[splint-discuss] Running Splint for Linux drivers

[Brian Quinlan]

On Thu, 2008-03-06 at 17:20 +0530, Vijayendra Suman wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am new to splint tool, We tried to run splint on Linux drivers.
> Thanks in advance for your appreciated help ! 
> 
> Is there any way to exclude the Linux kernel headers path when we try
> to run splint over our driver code, I mean to say if we have any
> option to exclude the linux kernel header files from getting parsed by
> the splint tool. I just wanted to check driver files with the splint
> tool. Here is the errors i got when I tried to run splint on my
> drivers.
> 
> This is the Makefile for splint:
> 
> CFLAGS += $(DEBFLAGS)
> CFLAGS += -I..
> CFLAGS += -I$(DEBUG_DIR_PATH)
> CFLAGS += -I$(DRIVER_DIR_PATH)
> CFLAGS += -I$(HW_DIR_PATH)
> CFLAGS += -I$(APPS_DIR_PATH)
> CFLAGS += -I$(OSDEP_PATH)
> CFLAGS += -D$(RELEASE_TYPE)
> 
> SPLINTFLAGS += -I$(CFLAGS)
> SPLINTFLAGS += -I/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include
> 
> splint:
>        @$(ECHO) "Going for Splint Checking"
>        @splint -weak                   \
>               -gnuextensions          \
>                -macrovarprefixexclude  \
>               -namechecks             \
>               -skip-ansi-headers      \
>                -preproc                \
>                -expect 100             \
>                -systemdirerrors        \
>                -hints                  \
>               +trytorecover           \
>               +posixlib               \
>        $(SPLINTFLAGS) $(SRC_DIR_PATH)/slim_bus_hw.c
> 
> This is the O/P I got after running running  this 
> 
> [root at localhost build]# make splint
> Going for Splint Checking
> Splint 3.0.1.7 --- 24 Jan 2003
> 
> Command Line: Setting -sysdirerrors redundant with current value
> /lib/modules/2.6.20/build/include/asm/types.h:13:24: Parse Error:
>     Suspect missing struct or union keyword: __signed__ :
>     unsigned short int. Attempting to continue.
> /lib/modules/2.6.20/build/include/asm/types.h:19:23: Parse Error:
>     Suspect missing struct or union keyword: __signed__ :
>     unsigned short int. Attempting to continue.
> /lib/modules/2.6.20/build/include/asm/types.h:19:23:
>     Parse Error.  Too many errors, giving up.
> *** Cannot continue.
> make: *** [splint] Error 1
> 
> I have used Red Hat Linux 2.6.20 kernel for the include file
> 
> -- 
> Regards 
> Vijayendra Suman 
> _______________________________________________
> splint-discuss mailing list
> splint-discuss at mail.cs.virginia.edu
> http://www.cs.virginia.edu/mailman/listinfo/splint-discuss

Hi,
The fundamental problem is that the Linux kernel headers use gcc-
specific features that splint can't parse, so you end up having use the
preprocessor to trick splint into seeing something that it can parse.

A few years back I posted this to the list:

http://www.splint.org/pipermail/splint-discuss/2005-January/000531.html

It explains how to do what you're asking, but for a 2.4.23 kernel.

It's certainly worth trying similar things for 2.6.20, but it won't all
necessarily be plain sailing:

- It's quite likely that changes between 2.4.23 & 2.6.20 will break some
things that my original post didn't address, but the post should give
you some ideas for the kinds of things to try.

- It's also possible that there are some new problems that my approach
can't help with.

If you succeed, please post an update.

Finally, Google is your friend - the link is the first result in a
search for "Splint for Linux drivers".

Bye,
Brian