Ubuntu Manpage: frama-c[.byte] - a static analyzer for C programs

name
synopsis
description
options
exit status
environment variables
see also

Provided by: frama-c-base_20191204+calcium-0.1_amd64

NAME

       frama-c[.byte] - a static analyzer for C programs

       frama-c-gui[.byte] - the graphical interface of frama-c

SYNOPSIS

       frama-c [ options ] files

DESCRIPTION

       frama-c  is  a  suite of tools dedicated to the analysis of source code written in C.  It gathers several
       analysis techniques in a single collaborative framework.  This framework can be  extended  by  additional
       plugins placed in the $FRAMAC_PLUGIN directory.  The command

              frama-c --plugins

       will provide the full list of the plugins that are currently installed.

       frama-c-gui is the graphical user interface of frama-c.  It features the same options as the command-line
       version.

       frama-c.byte and frama-c-gui.byte are the OCaml bytecode versions of the command-line and graphical  user
       interface respectively.

       By  default, Frama-C recognizes .c files as C files needing pre-processing and .i files as C files having
       been already pre-processed.  Some plugins may extend the list of recognized files.  Pre-processing can be
       customized through the -cpp-command and -cpp-extra-args options.

OPTIONS

Syntax
Options taking an additional parameter can also be written under the form

-option=param

This form is mandatory when param starts with a dash (`-').

Most options that take no parameter have a corresponding

-no-option

option which has the opposite effect.

Help options
-help gives a short usage notice.

-kernel-help
prints the list of options recognized by Frama-C's kernel

-verbose n
sets verbosity level. Defaults to 1. Setting it to 0 will output less progress messages. This
level can also be set on a per-plugin basis, with option -plugin-verbose n. Verbosity level of
the kernel can be controlled with option -kernel-verbose n.

-debug n
sets debugging level. Defaults to 0, meaning no debugging messages. This option has the same
per-plugin (and kernel) specializations as -verbose.

-quiet sets verbosity and debugging level to 0.

Options controlling Frama-C's kernel
-absolute-valid-range min-max
considers that all numerical addresses in the range min-max are valid. Bounds are parsed as OCaml
integer constants. By default, all numerical addresses are considered invalid.

-add-path p1[,p2[...,pn]]
adds directories p1 through pn to the list of directories in which plugins are searched.

[-no]-aggressive-merging
merges function definitions modulo renaming. Defaults to no.

[-no]-allow-duplication
allows duplication of small blocks during normalization of tests and loops. Otherwise,
normalization uses labels and gotos. Bigger blocks and blocks with non-trivial control flow are
never duplicated. Defaults to yes.

[-no]-annot
reads ACSL annotations. This is the default. Annotations are pre-processed by default. Use
-no-pp-annot if you don't want to expand macros in annotations.

-big-ints-hex max
integers larger than max are displayed in hexadecimal (by default, all integers are displayed in
decimal).

-check performs integrity checks on the internal AST (for developers only).

[-no]-asm-contracts
generates contracts for assembly code written according to gcc's extended syntax. Defaults to
yes.

[-no]-asm-contracts-auto-validate
automatically marks contracts generated from asm as valid. Defaults to no.

-c11 enables (partial) C11 compatibility, e.g. typedef redefinitions. Defaults to no.

[-no]-collapse-call-cast
allows implicit cast between the value returned by a function and the lvalue it is assigned to.
Otherwise, a temporary variable is used and the cast is made explicit. Defaults to yes.

[-no]-constfold
folds all syntactically constant expressions in the code before analyses. Defaults to no.

-const-readonly
variables with const qualifier must be actually constant. Defaults to yes. The opposite option
is -unsafe-writable.

[-no]-continue-annot-error
when analyzing an annotation, the default behavior (the -no version of this option) when a
typechecking error occurs is to reject the source file as is the case for typechecking errors
within the C code. With this option on, the typechecker will only output a warning and discard
the annotation but type‐checking will continue (errors in C code are still fatal, though).
Deprecated: use -kernel-warn-key annot-error instead.

-cpp-command cmd
uses cmd as the command to pre-process C files. Defaults to the CPP environment variable or to

gcc -C -E -I.

if it is not set. If unset, the command is built as follows:

CPP -o

%1 and %2 can be used into the CPP string to mark the position of and respectively. Note that this
option is often better replaced by -cpp-extra-args.

-cpp-extra-args args
gives additional arguments to the pre-processor. Pre-processing annotations is done in two
separate pre-processing stages. The first one is a normal pass on the C code which retains macro
definitions. These are then used in the second pass during which annotations are pre-processed.
args are used only for the first pass, so that arguments that should not be used twice (such as
additional include directives or macro definitions) must thus go there instead of -cpp-command.

[-no]-cpp-frama-c-compliant
indicates that the chosen preprocessor complies to some Frama-C requirements, such as accepting
the same set of options as GNU cpp, and accepting architecture-specific options such as -m32/-m64.
Default values depend on the installed preprocessor at configure time. See also -pp-annot.

[-no]-autoload-plugins
when on, load all the dynamic plugins found in the search path (see -print-plugin-path for more
information on the default search path). Otherwise, only plugins requested by -load-module will
be loaded. Defaults to on.

-enums repr
choose the way the representation of enumerated types is determined. frama-c -enums help gives
the list of available options. Default is gcc-enums.

-float-digits n
when outputting floating-point numbers, display n digits. Defaults to 12.

-float-flush-to-zero
floating point operations flush to zero.

-float-hex
display floats as hexadecimal.

-float-normal
display floats with the standard OCaml routine.

-float-relative
display float intervals as [ lower_bound++width ].

[-no]-frama-c-stdlib
adds -I$FRAMAC_SHARE/libc to the options given to the cpp command. If -cpp-frama-c-compliant is
not false, also adds -nostdinc to prevent an inconsistent mix of system and Frama-C header files.
Defaults to yes.

-implicit-function-declaration action
warns or aborts when a function is called before it has been declared. action can be one of
ignore, warn, or error. Defaults to warn.
Deprecated: use -kernel-warn-key typing:implicit-function-declaration instead.

-initialized-padding-locals
implicit initialization of locals sets padding bits to 0. If false, padding bits are left
uninitialized. Defaults to yes.

-inline-calls f1,...,fn
syntactically inlines calls to functions f1,...,fn. Use @inline to select all functions with
attribute inline. Recursive functions are inlined only at the first level. Calls via function
pointers are not inlined.

-journal-disable
do not output a journal of the current session. See -journal-enable.

-journal-enable
on by default, dumps a journal of all the actions performed during the current Frama-C session in
the form of an OCaml script that can be replayed with -load-script. The name of the script can be
set with the -journal-name option.

-journal-name name
sets the name of the journal file (without the .ml extension). Defaults to frama_c_journal.

-json-compilation-database path
use path as a JSON compilation database (see
<https://clang.llvm.org/docs/JSONCompilationDatabase.html> for more information): each file
preprocessed by Frama-C will include corresponding -I and -D flags according to the specifications
in path. If path is a directory, use <path>/compile_commands.json. Disabled by default.

[-no]-keep-comments
tries to preserve comments when pretty-printing the source code. Defaults to no.

[-no]-keep-switch
when -simplify-cfg is set, keeps switch statements. Defaults to no.

-keep-unused-specified-functions
see -remove-unused-specified-functions.

-keep-unused-types
see -remove-unused-types.

-kernel-log kind:file
copies log messages from the Frama-C's kernel to file. kind specifies which kinds of messages to
be copied (e.g. w for warnings, e for errors, etc.). See -kernel-help for more details. Can
also be set on a per-plugin basis, with option -<plugin>-log.

