cppcheck analysis with this define. The flag --force and --max-configs is used to control how many combinations are checked. When -D is used, Cppcheck will only check 1 configuration unless these are used.
Example:
cppcheck test.c => test all configurations => all bugs are found
cppcheck -DA test.c => only test configuration "-DA" => No bug is found (#error)
cppcheck -DA -DC test.c => only test configuration "-DA -DC" => The first bug is found
cppcheck -UA test.c => The configuration "-DC" is tested => The last bug is found
cppcheck --force -DA test.c => All configurations with "-DA" are tested => The two first bugs are foundTo add an include path, use -I, followed by the path.
Cppcheck’s preprocessor basically handles includes like any other preprocessor. However, while other preprocessors stop working when they encounter a missing header, Cppcheck will just print an information message and continues parsing the code.
The purpose of this behaviour is that Cppcheck is meant to work without necessarily seeing the entire code. Actually, it is recommended to not give all include paths. While it is useful for Cppcheck to see the declaration of a class when checking the implementation of its members, passing standard library headers is discouraged, because the analysis will not work fully and lead to a longer checking time. For such cases, .cfg files are the preferred way to provide information about the implementation of functions and types to Cppcheck, see below for more information.
You should use a platform configuration that matches your target environment.
By default Cppcheck uses native platform configuration that works well if your code is compiled and executed locally.
Cppcheck has builtin configurations for Unix and Windows targets. You can easily use these with the --platform command line flag.
You can also create your own custom platform configuration in a XML file. Here is an example:
<?xml version="1"?>
<platform>
<char_bit>8</char_bit>
<default-sign>signed</default-sign>
<sizeof>
<short>2</short>
<int>4</int>
<long>4</long>
<long-long>8</long-long>
<float>4</float>
<double>8</double>
<long-double>12</long-double>
<pointer>4</pointer>
<size_t>4</size_t>
<wchar_t>2</wchar_t>
</sizeof>
</platform>Use --std on the command line to specify a C/C++ standard.
Cppcheck assumes that the code is compatible with the latest C/C++ standard, but it is possible to override this.
The available options are:
It’s a good idea to use a Cppcheck build dir. On the command line use --cppcheck-build-dir. In the GUI, the build dir is configured in the project options.
Rechecking code will be much faster. Cppcheck does not analyse unchanged code. The old warnings are loaded from the build dir and reported again.
Whole program analysis does not work when multiple threads are used; unless you use a cppcheck build dir. For instance, the unusedFunction warnings require whole program analysis.
If you want to filter out certain errors from being generated, then it is possible to suppress these.
If you encounter a false positive, then please report it to the Cppcheck team so that it can be fixed.
The format for an error suppression is one of:
[error id]:[filename]:[line]
[error id]:[filename2]
[error id]The error id is the id that you want to suppress. The id of a warning is shown in brackets in the normal cppcheck text output. The suppression error id may contain * to match any sequence of tokens.
The filename may include the wildcard characters * or ?, which matches any sequence of characters or any single character respectively. It is recommended to use forward-slash / as path separator on all operating systems. The filename must match the filename in the reported warning exactly. For instance, if the warning contains a relative path, then the suppression must match that relative path.
The --suppress= command line option is used to specify suppressions on the command line. Example:
cppcheck --suppress=memleak:src/file1.cpp src/You can create a suppressions file for example as follows:
// suppress memleak and exceptNew errors in the file src/file1.cpp
memleak:src/file1.cpp
exceptNew:src/file1.cpp
uninitvar // suppress all uninitvar errors in all filesNote that you may add empty lines and comments in the suppressions file. Comments must start with # or // and be at the start of the line, or after the suppression line.
The usage of the suppressions file is as follows:
cppcheck --suppressions-list=suppressions.txt src/You can specify suppressions in a XML file, for example as follows:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<suppressions>
<suppress>
<id>uninitvar</id>
<fileName>src/file1.c</fileName>
<lineNumber>10</lineNumber>
<symbolName>var</symbolName>
</suppress>
</suppressions>The XML format is extensible and may be extended with further attributes in the future.
