PVS-Studio

PVS-Studio is a static code analysis tool for detecting bugs and security weaknesses in the source code of programs, written in C, C++, C# and Java. It analyzes source code intended for 32-bit, 64-bit and embedded ARM platforms. The official page can be found here.

Features

PVS-Studio performs a wide range of code checks, and it is also useful in finding misprints and Copy-Paste errors. These checks are static analysis checks that can be performed at a source code level. Some of the defects that might be detected include:

  • Arithmetic over/underflow

  • Array index out of bounds

  • Undefined/unspecified behavior

  • Incorrect usage of exceptions

  • Buffer overrun

  • Null pointer/null reference dereference

  • Improper understanding of function/class operation logic

  • Illegal bitwise/shift operations

The full list of supported checks can be found on the official webpage.

Configuration

To enable PVS-Studio tool simply add it to the check_tool option in “platformio.ini” (Project Configuration File):

[env:myenv]
platform = ...
board = ...
check_tool = pvs-studio

Useful options that can be used used for adjusting check process:

Extra flags

Useful flags that can help more precisely configure PVS-Studio to satisfy your project requirements:

Flag

Meaning

--analysis-mode <arg>

Analysis mode (0 - full analysis (default), 1 - 64-bit. analysis, 2 - reserved, 4 - general analysis, 8 - optimization, 16 - customer’s specific requests, 32 - MISRA)

--analyzer-errors <arg>

Errors activation (Default: all errors is on)

--errors-off <arg>

Errors OFF (Default: all errors is on)

--exclude-path <arg>

All code that is located under the path will be excluded from analysis

--lic-file <arg>

Path to custom license file. Default locations ~/.config/PVS-Studio/PVS-Studio.lic on Unix and %APPDATA%\PVS-Studio\PVS-Studio.lic on Windows

--rules-config <arg>

Specifies the path to rules configuration file.

--platform <arg>

Platform name (Win32, x64, etc) (Default: ARM)

An example with a special analysis mode, disabled errors and license file:

[env:myenv]
platform = ...
board = ...
check_tool = pvs-studio
check_flags =
  pvs-studio: --analysis-mode=4 --errors-off=V532,V586 --lic-file=/path/to/file.lic

Obtaining license

Since PVS-Studio is a paid B2B solution, a license should be purchased. But PVS-Studio can be used for free of charge, for example for checking open source projects. More information about the cases when you can get a free PVS-Studio license can be found on the official webpage.

Tip

If you’re experiencing problems with the license file or see the following error message: License information is incorrect. Please check your registration data or contact Customer Support, try saving the license file in UTF-8 + BOM format with the following contents:

name@domain.com
AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD