Using perl module Test::Valgrind for any executable

Question

How would I use Perl module Test::Valgrind for an executable written in C or C++? The documentation is not clear about it.

From docs: `This module is a front-end to the Test::Valgrind::* API that lets you run **Perl code** through the memcheck tool of the valgrind memory debugger, to test for memory errors and leaks` so for c/c++ you should use more appropriate tool. — edem, Dec 04 '13 at 09:25
Also From docs: `The complete API is much more versatile than this. By declaring an appropriate Test::Valgrind::Command class, you can run any executable (that is, not only Perl scripts) under valgrind, generate the corresponding suppressions on-the-fly and convert the analysis result to TAP output so that it can be incorporated into your project's testsuite.` @edem — Pritesh Acharya, Dec 04 '13 at 09:46

edem · Answer 1 · 2013-12-04T12:45:28.187

I've run some simple programs on C/Perl and have got all tests pass for every files.

perl -MTest::Valgrind a.out
perl -MTest::Valgrind b.pl

ok 1 - InvalidFree
ok 2 - MismatchedFree
ok 3 - InvalidRead
ok 4 - InvalidWrite
ok 5 - InvalidJump
ok 6 - Overlap
ok 7 - InvalidMemPool
ok 8 - UninitCondition
ok 9 - UninitValue
ok 10 - SyscallParam
ok 11 - ClientCheck
ok 12 - Leak_DefinitelyLost
ok 13 - Leak_IndirectlyLost
ok 14 - Leak_PossiblyLost
ok 15 - Leak_StillReachable

So you have to just use other file argument for this from your shell.

UPD perl -MTest::Valgrind -e 0 get the same output as above so that's not what you need I guess.

If we run perl -mTest::Valgrind Valgrind/Test-Valgrind-1.14/samples/map.pl from source distribution. we'll get a more believable result:

#     ...
#   4,080 bytes in 1 blocks are still reachable in loss record 769 of 786
#     malloc (/usr/lib/valgrind/vgpreload_memcheck-x86-linux.so) [?:?]
#     Perl_safesysmalloc (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
#     ? (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
#     Perl_newSV (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
#     Perl_yylex (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
#     Perl_yyparse (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
#     ? (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
#     Perl_pp_require (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
#     Perl_runops_standard (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
#     Perl_call_sv (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
#     Perl_call_list (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
#     ? (/usr/bin/perl) [?:?]
# Looks like you failed 3 tests of 15.
# Looks like your test exited with 3 just after 15.

You may also use valgrind tool for test with more options to control it.

DESCRIPTION Valgrind is a flexible program for debugging and profiling Linux executables. It consists of a core, which provides a synthetic CPU in software, and a series of debugging and profiling tools.

I've checked this simple perl script:

for (1..10) {
  for (1..324) {
    print $_ * $_;
  }
}

valgrind ./test.pl and got this:

==16749== HEAP SUMMARY:
==16749==     in use at exit: 224,640 bytes in 2,409 blocks
==16749==   total heap usage: 8,846 allocs, 6,437 frees, 439,538 bytes allocated
==16749== 
==16749== LEAK SUMMARY:
==16749==    definitely lost: 9,001 bytes in 17 blocks
==16749==    indirectly lost: 215,639 bytes in 2,392 blocks
==16749==      possibly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==16749==    still reachable: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==16749==         suppressed: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==16749== Rerun with --leak-check=full to see details of leaked memory
==16749== 
==16749== For counts of detected and suppressed errors, rerun with: -v
==16749== ERROR SUMMARY: 0 errors from 0 contexts (suppressed: 0 from 0)

I think this output is static regardless of input file. `#include #include #include void leak_more(void) { void *abc = malloc(sizeof(char)*100); return; } int main(void) { char *msg = strdup("abc"); printf("msg = %s\n",msg); leak_more(); return 0; }` I tested the above code for memory leak, got the same output. @edem — Pritesh Acharya, Dec 04 '13 at 11:27

Using perl module Test::Valgrind for any executable

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