-kernel-msg-key k1,...,kn
controls the emission of messages based on categories. Use -kernel-msg-key help to get a list of
available categories, and -kernel-msg-key=“*” to control all categories. To disable a category,
add a - before its name; to enable a category, simply add its name, with an optional + before it.
For instance, -kernel-msg-key=-k1,k2 will disable messages from category k1 and enable those from
category k2. Can also be set on a per-plugin basis, with option -<plugin>-msg-key. Note that
each plugin has its own set of categories.

-kernel-warn-key k1=a1,...,kn=an
controls the emission of warnings based on categories: for each warning category k, associate
action a. Use -kernel-warn-key help to get a list of available warning categories and their
currently associated actions. The following actions can be set per category: active (warn),
feedback, error, abort, once, feedback-once, err-once. Omitting the action is equivalent to
setting it to active. Warning categories can also be set on a per-plugin basis, with option
-<plugin>-warn-key.

[-no]-lib-entry
indicates that the entry point is called during program execution. This implies in particular
that global variables cannot be assumed to have their initial values. The default is
-no-lib-entry: the entry point is also the starting point of the program and globals have their
initial value.

-load file
loads the (previously saved) state contained in file.

-load-module SPEC
dynamically load OCaml plug-ins, modules and scripts. Each SPEC can be an OCaml source or object
file, with or without extension, or a Findlib package. Loading order is preserved and additional
dependencies can be listed in *.depend files.

-load-script SPEC
alias for option -load-module.

-machdep machine
uses machine as the current machine-dependent configuration (size of the various integer types,
endiandness, ...). The list of currently supported machines is available through option -machdep
help. Default is x86_32.

-main f
sets f as the entry point of the analysis. Defaults to main. By default, it is considered as the
starting point of the program under analysis. Use -lib-entry if f is supposed to be called in the
middle of an execution.

-obfuscate
prints an obfuscated version of the code (where original identifiers are replaced by meaningless
ones) and exits. The correspondence table between original and new symbols is kept at the
beginning of the result.

-ocode file
redirects pretty-printed code to file instead of standard output.

[-no]-orig-name
During the normalization phase, some variables may get renamed when different variables with the
same name can co-exist (e.g. a global variable and a formal parameter). When this option is on, a
message is printed each time this occurs. Defaults to no.

[-no]-pp-annot
pre-processes annotations. This is currently only possible when using gcc (or GNU cpp)
pre-processor. The default is to pre-process annotations when the default pre-processor is
identified as GNU or GNU-like. See also -cpp-frama-c-compliant.

[-no]-print
pretty-prints the source code as normalized by CIL. Defaults to no.

[-no]-print-libc
expands #include directives in the pretty-printed CIL code for files in the Frama-C standard
library. Defaults to no.

-print-libpath
outputs the directory where the Frama-C kernel library is installed.

-print-path
alias of -print-share-path.

-print-plugin-path
outputs the directory where Frama-C searches its plugins (can be overridden by the FRAMAC_PLUGIN
variable and the -add-path option).

-print-share-path
outputs the directory where Frama-C stores its data (can be overridden by the FRAMAC_SHARE
variable).

[-no]-remove-exn
transforms throw and try/catch statements into normal C functions. Defaults to no, unless the
input source language has an exception mechanism.

-remove-inlined f1,...,fn
removes inlined functions f1,...,fn from the AST, which must have been given to -inline-calls.
Note: this option does not check if the given functions were fully inlined.

-remove-projects p1,...,pn
removes the given projects p1,...,pn. @all_but_current removes all projects but the current one.

-remove-unused-specified-functions
keeps function prototypes that have an ACSL specification but are not used in the code. This is
the default. Functions having the attribute FRAMAC_BUILTIN are always kept.

-remove-unused-types
remove types and struct/union/enum declarations that are not referenced anywhere else in the code.
This is the default. Use -keep-unused-types to keep these definitions.

