mingw-5.1.4/win32/man/man1/gcov.1
changeset 0 76b1f169d9fe
equal deleted inserted replaced
-1:000000000000 0:76b1f169d9fe
       
     1 .\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man v1.37, Pod::Parser v1.14
       
     2 .\"
       
     3 .\" Standard preamble:
       
     4 .\" ========================================================================
       
     5 .de Sh \" Subsection heading
       
     6 .br
       
     7 .if t .Sp
       
     8 .ne 5
       
     9 .PP
       
    10 \fB\\$1\fR
       
    11 .PP
       
    12 ..
       
    13 .de Sp \" Vertical space (when we can't use .PP)
       
    14 .if t .sp .5v
       
    15 .if n .sp
       
    16 ..
       
    17 .de Vb \" Begin verbatim text
       
    18 .ft CW
       
    19 .nf
       
    20 .ne \\$1
       
    21 ..
       
    22 .de Ve \" End verbatim text
       
    23 .ft R
       
    24 .fi
       
    25 ..
       
    26 .\" Set up some character translations and predefined strings.  \*(-- will
       
    27 .\" give an unbreakable dash, \*(PI will give pi, \*(L" will give a left
       
    28 .\" double quote, and \*(R" will give a right double quote.  | will give a
       
    29 .\" real vertical bar.  \*(C+ will give a nicer C++.  Capital omega is used to
       
    30 .\" do unbreakable dashes and therefore won't be available.  \*(C` and \*(C'
       
    31 .\" expand to `' in nroff, nothing in troff, for use with C<>.
       
    32 .tr \(*W-|\(bv\*(Tr
       
    33 .ds C+ C\v'-.1v'\h'-1p'\s-2+\h'-1p'+\s0\v'.1v'\h'-1p'
       
    34 .ie n \{\
       
    35 .    ds -- \(*W-
       
    36 .    ds PI pi
       
    37 .    if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=24u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-12u'-\" diablo 10 pitch
       
    38 .    if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=20u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-8u'-\"  diablo 12 pitch
       
    39 .    ds L" ""
       
    40 .    ds R" ""
       
    41 .    ds C` ""
       
    42 .    ds C' ""
       
    43 'br\}
       
    44 .el\{\
       
    45 .    ds -- \|\(em\|
       
    46 .    ds PI \(*p
       
    47 .    ds L" ``
       
    48 .    ds R" ''
       
    49 'br\}
       
    50 .\"
       
    51 .\" If the F register is turned on, we'll generate index entries on stderr for
       
    52 .\" titles (.TH), headers (.SH), subsections (.Sh), items (.Ip), and index
       
    53 .\" entries marked with X<> in POD.  Of course, you'll have to process the
       
    54 .\" output yourself in some meaningful fashion.
       
    55 .if \nF \{\
       
    56 .    de IX
       
    57 .    tm Index:\\$1\t\\n%\t"\\$2"
       
    58 ..
       
    59 .    nr % 0
       
    60 .    rr F
       
    61 .\}
       
    62 .\"
       
    63 .\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
       
    64 .\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
       
    65 .hy 0
       
    66 .if n .na
       
    67 .\"
       
    68 .\" Accent mark definitions (@(#)ms.acc 1.5 88/02/08 SMI; from UCB 4.2).
       
    69 .\" Fear.  Run.  Save yourself.  No user-serviceable parts.
       
