Insure++ is a unique programming tool designed by ParaSoft company that automatically detects large classes of programming and runtime errors at both compile time and runtime.

It is able to detect a wide variety of typical programming and memory access errors in C/C++ programs, including:

- memory corruption due to reading or writing beyond the valid areas of global, local, shared and dynamically allocated objects;
- operations on illegal, or unrelated pointers;
- reading uninitialized memory;
- memory leaks ( "memory garbage" that remains unaccessible for the program after the pointer referring to a  memory location has been    stroyed);
- errors allocating and freeing dynamic memory;
- string manipulation errors;
- incompatible variable declarations;
- mismatched argument types of and/or invalid parameters in library calls;
- and much more...
 
 

Preparation

In order to use Insure++ tool you have first to adjust your .cshrc file.
Add the command
source /local/config/cshrc.parasoft
in your .cshrc file.

Note: cshrc.parasoft should be sourced AFTER cshrc.standard or cshrc.gcc since it redefines some of the libraries. A better option is to do a
source /local/config/cshrc.parasoft
in the command line everytime you run Insure, instead of including it in your .cshrc file.
Also note that after you have completed working with Insure, you should do a
source  /local/config/cshrc.gcc
in the command line, to get back all the original gcc libraries.
In case you have done the source cshrc.parasoftin your .cshrc file, then after that do a
source  /local/config/cshrc.gcc to restore gcc.
 
 

How to run the INSURE++ tool
 

You use Insure++  by processing your program with the special insight program in place of your normal compiler. This creates a version of your code which includes calls to the Insure++  library and then passes it to your normal compiler. Then you run your program in the normal fashion.

During the compilation process Insurewill report a variety of programming errors. For each error reported you will see the source code line that appears to be incorrect and an explanation of what type of error occurred. Insra is a Graphical user interface for displaying error messages generated by Insure++.

Let's start with an example of debugging session.

Copy file bubble1.c  to your  directory.

Enter the command

insure -g -o bubble1 bubble1.c
 

Note: If you are running your program from a remote host, then you must set the display environment in the machine that you are currently working in. Type in the following command in the command line before running Insure:

setenv DISPLAY your_machine:0.0

For example, if I run the program in oso, from herbrand, I type the following in the command line:

oso:[9] setenv DISPLAY herbrand:0.0
oso:[10] insure -g -o bubble1 bubble1.c
oso:[10]

This will create an executable file  bubble1 with necessary calls to the Insure runtime library. An Insra window pops up that indicates that there are no compile time errors detected, as is seen below:
 
 

Now you can run you program by typing

bubble1

in the command line, just as you do while compiling with the normal compiler.

The Insra window shows a bug symbol and the message READ_BAD_INDEX as is seen below:

you can click on the '+' icon in the Insra window to get a detailed  explanation of the error.
 
 

In the example shown, Insure  has detected two runtime errors when the array index is out of range. If you click on each bug icon
(the red arrow icon) it will open a vi editor window showing the whole source code file and the line that contains the error:
 
 

It is possible to edit the source code, if you feel comfortable with the vi editor, or you can open Emacs and to do necessary editing there.

Try more examples that represent some typical C/C++ errors which are not detected by the compiler:
 

•   readindx.c
•   readnull.c
•   writindx.c

Home Assignment (10 points)
 

Write your own example of a small C program that manipulates an array index. Plant an error in this program and see if  Insure++ could detect this bug at the runtime. Submit your example to TA with a brief explanation of the bug planted and the results of your experiment with Insure++.

If you could prove that your program contains a bug (reading/writing beyond the array boundaries) that Insure++ does not detect, you are eligible for a bonus 5 points.

NOTE:

Due to some technical problems the insure++ software is not available on the Linux machines. So, you are expected to log on to the solaris machines and do the assignment. The names of the solaris machines onto which you can login are
guinness, moretti, budvar, ceres, chimay. You can use any one of these machines.

This can be done using the following procedure,

1. To allow remote machines to open windows on your display, use the following command

oso[1]% xhost budvar
budvar being added to access control list
 

2. Remote login to one of the solaris machines.

oso[2]% rlogin budvar
Last login: Wed Mar  8 13:36:37 from oso
Sun Microsystems Inc.   SunOS 5.7       Generic October 1998
You have new mail.
budvar[1]%

3. You need to instruct the machine(here budvar) to open all windows on your local machine (here oso).

budvar[1]% setenv DISPLAY oso:0.0

4. If you are using a directory other than the home directory for this lab, then change your directory.

budvar[4]% cd cs371
budvar:/home/grad2/ppesara/cs371
 

5. To use the insure++ tool  run the following on your command line.

budvar[5]% source /local/config/cshrc.parasoft

6. Run the sample program using insure.

budvar[6]% insure -g -o bubble1 bubble1.c
** Insure messages will be sent to Insra **

7. Run the executable code "bubble1".

budvar[7]%bubble1
 

If you have any questions regarding the assignment email me or you can meet me in my Office Hours.