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1.. _docs-automated-analysis:
2
3==================
4Automated analysis
5==================
6
7The correctness and style of Pigweed's source code is continuously verified
8using a suite of automated tools. We also make it easy to use the same tools
9to verify the code of projects using Pigweed.
10
11-------
12Summary
13-------
14On presubmit or in CI we verify Pigweed using:
15
16* pylint
17* mypy
18* clang-tidy
19* AddressSanitizer (asan)
20* ThreadSanitizer (tsan)
21* UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer (ubsan)
22* OSS-Fuzz
23
24The rest of this document discusses these tools and their configuration in
25greater detail, and how to use them in your own project.
26
27--------------
28Analysis tools
29--------------
30
31Static analysis
32===============
33
34PyLint
35------
36`PyLint`_ is a customizable Python linter. Pigweed complies with almost all
37the default checks; see `.pylintrc`_ for details. PyLint detects problems such
38as overly broad catch statements, unused arguments/variables, and mutable
39default parameter values.
40
41For upstream Pigweed, PyLint can be run with ``ninja python.lint.pylint`` or
42``ninja python.lint``.  It's also included in a variety of presubmit steps,
43like ``static_analysis`` and ``python_checks.gn_python_check``.  See the
44`Enabling analysis for your project`_ section to learn how to run PyLint on
45your Pigweed-based project.
46
47.. _PyLint: https://pylint.org/
48.. _.pylintrc: https://cs.pigweed.dev/pigweed/+/main:.pylintrc
49
50Mypy
51----
52Python 3 allows for `type annotations`_ for variables, function arguments, and
53return values. Most, but not all, of Pigweed's Python code has type
54annotations, and these annotations have caught real bugs in code that didn't
55yet have unit tests. `Mypy`_ is an analysis tool that enforces these
56annotations.
57
58Mypy helps find bugs like when a string is passed into a function that expects
59a list of strings---since both are iterables this bug might otherwise be hard
60to track down.
61
62Mypy can be run with ``ninja python.lint.mypy`` or ``ninja python.lint``. It's
63also included in a variety of presubmit steps, like ``static_analysis`` and
64``python_checks.gn_python_check``.
65
66.. _type annotations: https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html
67.. _Mypy: http://mypy-lang.org/
68
69clang-tidy
70----------
71`clang-tidy`_ is a C++ "linter" and static analysis tool. It identifies
72bug-prone patterns (e.g., use after move), non-idiomatic usage (e.g., creating
73``std::unique_ptr`` with ``new`` rather than ``std::make_unique``), and
74performance issues (e.g., unnecessary copies of loop variables).
75
76While powerful, clang-tidy defines a very large number of checks, many of which
77are special-purpose (e.g., only applicable to FPGA HLS code, or code using the
78`Abseil`_ library) or have high false positive rates. Pigweed enables over 50
79checks which are relevant to an embedded C/C++ library and have good
80signal-to-noise ratios. The full list of Pigweed's checks is in `.clang-tidy`_.
81
82We do not currently enable the `Clang Static Analyzers`_ because they suffer
83from false positives, and their findings are time-consuming to manually verify.
84
85clang-tidy can be run with ``ninja static_analysis`` or ``pw presubmit --step
86static_analysis``. Note that as a static analysis tool, clang-tidy will not
87produce any runnable binaries: it simply analyzes the source files.
88
89.. _clang-tidy: https://clang.llvm.org/extra/clang-tidy/
90.. _Abseil: https://abseil.io/
91.. _.clang-tidy: https://cs.pigweed.dev/pigweed/+/main:.clang-tidy
92.. _Clang Static Analyzers: https://clang-analyzer.llvm.org/available_checks.html
93
94
95Clang sanitizers
96================
97We run all of Pigweed's unit tests with the additional instrumentation
98described in this section. For more detail about these sanitizers, see the
99`Github documentation`_.
100
101* asan: `AddressSanitizer`_ detects memory errors such as out-of-bounds access
102  and use-after-free.
103* tsan: `ThreadSanitizer`_ detects data races.
104* ubsan: `UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer`_ is a fast undefined behavior detector.
105  We use the default ``-fsanitize=undefined`` option.
106
107.. note::
108   Pigweed does not currently support `MemorySanitizer`_ (msan). See
109   :bug:`234876100` for details.
110
111The exact configurations we use for these sanitizers are in
112`pw_toolchain/host_clang/BUILD.gn <https://cs.pigweed.dev/pigweed/+/main:pw_toolchain/host_clang/BUILD.gn>`_.
113You can see the current status of the sanitizer builds in the `Pigweed CI
114console`_, as ``pigweed-linux-san-*``.
115
116Unlike clang-tidy, the clang sanitizers are runtime instrumentation: the
117instrumented binary needs to be run for issues to be detected.