    70 .    \" fudge factors for nroff and troff
       
    71 .if n \{\
       
    72 .    ds #H 0
       
    73 .    ds #V .8m
       
    74 .    ds #F .3m
       
    75 .    ds #[ \f1
       
    76 .    ds #] \fP
       
    77 .\}
       
    78 .if t \{\
       
    79 .    ds #H ((1u-(\\\\n(.fu%2u))*.13m)
       
    80 .    ds #V .6m
       
    81 .    ds #F 0
       
    82 .    ds #[ \&
       
    83 .    ds #] \&
       
    84 .\}
       
    85 .    \" simple accents for nroff and troff
       
    86 .if n \{\
       
    87 .    ds ' \&
       
    88 .    ds ` \&
       
    89 .    ds ^ \&
       
    90 .    ds , \&
       
    91 .    ds ~ ~
       
    92 .    ds /
       
    93 .\}
       
    94 .if t \{\
       
    95 .    ds ' \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H)'\'\h"|\\n:u"
       
    96 .    ds ` \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H)'\`\h'|\\n:u'
       
    97 .    ds ^ \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*10/11-\*(#H)'^\h'|\\n:u'
       
    98 .    ds , \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10)',\h'|\\n:u'
       
    99 .    ds ~ \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu-\*(#H-.1m)'~\h'|\\n:u'
       
   100 .    ds / \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H)'\z\(sl\h'|\\n:u'
       
   101 .\}
       
   102 .    \" troff and (daisy-wheel) nroff accents
       
   103 .ds : \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*8/10-\*(#H+.1m+\*(#F)'\v'-\*(#V'\z.\h'.2m+\*(#F'.\h'|\\n:u'\v'\*(#V'
       
   104 .ds 8 \h'\*(#H'\(*b\h'-\*(#H'
       
   105 .ds o \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu+\w'\(de'u-\*(#H)/2u'\v'-.3n'\*(#[\z\(de\v'.3n'\h'|\\n:u'\*(#]
       
   106 .ds d- \h'\*(#H'\(pd\h'-\w'~'u'\v'-.25m'\f2\(hy\fP\v'.25m'\h'-\*(#H'
       
   107 .ds D- D\\k:\h'-\w'D'u'\v'-.11m'\z\(hy\v'.11m'\h'|\\n:u'
       
   108 .ds th \*(#[\v'.3m'\s+1I\s-1\v'-.3m'\h'-(\w'I'u*2/3)'\s-1o\s+1\*(#]
       
   109 .ds Th \*(#[\s+2I\s-2\h'-\w'I'u*3/5'\v'-.3m'o\v'.3m'\*(#]
       
   110 .ds ae a\h'-(\w'a'u*4/10)'e
       
   111 .ds Ae A\h'-(\w'A'u*4/10)'E
       
   112 .    \" corrections for vroff
       
   113 .if v .ds ~ \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*9/10-\*(#H)'\s-2\u~\d\s+2\h'|\\n:u'
       
   114 .if v .ds ^ \\k:\h'-(\\n(.wu*10/11-\*(#H)'\v'-.4m'^\v'.4m'\h'|\\n:u'
       
   115 .    \" for low resolution devices (crt and lpr)
       
   116 .if \n(.H>23 .if \n(.V>19 \
       
   117 \{\
       
   118 .    ds : e
       
   119 .    ds 8 ss
       
   120 .    ds o a
       
   121 .    ds d- d\h'-1'\(ga
       
   122 .    ds D- D\h'-1'\(hy
       
   123 .    ds th \o'bp'
       
   124 .    ds Th \o'LP'
       
   125 .    ds ae ae
       
   126 .    ds Ae AE
       
   127 .\}
       
   128 .rm #[ #] #H #V #F C
       
   129 .\" ========================================================================
       
   130 .\"
       
   131 .IX Title "GCOV 1"
       
   132 .TH GCOV 1 "2005-12-01" "gcc-3.4.5" "GNU"
       
   133 .SH "NAME"
       
   134 gcov \- coverage testing tool
       
   135 .SH "SYNOPSIS"
       
   136 .IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
       
   137 gcov [\fB\-v\fR|\fB\-\-version\fR] [\fB\-h\fR|\fB\-\-help\fR]
       
   138      [\fB\-a\fR|\fB\-\-all\-blocks\fR]
       
   139      [\fB\-b\fR|\fB\-\-branch\-probabilities\fR]
       