The usage of the suppressions file is as follows:
cppcheck --suppress-xml=suppressions.xml src/Suppressions can also be added directly in the code by adding comments that contain special keywords. Note that adding comments sacrifices the readability of the code somewhat.
This code will normally generate an error message:
void f() {
char arr[5];
arr[10] = 0;
}The output is:
cppcheck test.c
[test.c:3]: (error) Array 'arr[5]' index 10 out of boundsTo activate inline suppressions:
cppcheck --inline-suppr test.cYou can suppress a warning aaaa with:
// cppcheck-suppress aaaaSuppressing multiple ids in one comment by using []:
// cppcheck-suppress [aaaa, bbbb]Suppressing warnings aaaa on a block of code:
// cppcheck-suppress-begin aaaa
...
// cppcheck-suppress-end aaaaSuppressing multiple ids on a block of code:
// cppcheck-suppress-begin [aaaa, bbbb]
...
// cppcheck-suppress-end [aaaa, bbbb]Suppressing warnings aaaa for a whole file:
// cppcheck-suppress-file aaaaSuppressing multiple ids for a whole file:
// cppcheck-suppress-file [aaaa, bbbb]Suppressing warnings aaaa where macro is used:
// cppcheck-suppress-macro aaaa
#define MACRO ...
...
x = MACRO; // <- aaaa warnings are suppressed hereSuppressing multiple ids where macro is used:
// cppcheck-suppress-macro [aaaa, bbbb]
#define MACRO ...
...
x = MACRO; // <- aaaa and bbbb warnings are suppressed hereThe comment can be put before the code or at the same line as the code.
Before the code:
void f() {
char arr[5];
// cppcheck-suppress arrayIndexOutOfBounds
arr[10] = 0;
}Or at the same line as the code:
void f() {
char arr[5];
arr[10] = 0; // cppcheck-suppress arrayIndexOutOfBounds
}In this example there are 2 lines with code and 1 suppression comment. The suppression comment only applies to 1 line: a = b + c;.
void f() {
a = b + c; // cppcheck-suppress abc
d = e + f;
}As a special case for backwards compatibility, if you have a { on its own line and a suppression comment after that, then that will suppress warnings for both the current and next line. This example will suppress abc warnings both for { and for a = b + c;:
void f()
{ // cppcheck-suppress abc
a = b + c;
}For a line of code there might be several warnings you want to suppress.
There are several options;
Using 2 suppression comments before code:
void f() {
char arr[5];
// cppcheck-suppress arrayIndexOutOfBounds
// cppcheck-suppress zerodiv
arr[10] = arr[10] / 0;
}Using 1 suppression comment before the code:
void f() {
char arr[5];
// cppcheck-suppress[arrayIndexOutOfBounds,zerodiv]
arr[10] = arr[10] / 0;
}Suppression comment on the same line as the code:
void f() {
char arr[5];
arr[10] = arr[10] / 0; // cppcheck-suppress[arrayIndexOutOfBounds,zerodiv]
}You can specify that the inline suppression only applies to a specific symbol:
// cppcheck-suppress aaaa symbolName=arrOr:
// cppcheck-suppress[aaaa symbolName=arr, bbbb]You can write comments about a suppression as follows:
// cppcheck-suppress[warningid] some comment
// cppcheck-suppress warningid ; some comment
// cppcheck-suppress warningid // some commentCppcheck can generate output in XML format. Use --xml to enable this format.
A sample command to check a file and output errors in the XML format:
cppcheck --xml file1.cppHere is a sample report:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<results version="2">
<cppcheck version="1.66"/>
<errors>
<error id="someError" severity="error" msg="short error text"
verbose="long error text" inconclusive="true" cwe="312">
<location file0="file.c" file="file.h" line="1"/>
</error>
</errors>
</results><error> elementEach error is reported in a <error> element. Attributes:
id
id of error, and which are valid symbolnames
severity
error/warning/style/performance/portability/information
msg
the error message in short format
verbose
the error message in long format
inconclusive
this attribute is only used when the error message is inconclusive
cwe
CWE ID for the problem; note that this attribute is only used when the CWE ID for the message is known
remark
Optional attribute. The related remark/justification from a remark comment.
