Clang Static Analyzer

Clang Static Analyzer

The Clang Static Analyzer is an open source tool that automatically finds bugs in C, C++, and Objective-C programs. It is part of the Clang compiler infrastructure project. The analyzer works by doing control and data flow analysis on the source code.
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c c objectivec static-analysis bug-finder clang

Clang Static Analyzer: Open Source Bug Finder for C, C++, Objective-C

The Clang Static Analyzer is an open source tool that automatically finds bugs in C, C++, and Objective-C programs. It is part of the Clang compiler infrastructure project. The analyzer works by doing control and data flow analysis on the source code.

What is Clang Static Analyzer?

The Clang Static Analyzer is an open source tool that automatically finds bugs in C, C++, and Objective-C programs. It is part of the Clang compiler infrastructure project. The analyzer works by doing control and data flow analysis on the source code to find potential bugs that could lead to crashes, memory corruption, leaks or other issues.

Some key features and benefits of the Clang Static Analyzer include:

  • Finds common programming errors like null pointer dereferencing, use after free, etc.
  • Performs interprocedural analysis to find bugs across function calls
  • Has high precision and accuracy compared to other static analyzers
  • Integrates into developer workflows through IDE plugins and build systems
  • Open source tool developed by LLVM/Clang community, supports Linux, macOS, Windows

The Clang Static Analyzer is useful for projects written in C/C++/Objective-C that care about stability and security. Its high precision means it has relatively few false positives compared to other tools. It can be easily integrated into developer workflows through editor plugins. Overall it is one of the most advanced open source static analysis tools available.

Clang Static Analyzer Features

Features

  1. Detects memory leaks
  2. Finds null pointer dereferences
  3. Warns about potential security vulnerabilities
  4. Performs taint analysis to track untrusted data
  5. Does control and data flow analysis
  6. Integrates into development workflows via compiler warnings

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Finds bugs at compile time without running code

Open source and free to use

High precision warnings with low false positive rate

Easy integration with Clang/LLVM based compilers

Can analyze large and complex code bases

Cons

Only analyzes C/C++/Obj-C code

Limited analysis of external library functions

Can have long analysis times for large projects

Requires building project with Clang compiler


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