Cppcheck is a

static code analysis In computer science, static program analysis (or static analysis) is the analysis of computer programs performed without executing them, in contrast with dynamic program analysis, which is performed on programs during their execution. The term i ...

tool for the C and

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

s. It is a versatile tool that can check non-standard code. The creator and lead developer is Daniel Marjamäki. Cppcheck is

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...

Features

Cppcheck supports a wide variety of static checks that may not be covered by the compiler itself. These checks are static analysis checks that can be performed at a source code level. The program is directed towards static analysis checks that are rigorous, rather than

heuristic A heuristic (; ), or heuristic technique, is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, ...

in nature. Some of the checks that are supported include: *

Automatic variable __NOTOC__ In computer programming, an automatic variable is a local variable which is allocated and deallocated automatically when program flow enters and leaves the variable's scope. The scope is the lexical context, particularly the function or b ...

checking *

Bounds checking In computer programming, bounds checking is any method of detecting whether a variable is within some bounds before it is used. It is usually used to ensure that a number fits into a given type (range checking), or that a variable being used as a ...

for array overruns * Classes checking (e.g. unused functions, variable initialization and memory duplication) * Usage of

deprecated In several fields, especially computing, deprecation is the discouragement of use of some terminology, feature, design, or practice, typically because it has been superseded or is no longer considered efficient or safe, without completely removing ...

or superseded functions according to

Open Group The Open Group is a global consortium that seeks to "enable the achievement of business objectives" by developing "open, vendor-neutral technology standards and certifications." It has over 840 member organizations and provides a number of servi ...

* Exception safety checking, for example usage of memory allocation and destructor checks *

Memory leak In computer science, a memory leak is a type of resource leak that occurs when a computer program incorrectly manages memory allocations in a way that Computer memory, memory which is no longer needed is not released. A memory leak may also happe ...

s, e.g. due to lost scope without deallocation *

Resource leak In computer science, a resource leak is a particular type of resource consumption by a computer program where the program does not release resources it has acquired. This condition is normally the result of a bug in a program. Typical resource lea ...

s, e.g. due to forgetting to close a file handle * Invalid usage of

Standard Template Library The Standard Template Library (STL) is a Library (computer science), software library originally designed by Alexander Stepanov for the C++ programming language that influenced many parts of the C++ Standard Library. It provides four components ...

functions and

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...

s *

Dead code elimination In compiler theory, dead-code elimination (also known as DCE, dead-code removal, dead-code stripping, or dead-code strip) is a compiler optimization to remove code which does not affect the program results. Removing such code has several benefits: ...

using unusedFunction option * Miscellaneous stylistic and performance errors As with many analysis programs, there are many unusual cases of programming idioms that may be acceptable in particular target cases or outside of the programmer's scope for source code correction. A study conducted in March 2009 identified several areas where false positives were found by Cppcheck, but did not specify the program version examined. Cppcheck has been identified for use in systems such as

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

s 4DSOFT meta analysis package, for code verification in high energy particle detector readout devices, system monitoring software for radio telescopes as well as in error analysis of large projects, such as

OpenOffice.org OpenOffice.org (OOo), commonly known as OpenOffice, is a discontinued open-source office suite. Active successor projects include LibreOffice (the most actively developed), Apache OpenOffice, Collabora Online (enterprise ready LibreOffice) a ...

and the

Debian Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of D ...

archive.

Development

The project is actively under developmentCppcheck on Github
/ref> and is actively maintained in different distributions.
/ref>FreeBSD port
/ref> It has found valid bugs in a number of popular projects such as the

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ope ...

and

MPlayer MPlayer is a free and open-source media player software application. It is available for Linux, OS X and Microsoft Windows. Versions for OS/2, Syllable, AmigaOS, MorphOS and AROS Research Operating System are also available. A port for DOS usi ...

Plugins

Plugins for the following Integrated development environment, IDEs or text editors exist * CLion * Code::Blocks - integrated. * CodeLite - integrated. * Eclipse (software), Eclipse * Emacs * gedit * Hudson (software), Hudson * Jenkins (software), Jenkins * Kate (text editor), Kate * KDevelop * Qt Creator * Sublime Text * Visual Studio * Yasca

References

External links

* {{sourceforge, cppcheck Cross-platform free software Free software programmed in C++ Free software testing tools Software using the GPL license Static program analysis tools

Features

Development

Plugins

See also

References

External links