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-//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
-// Clang Static Analyzer
-//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
-
-= Library Structure =
-
-The analyzer library has two layers: a (low-level) static analysis
-engine (GRExprEngine.cpp and friends), and some static checkers
-(*Checker.cpp). The latter are built on top of the former via the
-Checker and CheckerVisitor interfaces (Checker.h and
-CheckerVisitor.h). The Checker interface is designed to be minimal
-and simple for checker writers, and attempts to isolate them from much
-of the gore of the internal analysis engine.
-
-= How It Works =
-
-The analyzer is inspired by several foundational research papers ([1],
-[2]). (FIXME: kremenek to add more links)
-
-In a nutshell, the analyzer is basically a source code simulator that
-traces out possible paths of execution. The state of the program
-(values of variables and expressions) is encapsulated by the state
-(GRState). A location in the program is called a program point
-(ProgramPoint), and the combination of state and program point is a
-node in an exploded graph (ExplodedGraph). The term "exploded" comes
-from exploding the control-flow edges in the control-flow graph (CFG).
-
-Conceptually the analyzer does a reachability analysis through the
-ExplodedGraph. We start at a root node, which has the entry program
-point and initial state, and then simulate transitions by analyzing
-individual expressions. The analysis of an expression can cause the
-state to change, resulting in a new node in the ExplodedGraph with an
-updated program point and an updated state. A bug is found by hitting
-a node that satisfies some "bug condition" (basically a violation of a
-checking invariant).
-
-The analyzer traces out multiple paths by reasoning about branches and
-then bifurcating the state: on the true branch the conditions of the
-branch are assumed to be true and on the false branch the conditions
-of the branch are assumed to be false. Such "assumptions" create
-constraints on the values of the program, and those constraints are
-recorded in the GRState object (and are manipulated by the
-ConstraintManager). If assuming the conditions of a branch would
-cause the constraints to be unsatisfiable, the branch is considered
-infeasible and that path is not taken. This is how we get
-path-sensitivity. We reduce exponential blow-up by caching nodes. If
-a new node with the same state and program point as an existing node
-would get generated, the path "caches out" and we simply reuse the
-existing node. Thus the ExplodedGraph is not a DAG; it can contain
-cycles as paths loop back onto each other and cache out.
-
-GRState and ExplodedNodes are basically immutable once created. Once
-one creates a GRState, you need to create a new one to get a new
-GRState. This immutability is key since the ExplodedGraph represents
-the behavior of the analyzed program from the entry point. To
-represent these efficiently, we use functional data structures (e.g.,
-ImmutableMaps) which share data between instances.
-
-Finally, individual Checkers work by also manipulating the analysis
-state. The analyzer engine talks to them via a visitor interface.
-For example, the PreVisitCallExpr() method is called by GRExprEngine
-to tell the Checker that we are about to analyze a CallExpr, and the
-checker is asked to check for any preconditions that might not be
-satisfied. The checker can do nothing, or it can generate a new
-GRState and ExplodedNode which contains updated checker state. If it
-finds a bug, it can tell the BugReporter object about the bug,
-providing it an ExplodedNode which is the last node in the path that
-triggered the problem.
-
-= Notes about C++ =
-
-Since now constructors are seen before the variable that is constructed
-in the CFG, we create a temporary object as the destination region that
-is constructed into. See ExprEngine::VisitCXXConstructExpr().
-
-In ExprEngine::processCallExit(), we always bind the object region to the
-evaluated CXXConstructExpr. Then in VisitDeclStmt(), we compute the
-corresponding lazy compound value if the variable is not a reference, and
-bind the variable region to the lazy compound value. If the variable
-is a reference, just use the object region as the initilizer value.
-
-Before entering a C++ method (or ctor/dtor), the 'this' region is bound
-to the object region. In ctors, we synthesize 'this' region with
-CXXRecordDecl*, which means we do not use type qualifiers. In methods, we
-synthesize 'this' region with CXXMethodDecl*, which has getThisType()
-taking type qualifiers into account. It does not matter we use qualified
-'this' region in one method and unqualified 'this' region in another
-method, because we only need to ensure the 'this' region is consistent
-when we synthesize it and create it directly from CXXThisExpr in a single
-method call.
-
-= Working on the Analyzer =
-
-If you are interested in bringing up support for C++ expressions, the
-best place to look is the visitation logic in GRExprEngine, which
-handles the simulation of individual expressions. There are plenty of
-examples there of how other expressions are handled.
-
-If you are interested in writing checkers, look at the Checker and
-CheckerVisitor interfaces (Checker.h and CheckerVisitor.h). Also look
-at the files named *Checker.cpp for examples on how you can implement
-these interfaces.
-
-= Debugging the Analyzer =
-
-There are some useful command-line options for debugging. For example:
-
-$ clang -cc1 -help | grep analyze
- -analyze-function <value>
- -analyzer-display-progress
- -analyzer-viz-egraph-graphviz
- ...
-
-The first allows you to specify only analyzing a specific function.
-The second prints to the console what function is being analyzed. The
-third generates a graphviz dot file of the ExplodedGraph. This is
-extremely useful when debugging the analyzer and viewing the
-simulation results.
-
-Of course, viewing the CFG (Control-Flow Graph) is also useful:
-
-$ clang -cc1 -help | grep cfg
- -cfg-add-implicit-dtors Add C++ implicit destructors to CFGs for all analyses
- -cfg-add-initializers Add C++ initializers to CFGs for all analyses
- -cfg-dump Display Control-Flow Graphs
- -cfg-view View Control-Flow Graphs using GraphViz
- -unoptimized-cfg Generate unoptimized CFGs for all analyses
-
--cfg-dump dumps a textual representation of the CFG to the console,
-and -cfg-view creates a GraphViz representation.
-
-= References =
-
-[1] Precise interprocedural dataflow analysis via graph reachability,
- T Reps, S Horwitz, and M Sagiv, POPL '95,
- http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=199462
-
-[2] A memory model for static analysis of C programs, Z Xu, T
- Kremenek, and J Zhang, http://lcs.ios.ac.cn/~xzx/memmodel.pdf
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