<location> elementAll locations related to an error are listed with <location> elements. The primary location is listed first.
Attributes:
file
filename, both relative and absolute paths are possible
file0
name of the source file (optional)
line
line number
info
short information for each location (optional)
If you want to reformat the output so that it looks different, then you can use templates.
To get Visual Studio compatible output you can use –template=vs:
cppcheck --template=vs samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.cThis output will look like this:
Checking samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.c ...
samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.c(6): error: Array 'a[2]' accessed at index 2, which is out of bounds.To get gcc compatible output you can use –template=gcc:
cppcheck --template=gcc samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.cThe output will look like this:
Checking samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.c ...
samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.c:6:6: warning: Array 'a[2]' accessed at index 2, which is out of bounds. [arrayIndexOutOfBounds]
a[2] = 0;
^You can write your own pattern. For instance, to get warning messages that are formatted like traditional gcc, then the following format can be used:
cppcheck --template="{file}:{line}: {severity}: {message}" samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.cThe output will then look like this:
Checking samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.c ...
samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.c:6: error: Array 'a[2]' accessed at index 2, which is out of bounds.A comma separated format:
cppcheck --template="{file},{line},{severity},{id},{message}" samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.cThe output will look like this:
Checking samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.c ...
samples/arrayIndexOutOfBounds/bad.c,6,error,arrayIndexOutOfBounds,Array 'a[2]' accessed at index 2, which is out of bounds.Many warnings have multiple locations. Example code:
void f(int *p)
{
*p = 3; // line 3
}
int main()
{
int *p = 0; // line 8
f(p); // line 9
return 0;
}There is a possible null pointer dereference at line 3. Cppcheck can show how it came to that conclusion by showing extra location information. You need to use both –template and –template-location at the command line, for example:
cppcheck --template="{file}:{line}: {severity}: {message}\n{code}" --template-location="{file}:{line}: note: {info}\n{code}" multiline.cThe output from Cppcheck is:
Checking multiline.c ...
multiline.c:3: warning: Possible null pointer dereference: p
*p = 3;
^
multiline.c:8: note: Assignment 'p=0', assigned value is 0
int *p = 0;
^
multiline.c:9: note: Calling function 'f', 1st argument 'p' value is 0
f(p);
^
multiline.c:3: note: Null pointer dereference
*p = 3;
^The first line in the warning is formatted by the –template format.
The other lines in the warning are formatted by the –template-location format.
The available specifiers for –template are:
{file}
File name
{line}
Line number
{column}
Column number
{callstack}
Write all locations. Each location is written in [{file}:{line}] format and the locations are separated by ->. For instance it might look like: [multiline.c:8] -> [multiline.c:9] -> [multiline.c:3]
{inconclusive:text}
If warning is inconclusive, then the given text is written. The given text can be any text that does not contain }. Example: {inconclusive:inconclusive,}
{severity}
error/warning/style/performance/portability/information
{message}
The warning message
{id}
Warning id
{remark}
The remark text if a remark comment has been provided
{code}
The real code
\t
Tab
\n
Newline
\r
Carriage return
The available specifiers for --template-location are:
{file}
File name
{line}
Line number
{column}
Column number
{info}
Information message about the current location
{code}
The real code
\t
Tab
\n
Newline
\r
Carriage return
You can add remark comments in the source code that justify why there is a warning/violation.
Such a remark comment shall: * start with REMARK. * can either be added above the source code that generates the warning, or after the code on the same line.
Example code:
void foo(void) {
// REMARK Initialize x with 0
int x = 0;
}In Cppcheck text output the remarks are not shown by default, you can use --template option {remark} to show remarks:
$ ./cppcheck --enable=style --template="{file}:{line}: {message} [{id}]\\n{remark}" test1.c
Checking test1.c ...
test1.c:4: Variable 'x' is assigned a value that is never used. [unreadVariable]
Initialize x with 0In xml output the comment text is provided in a “remark” attribute:
$ ./cppcheck --enable=style --xml test1.c
....
remark="Initialize x with 0"
....Addons are scripts that analyse Cppcheck dump files to check compatibility with secure coding standards and to locate issues.