-safe-arrays
for multidimensional arrays or arrays that are fields inside structs, assumes that all accesses
must be in bound (set by default). The opposite option is -unsafe-arrays.

-save file
saves Frama-C's state into file after analyses have taken place.

-session s
sets s as the directory in which session files are searched.

[-no]-set-project-as-default
the current project becomes the default one (and so future -then sequences are applied on it).
Defaults to no.

[-no]-simplify-cfg
removes break, continue and switch statements before analyses. Defaults to no.

[-no]-simplify-trivial-loops
simplifies trivial loops such as do ... while (0) loops. Defaults to yes.

-then allows one to compose analyses: a first run of Frama-C will occur with the options before -then
and a second run will be done with the options after -then on the current project from the first
run.

-then-last
like -then, but the second group of actions is executed on the last project created by a program
transformer.

-then-on prj
similar to -then except that the second run is performed in project prj. If no such project
exists, Frama-C exits with an error.

-then-replace
like -then-last, but also removes the previous current project.

-time file
appends user time and date in the given file when Frama-C exits.

-typecheck
forces typechecking of the source files. This option is only relevant if no further analysis is
requested (as typechecking will implicitly occur before the analysis is launched).

-ulevel n
syntactically unroll loops n times before the analysis. This can be quite costly and some plugins
(e.g. Eva) provide more efficient ways to perform the same thing. See their respective manuals
for more information. This can also be activated on a per-loop basis via the loop pragma unroll
directive. A negative value for n will inhibit such pragmas.

[-no]-ulevel-force
ignores UNROLL loop pragmas disabling unrolling.

[-no]-unicode outputs ACSL formulas with UTF-8 characters. This is the default. When given the
-no-unicode option, Frama-C will use the ASCII version instead. See the ACSL manual for the
correspondence.

-unsafe-arrays
see -safe-arrays.

[-no]-unspecified-access
checks that read/write accesses occurring in an unspecified order (according to the C standard's
notion of sequence points) are performed on separate locations. With -no-unspecified-access,
assumes that it is always the case (this is the default).

-version
outputs the version string of Frama-C.

-warn-decimal-float freq
warns when a floating-point constant cannot be exactly represented (e.g. 0.1). freq can be one of
none, once, or all.
Deprecated: use -kernel-warn-key parser:decimal-float=once (and variants) instead.

[-no]-warn-left-shift-negative
generate alarms for signed left shifts on negative values. Defaults to yes.

[-no]-warn-right-shift-negative
generate alarms for signed right shifts on negative values. Defaults to no.

[-no]-warn-signed-downcast
generates alarms when signed downcasts may exceed the destination range. Defaults to no.

[-no]-warn-signed-overflow
generates alarms for signed operations that overflow. Defaults to yes.

[-no]-warn-unsigned-downcast
generates alarms when unsigned downcasts may exceed the destination range. Defaults to no.

[-no]-warn-unsigned-overflow
generates alarms for unsigned operations that overflow. Defaults to no.

[-no]-warn-invalid-bool
generates alarms for reads of trap representations of _Bool lvalues. Defaults to yes.

Plugin-specific options
For each plugin, the command

frama-c -plugin-help

will give the list of options that are specific to the plugin.

EXIT STATUS

       0      Successful execution

       1      Invalid user input

       2      User interruption (kill or equivalent)

       3      Unimplemented feature

       4 5 6  Internal error

       125    Unknown error

       Exit statuses greater than 2 can be considered as a bug (or a feature request for the case of exit status
       3) and may be reported on Frama-C's BTS (see below).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       It is possible to control the places where Frama-C looks for its files through the following variables.

       FRAMAC_LIB
              The directory where kernel's compiled interfaces are installed.

       FRAMAC_PLUGIN
              The directory where Frama-C can find standard plugins.  If you wish to  have  plugins  in  several
              places, use -add-path instead.

       FRAMAC_SHARE
              The directory where Frama-C data (e.g. its version of the standard library) is installed.