Re: [Boost-build] Using PC-Lint

Subject: Re: [Boost-build] Using PC-Lint
From: John Dillan (demised_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-11-27 00:26:46

Thanks for the tips Jurko!  I know it's a pretty delayed response, but I  
only just got a chance to start implementing the rules to make this work.   
I managed to get the notfile method working, but the project is big enough  
that I really need better dependency checking so that it only checks the  
modified files again.

Ideally, I would like to be able to do:

        lint myLintCheck :  mySourceA.cpp mySourceB.cpp ;
        exe myApplication : myLintCheck : ;

So like you suggested, 'lint' would have to return the source files.  Here  
is what I have so far:

[code]
import generators ;
import type ;
import print ;
import path ;

type.register LINT : lo ;

generators.register-composing lint.lint : CPP : LINT ;

actions lint-action
{
        c:\tools\pc-lint\lint-nt.exe -i"c:\tools\pc-lint" std_vs80.lnt  
env-vc8.lnt ProjectSettings.lnt "$(>)"
}

rule lint ( targets + : sources * : properties * )
{
        for local file in $(sources)
        {
                lint-action $(targets) : $(file) ;
        }

        return $(sources) ;
}
[/code]

The primary problem with it so far is that the only target it tries to  
create is 'myLintCheck.lo'.  Also, because no target files are generated,  
it re-does the lint-action on every build regardless of success or  
failure.  Is my approach here even remotely correct?  What would I need to  
change to get this working?

Thanks for any help you can offer on this!

Take care,

--John

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:02:01 -0700, Jurko Gospodnetić  
<jurko.gospodnetic_at_[hidden]> wrote:

>    Hi John.
>
>> I've been trying to setup a system for running pc-lint on my source  
>> files, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the right way to setup a  
>> rule to do so.
>>  Basically, I want a rule that depends on the input *.lnt file along  
>> with all the source files, so that if any of those changes, it runs it  
>> again.  My main 'exe' rule will also have the 'lint' rule as a  
>> dependency so that if pc-lint fails it won't even bother compiling the  
>> application.  Can someone just point me in the right direction to get  
>> this working?  I thought using the 'notfile' rule as a basis would make  
>> sense since it doesn't actually output any files, but is that not the  
>> right approach?
>
>    So you have source files (i.e. not built by the build system):
>
>      a.lnt
>      a1.cpp
>      a2.cpp
>
>    and you want to build from them:
>
>      a.exe <-- a1.cpp a2.cpp
>
>    and:
>
>      a-lint <-- a.lnt a1.cpp a2.cpp
>
>    where a-lint would simply run some sort of a test action that can  
> either fail or succeed and not generate any new files.
>
>    Well if that are all the requirements then I think notfile would suit  
> you just fine and your action can simply return 0 if it 'succeeds' or  
> any other value if it 'fails'.
>
>
>    If your test action generates some files that your would like Boost  
> Build to know about (e.g. to remove them when doing a clean) then you  
> would need to modify your approach by using either a custom target (or a  
> custom generator but I do not see your target as a typed one at the  
> moment) or either the make or the generate rule.
>
>
>    Another, perhaps too smart for its own good, idea would be to prepare  
> a new typed target for a-link which actually builds all of its sources  
> and runs the test rule but also returns all of its sources except the  
> .lnt file as its output virtual-targets. That would allow you to do  
> something like this:
>
>      a-lint <-- a.lnt a1.cpp a2.cpp
>      a.exe <-- a-lint
>
>    and the exe target would be built from the original sources that get  
> 'linted' in the process. I would not go this way without getting the  
> notfile solution working first.
>
>
>    Hope this helps.
>
>    Best regards,
>     Jurko Gospodnetić
>
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