118
119.. _Github documentation: https://github.com/google/sanitizers
120.. _AddressSanitizer: https://clang.llvm.org/docs/AddressSanitizer.html
121.. _MemorySanitizer: https://clang.llvm.org/docs/MemorySanitizer.html
122.. _Pigweed CI console: https://ci.chromium.org/p/pigweed/g/pigweed/console
123.. _ThreadSanitizer: https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ThreadSanitizer.html
124.. _UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer: https://clang.llvm.org/docs/UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer.html
125
126
127Fuzzers
128=======
129`Fuzz testing`_ detects errors in software by providing it with randomly
130generated inputs.  We use `OSS-fuzz`_ to continuously uncover potential
131vulnerabilities in Pigweed.  `Dashboard with Pigweed's latest results`_. See
132the :ref:`module-pw_fuzzer` module documentation for more details.
133
134.. _Dashboard with Pigweed's latest results: https://oss-fuzz-build-logs.storage.googleapis.com/index.html#pigweed
135.. _Fuzz testing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzing
136.. _OSS-fuzz: https://github.com/google/oss-fuzz
137
138.. _Enabling analysis for your project:
139
140----------------------------------
141Enabling analysis for your project
142----------------------------------
143
144GN
145==
146
147PyLint and Mypy
148---------------
149PyLint and Mypy can be configured to run every time your project is built by
150adding ``python.lint`` to your default build group. (You can also add one or both
151individually using ``python.lint.mypy`` and ``python.lint.pylint``.) Likewise,
152these can be added to individual presubmit steps (`examples`_). You can also
153directly include the `python_checks.gn_python_lint`_ presubmit step.
154
155.. _examples: https://cs.opensource.google/search?q=file:pigweed_presubmit.py%20%22python.lint%22&sq=&ss=pigweed%2Fpigweed
156.. _python_checks.gn_python_lint: https://cs.pigweed.dev/pigweed/+/main:pw_presubmit/py/pw_presubmit/python_checks.py?q=file:python_checks.py%20gn_python_lint&ss=pigweed%2Fpigweed
157
158clang-tidy
159----------
160`pw_toolchain/static_analysis_toolchain.gni`_ provides the
161``pw_static_analysis_toolchain`` template that can be used to create a build
162group performing static analysis. See :ref:`module-pw_toolchain` documentation
163for more details. This group can then be added as a presubmit step using
164pw_presubmit.
165
166You can place a ``.clang-tidy`` file at the root of your repository to control
167which checks are executed. See the `clang documentation`_ for a discussion of how
168the tool chooses which ``.clang-tidy`` files to apply when run on a particular
169source file.
170
171.. _pw_toolchain/static_analysis_toolchain.gni: https://cs.pigweed.dev/pigweed/+/main:pw_toolchain/static_analysis_toolchain.gni
172.. _clang documentation: https://clang.llvm.org/extra/clang-tidy/
173
174Clang sanitizers
175----------------
176There are two ways to enable sanitizers for your build.
177
178GN args on debug toolchains
179^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
180If you are already building your tests with one of the following toolchains (or
181a toolchain derived from one of them):
182
183* ``pw_toolchain_host_clang.debug``
184* ``pw_toolchain_host_clang.speed_optimized``
185* ``pw_toolchain_host_clang.size_optimized``
186
187you can enable the clang sanitizers simply by setting the gn arg
188``pw_toolchain_SANITIZERS`` to the desired subset of
189``["address", "thread", "undefined"]``.
190
191Example
192.......
193If your project defines a toolchain ``host_clang_debug`` that is derived from
194one of the above toolchains, and you'd like to run the ``pw_executable`` target
195``sample_binary`` defined in the ``BUILD.gn`` file in ``examples/sample`` with
196asan, you would run,
197
198.. code-block:: bash
199
200   gn gen out --args='pw_toolchain_SANITIZERS=["address"]'
201   ninja -C out host_clang_debug/obj/example/sample/bin/sample_binary
202   out/host_clang_debug/obj/example/sample/bin/sample_binary
203
204Sanitizer toolchains
205^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
206Otherwise, instead of using ``gn args`` you can build your tests with the
207appropriate toolchain from the following list (or a toolchain derived from one
208of them):
209
210* ``pw_toolchain_host_clang.asan``
211* ``pw_toolchain_host_clang.ubsan``
212* ``pw_toolchain_host_clang.tsan``
213
214See the :ref:`module-pw_toolchain` module documentation for more
215about Pigweed toolchains.
216
217Bazel
218=====
219
220.. _docs-automated-analysis-clang-sanitizers:
221
222Clang sanitizers
223----------------
224If you're using Pigweed's own host toolchain configuration, you can enable
225AddressSanitizer by building with the appropriate flag:
226
227.. code-block:: sh
228
229   bazelisk build --@pigweed//pw_toolchain/host_clang:asan //...
230
231If you're building your own toolchain, you can add
232``@pigweed//pw_toolchain_bazel/flag_sets:asan`` to it.
233
234Fuzzers
235=======
236See the :ref:`module-pw_fuzzer` module documentation.
237