What's the best C++ code coverage tool that works with templates?

Question

I have used gcov for testing code coverage, but when it comes to templated c++ code it doesn't work so well. I use boost::spirit extensively and gcov seems to simply ignore templated spirit code.

Also I am wondering if there is a coverage tool to show how threads interacts with each other, pinpointing the possible branches/race conditions/execution flows actually executed.

There's tons of template code which is evaluated at compile time. What does "code coverage" mean for that? Normal code coverage is determined at run time. — MSalters, Oct 10 '11 at 09:39
@MSalters: I would suppose code coverage for the runtime part, but I've never seen a tool which would indicate this for *each* instanciation of the template. I guess there is an inlining issue... — Matthieu M., Oct 10 '11 at 12:03

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 10 '11 at 11:43

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TestCocoon is a great tool to try, better than gcov with good tools and report facilities. As templates are compile-time beasts, I'm not sure what coverage information you want to get ?

my two cents

answered Oct 10 '11 at 11:43

neuro

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A good one is also [Testwell CTC++](http://www.verifysoft.com/en_ctcpp.html), it has good HTML Reports and supports every compiler and works on every embeed target. – B_PRIEUR Oct 27 '16 at 14:13
@B_PRIEUR: I don't know it. testcocoon was free at the time. I don't know Testwell product, but seems professional. Add it in an answer ... – neuro Oct 27 '16 at 15:01
Yes it is professional, I don't think it adds this much information, and moderators don't like tool answers that much :p – B_PRIEUR Oct 28 '16 at 07:00

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 13 '12 at 12:19

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C++ Coverage Validator provides coverage data for templates.

Code coverage is tracked for all threads.

answered Sep 13 '12 at 12:19

Stephen Kellett

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score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 28 '22 at 07:48

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Parasoft CPP test is a good tool for various analysis including code coverage and static analysis. This is good for digging into multithreading as well.

http://www.parasoft.com/jsp/products/cpptest.jsp

Here are 10 good open soure tools for code coverage :

https://web.archive.org/web/20181018002302/http://open-tube.com/10-code-coverage-tools-c-c/

edited Jul 28 '22 at 07:48

The Dreams Wind

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answered Oct 10 '11 at 09:57

Jay D

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 17 '11 at 08:55

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I work on a large product and we used a third party app called BullsEye for coverage testing. It worked wonders.

answered Oct 17 '11 at 08:55

Aditya Kumar Pandey

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 31 '11 at 05:13

Our C++ Test Coverage tool provides test coverage on template bodies, or at least those templates that are defined in files you specify for it to cover.

It doesn't distinguish instantiations of templates.

If you have a multi-threaded application, the tool will record the branches executed by all threads, if you configure the tool to use flags that are atomically writable (typically the natural word size of the CPU [32 or 64 bits]. (If you don't do this, you may end up with a thread race in updating the coverage flags and you can lose a bit of coverage. This isn't a defect of the tool; its a consequence of unsynchronized access to the storage holding probe data.)

For race detection, OP needs to find a race detection tool; test coverage tools won't do this.

What's the best C++ code coverage tool that works with templates?

5 Answers5