1<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" 2 "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> 3<html> 4<head> 5 <title>scan-build: running the analyzer from the command line</title> 6 <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="content.css"> 7 <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="menu.css"> 8 <script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/menu.js"></script> 9</head> 10<body> 11 12<div id="page"> 13<!--#include virtual="menu.html.incl"--> 14<div id="content"> 15 16<h1>scan-build: running the analyzer from the command line</h1> 17 18<table style="margin-top:0px" width="100%" cellpadding="0px" cellspacing="0"> 19<tr><td> 20 21<h3>What is it?</h3> 22<p><b>scan-build</b> is a command line utility that enables a user to run the 23static analyzer over their codebase as part of performing a regular build (from 24the command line).</p> 25 26<h3>How does it work?</h3> 27<p>During a project build, as source files are compiled they are also analyzed 28in tandem by the static analyzer.</p> 29 30<p>Upon completion of the build, results are then presented to the user within a 31web browser.</p> 32 33<h3>Will it work with any build system?</h3> 34<p><b>scan-build</b> has little or no knowledge about how you build your code. 35It works by overriding the <tt>CC</tt> and <tt>CXX</tt> environment variables to 36(hopefully) change your build to use a "fake" compiler instead of the 37one that would normally build your project. This fake compiler executes either 38<tt>clang</tt> or <tt>gcc</tt> (depending on the platform) to compile your 39code and then executes the static analyzer to analyze your code.</p> 40 41<p>This "poor man's interposition" works amazingly well in many cases 42and falls down in others. Please consult the information on this page on making 43the best use of <b>scan-build</b>, which includes getting it to work when the 44aforementioned hack fails to work.</p> 45 46</td> 47<td style="padding-left:10px; text-align:center"> 48 <img src="images/scan_build_cmd.png" width="450px" alt="scan-build"><br> 49 <a href="images/analyzer_html.png"><img src="images/analyzer_html.png" width="450px" alt="analyzer in browser"></a> 50<br><b>Viewing static analyzer results in a web browser</b> 51</td></tr></table> 52 53<h2>Contents</h2> 54 55<ul> 56<li><a href="#scanbuild">Getting Started</a> 57 <ul> 58 <li><a href="#scanbuild_basicusage">Basic Usage</a></li> 59 <li><a href="#scanbuild_forwindowsusers">For Windows Users</a></li> 60 <li><a href="#scanbuild_otheroptions">Other Options</a></li> 61 <li><a href="#scanbuild_output">Output of scan-build</a></li> 62 </ul> 63</li> 64<li><a href="#recommendedguidelines">Recommended Usage Guidelines</a> 65 <ul> 66 <li><a href="#recommended_debug">Always Analyze a Project in its "Debug" Configuration</a></li> 67 <li><a href="#recommended_verbose">Use Verbose Output when Debugging scan-build</a></li> 68 <li><a href="#recommended_autoconf">Run './configure' through scan-build</a></li> 69 </ul> 70</li> 71<li><a href="#iphone">Analyzing iPhone Projects</a></li> 72</ul> 73 74<h2 id="scanbuild">Getting Started</h2> 75 76<p>The <tt>scan-build</tt> command can be used to analyze an entire project by 77essentially interposing on a project's build process. This means that to run the 78analyzer using <tt>scan-build</tt>, you will use <tt>scan-build</tt> to analyze 79the source files compiled by <tt>gcc</tt>/<tt>clang</tt> during a project build. 80This means that any files that are not compiled will also not be analyzed.</p> 81 82<h3 id="scanbuild_basicusage">Basic Usage</h3> 83 84<p>Basic usage of <tt>scan-build</tt> is designed to be simple: just place the 85word "scan-build" in front of your build command:</p> 86 87<pre class="code_example"> 88$ <span class="code_highlight">scan-build</span> make 89$ <span class="code_highlight">scan-build</span> xcodebuild 90</pre> 91 92<p>In the first case <tt>scan-build</tt> analyzes the code of a project built 93with <tt>make</tt> and in the second case <tt>scan-build</tt> analyzes a project 94built using <tt>xcodebuild</tt>.