Cppcheck is distributed with a few addons which are listed below.
misra.py is used to verify compliance with MISRA C 2012, a proprietary set of guidelines to avoid questionable code, developed for embedded systems.
This standard is proprietary, and open source tools are not allowed to distribute the Misra rule texts. Therefore Cppcheck is not allowed to write the rule texts directly. Cppcheck is allowed to distribute the rules and display the id of each violated rule (for example, [c2012-21.3]). The corresponding rule text can also be written however you need to provide that. To get the rule texts, please buy the PDF from MISRA (https://www.misra.org.uk). If you copy the rule texts from “Appendix A - Summary of guidelines” in the PDF and write those in a text file, then by using that text file Cppcheck can write the proper warning messages. To see how the text file can be formatted, take a look at the files listed here: https://github.com/danmar/cppcheck/blob/main/addons/test/misra/. You can use the option --rule-texts to specify your rules text file.
The full list of supported rules is available on Cppcheck home page.
y2038.py checks Linux systems for year 2038 problem safety. This required modified environment. See complete description here.
threadsafety.py analyses Cppcheck dump files to locate thread safety issues like static local objects used by multiple threads.
Addons could be run through Cppcheck command line utility as follows:
cppcheck --addon=misra.py somefile.cThis will launch all Cppcheck checks and additionally calls specific checks provided by selected addon.
Some addons need extra arguments. You can configure how you want to execute an addon in a json file. For example put this in misra.json:
{
"script": "misra.py",
"args": [
"--rule-texts=misra.txt"
]
}And then the configuration can be executed on the Cppcheck command line:
cppcheck --addon=misra.json somefile.cBy default Cppcheck would search addon at the standard path which was specified during the installation process. You also can set this path directly, for example:
cppcheck --addon=/opt/cppcheck/configurations/my_misra.json somefile.cThis allows you to create and manage multiple configuration files for different projects.
When external libraries are used, such as WinAPI, POSIX, gtk, Qt, etc, Cppcheck has no information about functions, types, or macros contained in those libraries. Cppcheck then fails to detect various problems in the code, or might even abort the analysis. But this can be fixed by using the appropriate configuration files.
Cppcheck already contains configurations for several libraries. They can be loaded as described below. Note that the configuration for the standard libraries of C and C++, std.cfg, is always loaded by cppcheck. If you create or update a configuration file for a popular library, we would appreciate if you supplied it to the cppcheck project.
To use a .cfg file shipped with cppcheck, pass the --library=<lib> option. The table below shows the currently existing libraries: | .cfg file | Library | Comment | | ————- | ————- | ————- | | avr.cfg | | | bento4.cfg | Bento4 | | boost.cfg | Boost| | bsd.cfg | BSD | | cairo.cfg | cairo | | cppcheck-lib.cfg | Cppcheck | Used in selfcheck of the Cppcheck code base | cppunit.cfg | CppUnit | | dpdk.cfg | | | embedded_sql.cfg | | | emscripten.cfg | | | ginac.cfg | | | gnu.cfg | GNU | | googletest.cfg | GoogleTest | | gtk.cfg | GTK | | icu.cfg | | | kde.cfg | KDE | | libcerror.cfg | libcerror | | libcurl.cfg | libcurl | | libsigc++.cfg | libsigc++ | | lua.cfg | | | mfc.cfg | MFC | | microsoft_atl.cfg | ATL | | microsoft_sal.cfg | SAL annotations | | microsoft_unittest.cfg | CppUnitTest | | motif.cfg | | | nspr.cfg | | | ntl.cfg | | | opencv2.cfg | OpenCV | | opengl.cfg | OpenGL | | openmp.cfg | OpenMP | | openssl.cfg | OpenSSL | | pcre.cfg | PCRE | | posix.cfg | POSIX | | python.cfg | | | qt.cfg | Qt | | ruby.cfg | | | sdl.cfg | | | sfml.cfg | | | sqlite3.cfg | SQLite | | std.cfg | C/C++ standard library | Loaded by default | tinyxml2.cfg | TinyXML-2 | | vcl.cfg | | | windows.cfg | Win32 API | | wxsqlite3.cfg | | | wxsvg.cfg | | | wxwidgets.cfg | wxWidgets | | zephyr.cfg | | | zlib.cfg | zlib |
You can create and use your own .cfg files for your projects. Use --check-library to get hints about what you should configure.