   140      [\fB\-c\fR|\fB\-\-branch\-counts\fR]
       
   141      [\fB\-n\fR|\fB\-\-no\-output\fR]
       
   142      [\fB\-l\fR|\fB\-\-long\-file\-names\fR]
       
   143      [\fB\-p\fR|\fB\-\-preserve\-paths\fR]
       
   144      [\fB\-f\fR|\fB\-\-function\-summaries\fR]
       
   145      [\fB\-o\fR|\fB\-\-object\-directory\fR \fIdirectory|file\fR] \fIsourcefile\fR
       
   146      [\fB\-u\fR|\fB\-\-unconditional\-branches\fR]
       
   147 .SH "DESCRIPTION"
       
   148 .IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
       
   149 \&\fBgcov\fR is a test coverage program.  Use it in concert with \s-1GCC\s0
       
   150 to analyze your programs to help create more efficient, faster running
       
   151 code and to discover untested parts of your program.  You can use
       
   152 \&\fBgcov\fR as a profiling tool to help discover where your
       
   153 optimization efforts will best affect your code.  You can also use
       
   154 \&\fBgcov\fR along with the other profiling tool, \fBgprof\fR, to
       
   155 assess which parts of your code use the greatest amount of computing
       
   156 time.
       
   157 .PP
       
   158 Profiling tools help you analyze your code's performance.  Using a
       
   159 profiler such as \fBgcov\fR or \fBgprof\fR, you can find out some
       
   160 basic performance statistics, such as:
       
   161 .IP "\(bu" 4
       
   162 how often each line of code executes
       
   163 .IP "\(bu" 4
       
   164 what lines of code are actually executed
       
   165 .IP "\(bu" 4
       
   166 how much computing time each section of code uses
       
   167 .PP
       
   168 Once you know these things about how your code works when compiled, you
       
   169 can look at each module to see which modules should be optimized.
       
   170 \&\fBgcov\fR helps you determine where to work on optimization.
       
   171 .PP
       
   172 Software developers also use coverage testing in concert with
       
   173 testsuites, to make sure software is actually good enough for a release.
       
   174 Testsuites can verify that a program works as expected; a coverage
       
   175 program tests to see how much of the program is exercised by the
       
   176 testsuite.  Developers can then determine what kinds of test cases need
       
   177 to be added to the testsuites to create both better testing and a better
       
   178 final product.
       
   179 .PP
       
   180 You should compile your code without optimization if you plan to use
       
   181 \&\fBgcov\fR because the optimization, by combining some lines of code
       
   182 into one function, may not give you as much information as you need to
       
   183 look for `hot spots' where the code is using a great deal of computer
       
   184 time.  Likewise, because \fBgcov\fR accumulates statistics by line (at
       
   185 the lowest resolution), it works best with a programming style that
       
   186 places only one statement on each line.  If you use complicated macros
       
   187 that expand to loops or to other control structures, the statistics are
       
   188 less helpful\-\-\-they only report on the line where the macro call
       
   189 appears.  If your complex macros behave like functions, you can replace
       
   190 them with inline functions to solve this problem.
       
   191 .PP
       
   192 \&\fBgcov\fR creates a logfile called \fI\fIsourcefile\fI.gcov\fR which
       
   193 indicates how many times each line of a source file \fI\fIsourcefile\fI.c\fR
       
   194 has executed.  You can use these logfiles along with \fBgprof\fR to aid
       
   195 in fine-tuning the performance of your programs.  \fBgprof\fR gives
       
   196 timing information you can use along with the information you get from
       
   197 \&\fBgcov\fR.
       
   198 .PP
       
   199 \&\fBgcov\fR works only on code compiled with \s-1GCC\s0.  It is not
       
   200 compatible with any other profiling or test coverage mechanism.
       
   201 .SH "OPTIONS"
       
   202 .IX Header "OPTIONS"
       
   203 .IP "\fB\-h\fR" 4
       
   204 .IX Item "-h"
       
   205 .PD 0
       
   206 .IP "\fB\-\-help\fR" 4
       
   207 .IX Item "--help"
       
   208 .PD
       
   209 Display help about using \fBgcov\fR (on the standard output), and
       
   210 exit without doing any further processing.
       
   211 .IP "\fB\-v\fR" 4
       
   212 .IX Item "-v"
       
   213 .PD 0
       
   214 .IP "\fB\-\-version\fR" 4
       
   215 .IX Item "--version"
       
   216 .PD
       
   217 Display the \fBgcov\fR version number (on the standard output),
       
   218 and exit without doing any further processing.
       
   219 .IP "\fB\-a\fR" 4
       
   220 .IX Item "-a"
       
   221 .PD 0
       
   222 .IP "\fB\-\-all\-blocks\fR" 4
       
   223 .IX Item "--all-blocks"
       
   224 .PD
       
   225 Write individual execution counts for every basic block. Normally gcov
       
   226 outputs execution counts only for the main blocks of a line. With this
       
   227 option you can determine if blocks within a single line are not being
       
   228 executed.
       
   229 .IP "\fB\-b\fR" 4
       
   230 .IX Item "-b"
       
   231 .PD 0
       
   232 .IP "\fB\-\-branch\-probabilities\fR" 4
       
   233 .IX Item "--branch-probabilities"
       
   234 .PD
       
   235 Write branch frequencies to the output file, and write branch summary
       
   236 info to the standard output.  This option allows you to see how often
       
   237 each branch in your program was taken. Unconditional branches will not
       
   238 be shown, unless the \fB\-u\fR option is given.
       
   239 .IP "\fB\-c\fR" 4
       
   240 .IX Item "-c"
       
   241 .PD 0
       
   242 .IP "\fB\-\-branch\-counts\fR" 4
       
   243 .IX Item "--branch-counts"
       
   244 .PD
       
   245 Write branch frequencies as the number of branches taken, rather than
       
   246 the percentage of branches taken.
       
   247 .IP "\fB\-n\fR" 4
       
   248 .IX Item "-n"
       
   249 .PD 0
       
   250 .IP "\fB\-\-no\-output\fR" 4
       
   251 .IX Item "--no-output"
       
   252 .PD
       
   253 Do not create the \fBgcov\fR output file.
       
   254 .IP "\fB\-l\fR" 4
       
   255 .IX Item "-l"
       
   256 .PD 0
       
   257 .IP "\fB\-\-long\-file\-names\fR" 4
       
   258 .IX Item "--long-file-names"
       
   259 .PD
       
   260 Create long file names for included source files.  For example, if the
       
   261 header file \fIx.h\fR contains code, and was included in the file
       
   262 \&\fIa.c\fR, then running \fBgcov\fR on the file \fIa.c\fR will produce
       
   263 an output file called \fIa.c##x.h.gcov\fR instead of \fIx.h.gcov\fR.
       
   264 This can be useful if \fIx.h\fR is included in multiple source
       
   265 files. If you uses the \fB\-p\fR option, both the including and
       
   266 included file names will be complete path names.
       
   267 .IP "\fB\-p\fR" 4
       
   268 .IX Item "-p"
       
   269 .PD 0
       
   270 .IP "\fB\-\-preserve\-paths\fR" 4
       
   271 .IX Item "--preserve-paths"
       
   272 .PD
       
   273 Preserve complete path information in the names of generated
       
   274 \&\fI.gcov\fR files. Without this option, just the filename component is
       
   275 used. With this option, all directories are used, with '/' characters
       
   276 translated to '#' characters, '.' directory components removed and '..'
       
   277 components renamed to '^'. This is useful if sourcefiles are in several
       
   278 different directories. It also affects the \fB\-l\fR option.
       
