cscout - C code analyzer and refactoring browser
cscout [-bCcrv3] [-d D] [-E file specification] [-d H] [-l log file] [-p port] [-R specification] [-m specification] [-t sname] [-o | -S db | -s db] file
CScout is a source code analyzer and refactoring browser for collections of C programs. It can process workspaces of multiple projects (we define a project as a collection of C source files that are linked together) mapping the complexity introduced by the C preprocessor back into the original C source code files. CScout takes advantage of modern hardware advances (fast processors and large memory capacities) to analyze C source code beyond the level of detail and accuracy provided by current compilers and linkers. The analysis CScout performs takes into account the identifier scopes introduced by the C preprocessor and the C language proper scopes and namespaces.
CScout as a source code analyzer can:
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annotate source code with hyperlinks to each identifier | ||
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list files that would be affected by changing a specific identifier | ||
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determine whether a given identifier belongs to the application or to an external library based on the accessibility and location of the header files that declare or define it | ||
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locate unused identifiers taking into account inter-project dependencies | ||
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perform queries for identifiers based on their namespace, scope, reachability, and regular expressions of their name and the filename(s) they are found in, | ||
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perform queries for files, based on their metrics, or properties of the identifiers they contain | ||
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monitor and report superfluously included header files | ||
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provide accurate metrics on identifiers and files |
More importantly, CScout helps you in refactoring code by identifying dead objects to remove, and can automatically perform accurate global rename identifier refactorings. CScout will automatically rename identifiers
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taking into account the namespace of each identifier: a renaming of a structure tag, member, or a statement label will not affect variables with the same name | ||
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respecting the scope of the renamed identifier: a rename can affect multiple files, or variables within a single block, exactly matching the semantics the C compiler would enforce | ||
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across multiple projects when the same identifier is defined in common shared include files | ||
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occuring in macro bodies and parts of other identifiers, when these are created through the C preprocessor’s token concatenation feature |
This manual page describes the CScout invocation and command-line options. Details about its web interface, setup, and configuration can be found in the online hypertext documentation and at the project’s home page http://www.spinellis.gr/cscout.
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-C |
Create a ctags-compatible tags file. Tens of editors and other tools can utilize tags to help you navigate through the code. In contrast to other tag generation tools, the file that CScout creates also includes information about entities dynamically generated through macros. | ||
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-c |
Exit immediately after processing the specified files. Useful, when you simply want to check the source code for errors or when you want to create a tags file. | ||
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-d D |
Display the #define directives being processed on the standard output. | ||
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-d H |
Display the (mainly header) files being included on the standard output. Each line is prefixed by a number of dots indicating the depth of the included file stack. |
-E file specification
Preprocess the file specified with the regular expression given as the option’s argument and send the result to the standard output.
-p port
The web server will listen for requests on the TCP port number specified. By default the CScout server will listen at port 8081. The port number must be in the range 1024-32767.
-m specification
Specify the type of identifiers that CScout will monitor. The identifier attribute specification is given using the syntax: Y|L|E|T[:attr1][:attr2]... The meaning of the first letter is:
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Y: |
Match any of the specified attributes |
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L: |
Match all of the specified attributes |
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E: |
Exclude the specified attributes matched |
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T: |
Exact match of the specified attributes |
Allowable attribute names and their corresponding meanings are:
unused:
Unused identifier
writable:
Writable identifier
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ro: |
Read-only identifier |
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tag: |
Tag for a struct/union/enum |
member:
Member of a struct/union
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label: |
Label | ||
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obj: |
Ordinary identifier (note that enumeration constants and typedefs belong to the ordinary identifier namespace) | ||
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macro: |
Preprocessor macro |
umacro:
Undefined preprocessor macro
macroarg:
Preprocessor macro argument
fscope:
Identifier with file scope
pscope:
Identifier with project scope
typedef:
Typedef
enumconst:
Enumeration constant
The -m flag can provide enormous savings on the memory CScout uses (specify e.g. -m Y:pscope to only track project-global identifiers), but the processing CScout performs under this flag is unsound. The flag should therefore be used only if you are running short of memory. There are cases where the use of preprocessor macros can change the attributes of a given identifier shared between different files. Since the -m optimization is performed after each single file is processed, the locations where an identifier is found may be misrepresented.