<p> 95 96<p>Here is the general format for invoking <tt>scan-build</tt>:</p> 97 98<pre class="code_example"> 99$ <span class="code_highlight">scan-build</span> <i>[scan-build options]</i> <span class="code_highlight"><command></span> <i>[command options]</i> 100</pre> 101 102<p>Operationally, <tt>scan-build</tt> literally runs <command> with all of the 103subsequent options passed to it. For example, one can pass <tt>-j4</tt> to 104<tt>make</tt> get a parallel build over 4 cores:</p> 105 106<pre class="code_example"> 107$ scan-build make <span class="code_highlight">-j4</span> 108</pre> 109 110<p>In almost all cases, <tt>scan-build</tt> makes no effort to interpret the 111options after the build command; it simply passes them through. In general, 112<tt>scan-build</tt> should support parallel builds, but <b>not distributed 113builds</b>.</p> 114 115<p>It is also possible to use <tt>scan-build</tt> to analyze specific 116files:</p> 117 118<pre class="code_example"> 119 $ scan-build gcc -c <span class="code_highlight">t1.c t2.c</span> 120</pre> 121 122<p>This example causes the files <tt>t1.c</tt> and <tt>t2.c</tt> to be analyzed. 123</p> 124 125<h3 id="scanbuild_forwindowsusers">For Windows Users</h3> 126 127<p>Windows users must have Perl installed to use scan-build. Currently scan-build 128is known to work with the msys perl port.</p> 129 130<p>scan-build.bat script allows you to launch scan-build in the same way as it described in the Basic Usage section above. 131All you need to be able to invoke scan-build from an arbitrary location is to add the path to scan-build to your PATH environment variable.</p> 132 133<h3 id="scanbuild_otheroptions">Other Options</h3> 134 135<p>As mentioned above, extra options can be passed to <tt>scan-build</tt>. These 136options prefix the build command. For example:</p> 137 138<pre class="code_example"> 139 $ scan-build <span class="code_highlight">-k -V</span> make 140 $ scan-build <span class="code_highlight">-k -V</span> xcodebuild 141</pre> 142 143<p>Here is a subset of useful options:</p> 144 145<table class="options"> 146<colgroup><col class="option"><col class="description"></colgroup> 147<thead><tr><td>Option</td><td>Description</td></tr></thead> 148 149<tr><td><b>-o</b></td><td>Target directory for HTML report files. Subdirectories 150will be created as needed to represent separate "runs" of the analyzer. If this 151option is not specified, a directory is created in <tt>/tmp</tt> to store the 152reports.</td></tr> 153 154<tr><td><b>-h</b><br><i>(or no arguments)</i></td><td>Display all 155<tt>scan-build</tt> options.</td></tr> 156 157<tr><td><b>-k</b><br><b>--keep-going</b></td><td>Add a "keep on 158going" option to the specified build command. <p>This option currently supports 159<tt>make</tt> and <tt>xcodebuild</tt>.</p> <p>This is a convenience option; one 160can specify this behavior directly using build options.</p></td></tr> 161 162<tr><td><b>-v</b></td><td>Verbose output from scan-build and the analyzer. <b>A 163second and third "-v" increases verbosity</b>, and is useful for filing bug 164reports against the analyzer.</td></tr> 165 166<tr><td><b>-V</b></td><td>View analysis results in a web browser when the build 167command completes.</td></tr> 168 169<tr><td><b>--use-analyzer Xcode</b><br><i>or</i><br> 170<b>--use-analyzer [path to clang]</b></td><td><tt>scan-build</tt> uses the 171'clang' executable relative to itself for static analysis. One can override this 172behavior with this option by using the 'clang' packaged with Xcode (on OS X) or 173from the PATH.</p></td></tr> </table> 174 175<p>A complete list of options can be obtained by running <tt>scan-build</tt> 176with no arguments.</p> 177 178<h3 id="scanbuild_output">Output of scan-build</h3> 179 180<p> 181The output of scan-build is a set of HTML files, each one which represents a 182separate bug report. A single <tt>index.html</tt> file is generated for 183surveying all of the bugs. You can then just open <tt>index.html</tt> in a web 184browser to view the bug reports. 