You can use the Library Editor in the Cppcheck GUI to edit configuration files. It is available in the View menu.
The .cfg file format is documented in the Reference: Cppcheck .cfg format (https://cppcheck.sourceforge.io/reference-cfg-format.pdf) document.
You can convert the XML output from Cppcheck into a HTML report. You’ll need Python and the pygments module (http://pygments.org/) for this to work. In the Cppcheck source tree there is a folder htmlreport that contains a script that transforms a Cppcheck XML file into HTML output.
This command generates the help screen:
htmlreport/cppcheck-htmlreport -hThe output screen says:
Usage: cppcheck-htmlreport [options]
Options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--file=FILE The cppcheck xml output file to read defects from.
Default is reading from stdin.
--report-dir=REPORT_DIR
The directory where the html report content is written.
--source-dir=SOURCE_DIR
Base directory where source code files can be found.Example usage:
./cppcheck gui/test.cpp --xml 2> err.xml
htmlreport/cppcheck-htmlreport --file=err.xml --report-dir=test1 --source-dir=.The “normal” check level is chosen by default. Our aim is that this checking level will provide an effective checking in “reasonable” time.
The “normal” check level should be useful during active development: * checking files while you edit them. * block changes to the repo * etc
When you can wait longer for the results you can enable the “exhaustive” checking, by using the option --check-level=exhaustive.
Exhaustive checking level should be useful for scenarios where you can wait for results. For instance: * nightly builds * etc
For performance reasons it might be a good idea to limit preprocessor configurations to check.
The command line option --performance-valueflow-max-if-count adjusts the max count for number of if in a function.
When that limit is exceeded there is a limitation of data flow in that function. It is not drastic: * Analysis of other functions are not affected. * It’s only for some specific data flow analysis, we have data flow analysis that is always executed. * All checks are always executed. There can still be plenty of warnings in the limited function.
There is data flow analysis that slows down exponentially when number of if increase. And the limit is intended to avoid that analysis time explodes.
In the GUI there are various options to limit analysis.
In the GUI: * Open the project dialog. * In the “Analysis” tab there are several options.
If you want to use these limitations on the command line also you can import the GUI project file with –project.
This is analysis that is more noisy than normal analysis. Most warnings will be false positives (cppcheck will wrongly claim that there are bugs). The design goal is to not have more than roughly 5 - 10 false positives in each file.
It is not intended to be used in normal CI or regular static analysis by developers. The noise makes it useless for that.
It is intended to be used when you are looking for bugs and you really can accept noise. For example: * You have developed a brand new feature and want to ensure that there are no bugs. * Maybe as part of release testing your product you can run bug hunting on modified files. * Etc
Technically, analysis that is “sound” will detect all bugs. Analysis that is “soundy” has the goal to detect most bugs and it tries to keep the noise at an reasonable level.
The Cppcheck bug hunting analysis is “soundy”.
Command:
cppcheck --premium=bughunting ....Command to active Autosar checkers:
cppcheck --premium=autosar ....Command to active Cert C checkers:
cppcheck --premium=cert-c ....Command to active Cert C++ checkers:
cppcheck --premium=cert-c++ ....Command to active Misra C++ 2008 checkers:
cppcheck --premium=misra-c++-2008 ....A license that is connected to your computer. You can check any code you want.
A license that allows you to run cppcheck on a limited number of lines of code. It can only be used for certain licensed paths in a repository.
Commands:
cd check-path
# Calculate lines of code and validate the license
premiumaddon --check-loc-license some-path/license-file > cppcheck-premium-loc
# Run cppcheck analysis
cppcheck <usual cppcheck parameters>