   279 .IP "\fB\-f\fR" 4
       
   280 .IX Item "-f"
       
   281 .PD 0
       
   282 .IP "\fB\-\-function\-summaries\fR" 4
       
   283 .IX Item "--function-summaries"
       
   284 .PD
       
   285 Output summaries for each function in addition to the file level summary.
       
   286 .IP "\fB\-o\fR \fIdirectory|file\fR" 4
       
   287 .IX Item "-o directory|file"
       
   288 .PD 0
       
   289 .IP "\fB\-\-object\-directory\fR \fIdirectory\fR" 4
       
   290 .IX Item "--object-directory directory"
       
   291 .IP "\fB\-\-object\-file\fR \fIfile\fR" 4
       
   292 .IX Item "--object-file file"
       
   293 .PD
       
   294 Specify either the directory containing the gcov data files, or the
       
   295 object path name. The \fI.gcno\fR, and
       
   296 \&\fI.gcda\fR data files are searched for using this option. If a directory
       
   297 is specified, the data files are in that directory and named after the
       
   298 source file name, without its extension. If a file is specified here,
       
   299 the data files are named after that file, without its extension. If this
       
   300 option is not supplied, it defaults to the current directory.
       
   301 .IP "\fB\-u\fR" 4
       
   302 .IX Item "-u"
       
   303 .PD 0
       
   304 .IP "\fB\-\-unconditional\-branches\fR" 4
       
   305 .IX Item "--unconditional-branches"
       
   306 .PD
       
   307 When branch counts are given, include those of unconditional branches.
       
   308 Unconditional branches are normally not interesting.
       
   309 .PP
       
   310 \&\fBgcov\fR should be run with the current directory the same as that
       
   311 when you invoked the compiler. Otherwise it will not be able to locate
       
   312 the source files. \fBgcov\fR produces files called
       
   313 \&\fI\fImangledname\fI.gcov\fR in the current directory. These contain
       
   314 the coverage information of the source file they correspond to.
       
   315 One \fI.gcov\fR file is produced for each source file containing code,
       
   316 which was compiled to produce the data files. The \fImangledname\fR part
       
   317 of the output file name is usually simply the source file name, but can
       
   318 be something more complicated if the \fB\-l\fR or \fB\-p\fR options are
       
   319 given. Refer to those options for details.
       
   320 .PP
       
   321 The \fI.gcov\fR files contain the ':' separated fields along with
       
   322 program source code. The format is
       
   323 .PP
       
   324 .Vb 1
       
   325 \&        <execution_count>:<line_number>:<source line text>
       
   326 .Ve
       
   327 .PP
       
   328 Additional block information may succeed each line, when requested by
       
   329 command line option. The \fIexecution_count\fR is \fB\-\fR for lines
       
   330 containing no code and \fB#####\fR for lines which were never
       
   331 executed. Some lines of information at the start have \fIline_number\fR
       
   332 of zero.
       
   333 .PP
       
   334 When printing percentages, 0% and 100% are only printed when the values
       
   335 are \fIexactly\fR 0% and 100% respectively. Other values which would
       
   336 conventionally be rounded to 0% or 100% are instead printed as the
       
   337 nearest non-boundary value.
       
   338 .PP
       
   339 When using \fBgcov\fR, you must first compile your program with two
       
   340 special \s-1GCC\s0 options: \fB\-fprofile\-arcs \-ftest\-coverage\fR.
       
   341 This tells the compiler to generate additional information needed by
       
   342 gcov (basically a flow graph of the program) and also includes
       
   343 additional code in the object files for generating the extra profiling
       
   344 information needed by gcov.  These additional files are placed in the
       
   345 directory where the object file is located.
       
   346 .PP
       
   347 Running the program will cause profile output to be generated.  For each
       
   348 source file compiled with \fB\-fprofile\-arcs\fR, an accompanying
       
   349 \&\fI.gcda\fR file will be placed in the object file directory.
       