185</p> 186 187<p> 188Where the HTML files are generated is specified with a <b>-o</b> option to 189<tt>scan-build</tt>. If <b>-o</b> isn't specified, a directory in <tt>/tmp</tt> 190is created to store the files (<tt>scan-build</tt> will print a message telling 191you where they are). If you want to view the reports immediately after the build 192completes, pass <b>-V</b> to <tt>scan-build</tt>. 193</p> 194 195 196<h2 id="recommendedguidelines">Recommended Usage Guidelines</h2> 197 198<p>This section describes a few recommendations with running the analyzer.</p> 199 200<h3 id="recommended_debug">ALWAYS analyze a project in its "debug" configuration</h3> 201 202<p>Most projects can be built in a "debug" mode that enables assertions. 203Assertions are picked up by the static analyzer to prune infeasible paths, which 204in some cases can greatly reduce the number of false positives (bogus error 205reports) emitted by the tool.</p> 206 207<h3 id="recommend_verbose">Use verbose output when debugging scan-build</h3> 208 209<p><tt>scan-build</tt> takes a <b>-v</b> option to emit verbose output about 210what it's doing; two <b>-v</b> options emit more information. Redirecting the 211output of <tt>scan-build</tt> to a text file (make sure to redirect standard 212error) is useful for filing bug reports against <tt>scan-build</tt> or the 213analyzer, as we can see the exact options (and files) passed to the analyzer. 214For more comprehensible logs, don't perform a parallel build.</p> 215 216<h3 id="recommended_autoconf">Run './configure' through scan-build</h3> 217 218<p>If an analyzed project uses an autoconf generated <tt>configure</tt> script, 219you will probably need to run <tt>configure</tt> script through 220<tt>scan-build</tt> in order to analyze the project.</p> 221 222<p><b>Example</b></p> 223 224<pre class="code_example"> 225$ scan-build ./configure 226$ scan-build make 227</pre> 228 229<p>The reason <tt>configure</tt> also needs to be run through 230<tt>scan-build</tt> is because <tt>scan-build</tt> scans your source files by 231<i>interposing</i> on the compiler. This interposition is currently done by 232<tt>scan-build</tt> temporarily setting the environment variable <tt>CC</tt> to 233<tt>ccc-analyzer</tt>. The program <tt>ccc-analyzer</tt> acts like a fake 234compiler, forwarding its command line arguments over to the compiler to perform 235regular compilation and <tt>clang</tt> to perform static analysis.</p> 236 237<p>Running <tt>configure</tt> typically generates makefiles that have hardwired 238paths to the compiler, and by running <tt>configure</tt> through 239<tt>scan-build</tt> that path is set to <tt>ccc-analyzer</tt>.</p> 240 241<!-- 242<h2 id="Debugging">Debugging the Analyzer</h2> 243 244<p>This section provides information on debugging the analyzer, and troubleshooting 245it when you have problems analyzing a particular project.</p> 246 247<h3>How it Works</h3> 248 249<p>To analyze a project, <tt>scan-build</tt> simply sets the environment variable 250<tt>CC</tt> to the full path to <tt>ccc-analyzer</tt>. It also sets a few other 251environment variables to communicate to <tt>ccc-analyzer</tt> where to dump HTML 252report files.</p> 253 254<p>Some Makefiles (or equivalent project files) hardcode the compiler; for such 255projects simply overriding <tt>CC</tt> won't cause <tt>ccc-analyzer</tt> to be 256called. This will cause the compiled code <b>to not be analyzed.</b></p> If you 257find that your code isn't being analyzed, check to see if <tt>CC</tt> is 258hardcoded. If this is the case, you can hardcode it instead to the <b>full 259path</b> to <tt>ccc-analyzer</tt>.</p> 260 261<p>When applicable, you can also run <tt>./configure</tt> for a project through 262<tt>scan-build</tt> so that configure sets up the location of <tt>CC</tt> based 263on the environment passed in from <tt>scan-build</tt>: 264 265<pre> 266 $ scan-build <b>./configure</b> 267</pre> 268 269<p><tt>scan-build</tt> has special knowledge about <tt>configure</tt>, so it in 270most cases will not actually analyze the configure tests run by 271<tt>configure</tt>.</p> 272 273<p>Under the hood, <tt>ccc-analyzer</tt> directly invokes <tt>gcc</tt> to 274compile the actual code in addition to running the analyzer (which occurs by it 275calling <tt>clang</tt>). <tt>ccc-analyzer</tt> tries to correctly forward all 276the arguments over to <tt>gcc</tt>, but this may not work perfectly (please 277report bugs of this kind). 