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author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2022-05-25 21:17:41 +0300 |
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committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2022-05-25 21:17:41 +0300 |
commit | 88a618920e9baabc1780479e2fbb68e5551d0563 (patch) | |
tree | 49b4462b584b994e4a9f36c0ffe088f49f3e5392 /Documentation/dev-tools/testing-overview.rst | |
parent | 537e62c865dcb9b91d07ed83f8615b71fa0b51bb (diff) | |
parent | b86f46d5ce3e7497930be931a9a9e57480f0baff (diff) | |
download | linux-88a618920e9baabc1780479e2fbb68e5551d0563.tar.xz |
Merge tag 'docs-5.19' of git://git.lwn.net/linux
Pull documentation updates from Jonathan Corbet:
"It was a moderately busy cycle for documentation; highlights include:
- After a long period of inactivity, the Japanese translations are
seeing some much-needed maintenance and updating.
- Reworked IOMMU documentation
- Some new documentation for static-analysis tools
- A new overall structure for the memory-management documentation.
This is an LSFMM outcome that, it is hoped, will help encourage
developers to fill in the many gaps. Optimism is eternal...but
hopefully it will work.
- More Chinese translations.
Plus the usual typo fixes, updates, etc"
* tag 'docs-5.19' of git://git.lwn.net/linux: (70 commits)
docs: pdfdocs: Add space for chapter counts >= 100 in TOC
docs/zh_CN: Add dev-tools/gdb-kernel-debugging.rst Chinese translation
input: Docs: correct ntrig.rst typo
input: Docs: correct atarikbd.rst typos
MAINTAINERS: Become the docs/zh_CN maintainer
docs/zh_CN: fix devicetree usage-model translation
mm,doc: Add new documentation structure
Documentation: drop more IDE boot options and ide-cd.rst
Documentation/process: use scripts/get_maintainer.pl on patches
MAINTAINERS: Add entry for DOCUMENTATION/JAPANESE
docs/trans/ja_JP/howto: Don't mention specific kernel versions
docs/ja_JP/SubmittingPatches: Request summaries for commit references
docs/ja_JP/SubmittingPatches: Add Suggested-by as a standard signature
docs/ja_JP/SubmittingPatches: Randy has moved
docs/ja_JP/SubmittingPatches: Suggest the use of scripts/get_maintainer.pl
docs/ja_JP/SubmittingPatches: Update GregKH links
Documentation/sysctl: document max_rcu_stall_to_panic
Documentation: add missing angle bracket in cgroup-v2 doc
Documentation: dev-tools: use literal block instead of code-block
docs/zh_CN: add vm numa translation
...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/dev-tools/testing-overview.rst')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/dev-tools/testing-overview.rst | 63 |
1 files changed, 63 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/testing-overview.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/testing-overview.rst index 65feb81edb14..0aaf6ea53608 100644 --- a/Documentation/dev-tools/testing-overview.rst +++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/testing-overview.rst @@ -115,3 +115,66 @@ that none of these errors are occurring during the test. Some of these tools integrate with KUnit or kselftest and will automatically fail tests if an issue is detected. +Static Analysis Tools +===================== + +In addition to testing a running kernel, one can also analyze kernel source code +directly (**at compile time**) using **static analysis** tools. The tools +commonly used in the kernel allow one to inspect the whole source tree or just +specific files within it. They make it easier to detect and fix problems during +the development process. + +Sparse can help test the kernel by performing type-checking, lock checking, +value range checking, in addition to reporting various errors and warnings while +examining the code. See the Documentation/dev-tools/sparse.rst documentation +page for details on how to use it. + +Smatch extends Sparse and provides additional checks for programming logic +mistakes such as missing breaks in switch statements, unused return values on +error checking, forgetting to set an error code in the return of an error path, +etc. Smatch also has tests against more serious issues such as integer +overflows, null pointer dereferences, and memory leaks. See the project page at +http://smatch.sourceforge.net/. + +Coccinelle is another static analyzer at our disposal. Coccinelle is often used +to aid refactoring and collateral evolution of source code, but it can also help +to avoid certain bugs that occur in common code patterns. The types of tests +available include API tests, tests for correct usage of kernel iterators, checks +for the soundness of free operations, analysis of locking behavior, and further +tests known to help keep consistent kernel usage. See the +Documentation/dev-tools/coccinelle.rst documentation page for details. + +Beware, though, that static analysis tools suffer from **false positives**. +Errors and warns need to be evaluated carefully before attempting to fix them. + +When to use Sparse and Smatch +----------------------------- + +Sparse does type checking, such as verifying that annotated variables do not +cause endianness bugs, detecting places that use ``__user`` pointers improperly, +and analyzing the compatibility of symbol initializers. + +Smatch does flow analysis and, if allowed to build the function database, it +also does cross function analysis. Smatch tries to answer questions like where +is this buffer allocated? How big is it? Can this index be controlled by the +user? Is this variable larger than that variable? + +It's generally easier to write checks in Smatch than it is to write checks in +Sparse. Nevertheless, there are some overlaps between Sparse and Smatch checks. + +Strong points of Smatch and Coccinelle +-------------------------------------- + +Coccinelle is probably the easiest for writing checks. It works before the +pre-processor so it's easier to check for bugs in macros using Coccinelle. +Coccinelle also creates patches for you, which no other tool does. + +For example, with Coccinelle you can do a mass conversion from +``kmalloc(x * size, GFP_KERNEL)`` to ``kmalloc_array(x, size, GFP_KERNEL)``, and +that's really useful. If you just created a Smatch warning and try to push the +work of converting on to the maintainers they would be annoyed. You'd have to +argue about each warning if can really overflow or not. + +Coccinelle does no analysis of variable values, which is the strong point of +Smatch. On the other hand, Coccinelle allows you to do simple things in a simple +way. |