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-r |
Report on the standard error output warnings about unused and wrongly scoped identifiers and unused included files. The error message format is compatible with gcc and can therefore be automatically processed by editors that recognize this format. | ||
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-v |
Display the CScout version and copyright information and exit. | ||
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-3 |
Implement support for trigraph characters. | ||
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-b |
Operate in multiuser browse-only mode. In this mode the web server can concurrently process multiple requests. All web operations that can affect the server’s functioning (such as setting the various options, renaming identifiers, refactoring function arguments, selecting a project, editing a file, or terminating the server) are prohibited. Call graphs are truncated to 1000 elements (nodes or edges). |
-S database dialect
Output the database schema as an SQL script. Specify help as the database dialect to obtain a list of supported database back-ends.
-s database dialect
Dump the workspace contents as an SQL script. Specify help as the database dialect to obtain a list of supported database back-ends.
-l log file
Specify the location of a file where web requests will be logged.
-R specification
Generate call graphs and exit. The option can be specified multiple times. The specification is the type of desired graph (fgraph.txt for a file dependency graph or cgraph.txt for a function and macro call graph), optionally followed by parameters appearing in the corresponding URL of the CScout web interface. The generated text file contains one space-delimited relationship per line. It can be further processed by tools such sas awk and dot to produce graphical output as shown in the following examples.
# Create a function call graph and a compile-time file dependency graph
cscout -R cgraph.txt -R fgraph.txt?gtype=C.
# Convert the generated call graph into an SVG diagram
awk ’
BEGIN { print "digraph G {" }
{print $1 "->" $2}
END { print "}" }’ cgraph.txt |
dot -Tsvg >cgraph.svg
-t name
Generate SQL output for the named table. By default SQL output for all tables is generated. If this option is provided, then output only for the specified tables will be generated. It is the user’s responsibility to list the tables required to avoid breaking integrity constraints. The option can be specified multiple times.
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-o |
Create obfuscated versions of all the writable files of the workspace. |
Assume you want to analyze three programs in /usr/src/bin. You first create the following project definition file, bin.prj.
# Some small tools from the src/bin directory
workspace bin {
ro_prefix "/usr/include"
cd "/usr/src/bin"
project cp {
cd "cp"
file cp.c utils.c
}
project echo {
cd "echo"
file echo.c
}
project date {
cd "date"
file date.c
}
}
Then you compile the workspace file bin.prj by running the CScout workspace compiler cswc on it, and finally you run cscout on the compiled workspace file. At that point you are ready to analyze your code and rename its identifiers through your web browser.
$ cswc bin.prj >bin.cs $ cscout bin.cs Processing workspace bin Entering directory /usr/src/bin Processing project cp Entering directory cp Processing file cp.c Done processing file cp.c Processing file utils.c Done processing file utils.c Exiting directory cp Done processing project cp Processing project echo Entering directory echo Processing file echo.c Done processing file echo.c Exiting directory echo Done processing project echo Processing project date Entering directory date Processing file date.c Done processing file date.c Exiting directory date Done processing project date Exiting directory /usr/src/bin Done processing workspace bin Post-processing /usr/home/dds/src/cscout/bin.c [...] Post-processing /vol/src/bin/cp/cp.c Post-processing /vol/src/bin/cp/extern.h Post-processing /vol/src/bin/cp/utils.c Post-processing /vol/src/bin/date/date.c Post-processing /vol/src/bin/date/extern.h Post-processing /vol/src/bin/date/vary.h Post-processing /vol/src/bin/echo/echo.c Processing identifiers 100% We are now ready to serve you at http://localhost:8081
cswc(1)
(c) Copyright 2003-2024 Diomidis Spinellis.