278 --> 279 280<h2 id="iphone">Analyzing iPhone Projects</h2> 281 282<p>Conceptually Xcode projects for iPhone applications are nearly the same as 283their cousins for desktop applications. <b>scan-build</b> can analyze these 284projects as well, but users often encounter problems with just building their 285iPhone projects from the command line because there are a few extra preparative 286steps they need to take (e.g., setup code signing).</p> 287 288<h3>Recommendation: use "Build and Analyze"</h3> 289 290<p>The absolute easiest way to analyze iPhone projects is to use the <a 291href="http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/featuredarticles/StaticAnalysis/index.html"><i>Build 292and Analyze</i> feature in Xcode 3.2</a> (which is based on the Clang Static 293Analyzer). There a user can analyze their project with the click of a button 294without most of the setup described later.</p> 295 296<p><a href="/xcode.html">Instructions are available</a> on this 297website on how to use open source builds of the analyzer as a replacement for 298the one bundled with Xcode.</p> 299 300<h3>Using scan-build directly</h3> 301 302<p>If you wish to use <b>scan-build</b> with your iPhone project, keep the 303following things in mind:</p> 304 305<ul> 306 <li>Analyze your project in the <tt>Debug</tt> configuration, either by setting 307this as your configuration with Xcode or by passing <tt>-configuration 308Debug</tt> to <tt>xcodebuild</tt>.</li> 309 <li>Analyze your project using the <tt>Simulator</tt> as your base SDK. It is 310possible to analyze your code when targeting the device, but this is much 311easier to do when using Xcode's <i>Build and Analyze</i> feature.</li> 312 <li>Check that your code signing SDK is set to the simulator SDK as well, and make sure this option is set to <tt>Don't Code Sign</tt>.</li> 313</ul> 314 315<p>Note that you can most of this without actually modifying your project. For 316example, if your application targets iPhoneOS 2.2, you could run 317<b>scan-build</b> in the following manner from the command line:</p> 318 319<pre class="code_example"> 320$ scan-build xcodebuild -configuration Debug -sdk iphonesimulator2.2 321</pre> 322 323Alternatively, if your application targets iPhoneOS 3.0: 324 325<pre class="code_example"> 326$ scan-build xcodebuild -configuration Debug -sdk iphonesimulator3.0 327</pre> 328 329<h3>Gotcha: using the right compiler</h3> 330 331<p>Recall that <b>scan-build</b> analyzes your project by using a compiler to 332compile the project and <tt>clang</tt> to analyze your project. The script uses 333simple heuristics to determine which compiler should be used (it defaults to 334<tt>clang</tt> on Darwin and <tt>gcc</tt> on other platforms). When analyzing 335iPhone projects, <b>scan-build</b> may pick the wrong compiler than the one 336Xcode would use to build your project. For example, this could be because 337multiple versions of a compiler may be installed on your system, especially if 338you are developing for the iPhone.</p> 339 340<p>When compiling your application to run on the simulator, it is important that <b>scan-build</b> 341finds the correct version of <tt>gcc/clang</tt>. Otherwise, you may see strange build 342errors that only happen when you run <tt>scan-build</tt>. 343 344<p><b>scan-build</b> provides the <tt>--use-cc</tt> and <tt>--use-c++</tt> 345options to hardwire which compiler scan-build should use for building your code. 346Note that although you are chiefly interested in analyzing your project, keep in 347mind that running the analyzer is intimately tied to the build, and not being 348able to compile your code means it won't get fully analyzed (if at all).</p> 349 350<p>If you aren't certain which compiler Xcode uses to build your project, try 351just running <tt>xcodebuild</tt> (without <b>scan-build</b>). You should see the 352full path to the compiler that Xcode is using, and use that as an argument to 353<tt>--use-cc</tt>.</p> 354 355</div> 356</div> 357</body> 358</html> 359 360