Description / Features
This plugin adds basic support of C++ language into Sonar.
Current feature list:
- Basic size metrics:
- Files (number of)
- Lines
- Lines of comments
- Lines of code
- Lines of commented out code
- Static code checking via virtually any static analyser tool. And possibility of extension of their coding rules.
- Dynamic checking for memory management problems via Valgrind
- Cyclomatic (McCabe) complexity metrics including:
- Projects complexity
- Average function/method complexity
- Average file complexity
- Complexity distributions
- Code coverage metrics including:
- Unit test overage (line and branch)
- Integration test coverage (line and branch)
- Overall branch coverage (line and branch)
- Unit test execution metrics including:
- Successfully executed tests
- Failed tests
- Skipped tests
- Execution time
- Recognition of code duplication
- Basic highlighting mode for C++ in Sonar UI
Dependencies
The Cxx-Plugin has an obligatory dependency on Java (of course... the plugin itself and all runners are Java programs).
Moreover, there are optional dependencies on:
- Various external code analyzers:
- Cppcheck. Detects a wide range of problems ranging from performance issues and resource leakage to undefined behaviour. Binary packets are available on/for various platforms. Using the latest release pays off in general; compile from source if in doubt.
- RATS. Detects (potential) security problems in code, sensible for code bases with increased security requirements. Use binary packages or compile from source.
- Vera++. Focuses on code style issues. There's a binary package for Windows, users of other platforms are likely to compile themselves.
- Valgrind (memcheck). Detects various memory management problems at runtime. Basically Linux only; just use the packages from your distribution.
- CppNcss. Provides cyclomatic (McCabe) complexity measures. This is a Java program distributed as a zip archive. Just unpack and make sure the "bin" directory is in PATH.
- Pc-Lint. Static analyser from Gimpel
- GCC, gcov, gcovr, Bullseye and Python for coverage determination. Install Python and place the script somewhere on the PATH.
Installation
- Via Update Center
- Or copy the jar-archive into <sonar home>
/extensions/plugins/directory - Restart the Sonar web server
Quick Configuration Guide
Cxx plugin uses the following properties during analysis. See here for the ways how to pass them to the plugin.
Property | Scope | Default | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sonar.cxx.suffixes.sources | System- and/or project-wide | cxx,cpp,cc,c | .C,.h | Comma separated list of file name extension to be considered as C++ source files during analysis. |
| sonar.cxx.suffixes.headers | System- and/or project-wide | hxx,hpp,hh,h | Comma separated list of file name extension to be considered as C++ source files during analysis. | |
| sonar.cxx.cppcheck.reportPath | Project-wide | cppcheck-reports/cppcheck-result-*.xml | cppcheck-report-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path to Cppcheck reports, relative to projects root. |
| sonar.cxx.cppncss.reportPath | Project-wide | cppncss-reports/cppncss-result-*.xml | cppncss-report-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path to CppNcss reports, relative to projects root. |
| sonar.cxx.gcovr.reportPath (<0.2) | Project-wide | gcovr-reports/gcovr-result-*.xml | gcovr-report-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path to gcovr reports, relative to projects root. |
| sonar.cxx.rats.reportPath | Project-wide | rats-reports/rats-result-*.xml | rats-report-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path to RATS reports, relative to projects root. |
| sonar.cxx.valgrind.reportPath | Project-wide | valgrind-reports/valgrind-result-*.xml | valgrind-report-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path to Valgrind reports, relative to projects root. |
| sonar.cxx.vera.reportPath | Project-wide | vera++-reports/vera++-result-*.xml | vera-report-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path to Vera++ reports, relative to projects root. |
| sonar.cxx.xunit.reportPath | Project-wide | xunit-reports/xunit-result-*.xml | xunit-report-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path to unit test execution reports, relative to projects root. |
| sonar.cxx.externalrules.reportPath | Project-wide | externalrules-result/externalrules-result-*.xml | externalrules-result-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path to unit test execution reports, relative to projects root. |
| sonar.cxx.xunit.xsltURL | Project-wide | cppunit-1.x-to-junit-1.0.xsl | A name of a built in XSLT-file or an URL to an external one. Available builtins:
| |
| sonar.cxx.coverage.reportPath (>=0.2) | Project-wide | coverage-reports/coverage-*.xml | coverage-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path of unit test coverage reports, relative to projects root. |
| sonar.cxx.coverage.itReportPath (>=0.2) | Project-wide | coverage-reports/it-coverage-*.xml | it-coverage-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path of integration test coverage reports, relative to projects root. |
| sonar.cxx.coverage.overallReportPath (>=0.2) | Project-wide | coverage-reports/overall-coverage-*.xml | overall-coverage-*.xml | Ant pattern describing the path of overall test coverage reports, relative to projects root. |
Note: Report paths are always relative to projects path.
Known limitations
- Some analyzers (RATS, most notably) may have issues and crash occasionally.
- Valgrind is only available on a subset of UNIX platforms.
Roadmap
Following items are in the queue (more or less...):
- Use SSLR technology
- Integrate compiler warnings
Implement the dependency analysis (package tangle index metric)
Changelog