   350 .PP
       
   351 Running \fBgcov\fR with your program's source file names as arguments
       
   352 will now produce a listing of the code along with frequency of execution
       
   353 for each line.  For example, if your program is called \fItmp.c\fR, this
       
   354 is what you see when you use the basic \fBgcov\fR facility:
       
   355 .PP
       
   356 .Vb 5
       
   357 \&        $ gcc -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage tmp.c
       
   358 \&        $ a.out
       
   359 \&        $ gcov tmp.c
       
   360 \&        90.00% of 10 source lines executed in file tmp.c
       
   361 \&        Creating tmp.c.gcov.
       
   362 .Ve
       
   363 .PP
       
   364 The file \fItmp.c.gcov\fR contains output from \fBgcov\fR.
       
   365 Here is a sample:
       
   366 .PP
       
   367 .Vb 23
       
   368 \&                -:    0:Source:tmp.c
       
   369 \&                -:    0:Graph:tmp.gcno
       
   370 \&                -:    0:Data:tmp.gcda
       
   371 \&                -:    0:Runs:1
       
   372 \&                -:    0:Programs:1
       
   373 \&                -:    1:#include <stdio.h>
       
   374 \&                -:    2:
       
   375 \&                -:    3:int main (void)
       
   376 \&        function main called 1 returned 1 blocks executed 75%
       
   377 \&                1:    4:{
       
   378 \&                1:    5:  int i, total;
       
   379 \&                -:    6:
       
   380 \&                1:    7:  total = 0;
       
   381 \&                -:    8:
       
   382 \&               11:    9:  for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
       
   383 \&               10:   10:    total += i;
       
   384 \&                -:   11:
       
   385 \&                1:   12:  if (total != 45)
       
   386 \&            #####:   13:    printf ("Failure\en");
       
   387 \&                -:   14:  else
       
   388 \&                1:   15:    printf ("Success\en");
       
   389 \&                1:   16:  return 0;
       
   390 \&                -:   17:}
       
   391 .Ve
       
   392 .PP
       
   393 When you use the \fB\-a\fR option, you will get individual block
       
   394 counts, and the output looks like this:
       
   395 .PP
       
   396 .Vb 30
       
   397 \&                -:    0:Source:tmp.c
       
   398 \&                -:    0:Graph:tmp.gcno
       
   399 \&                -:    0:Data:tmp.gcda
       
   400 \&                -:    0:Runs:1
       
   401 \&                -:    0:Programs:1
       
   402 \&                -:    1:#include <stdio.h>
       
   403 \&                -:    2:
       
   404 \&                -:    3:int main (void)
       
   405 \&        function main called 1 returned 1 blocks executed 75%
       
   406 \&                1:    4:{
       
   407 \&                1:    4-block  0
       
   408 \&                1:    5:  int i, total;
       
   409 \&                -:    6:
       
   410 \&                1:    7:  total = 0;
       
   411 \&                -:    8:
       
   412 \&               11:    9:  for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
       
   413 \&               11:    9-block  0
       
   414 \&               10:   10:    total += i;
       
   415 \&               10:   10-block  0
       
   416 \&                -:   11:
       
   417 \&                1:   12:  if (total != 45)
       
   418 \&                1:   12-block  0
       
   419 \&            #####:   13:    printf ("Failure\en");
       
   420 \&            $$$$$:   13-block  0
       
   421 \&                -:   14:  else
       
   422 \&                1:   15:    printf ("Success\en");
       
   423 \&                1:   15-block  0
       
   424 \&                1:   16:  return 0;
       
   425 \&                1:   16-block  0
       
   426 \&                -:   17:}
       
   427 .Ve
       
   428 .PP
       
   429 In this mode, each basic block is only shown on one line \*(-- the last
       
   430 line of the block. A multi-line block will only contribute to the
       
   431 execution count of that last line, and other lines will not be shown
       
   432 to contain code, unless previous blocks end on those lines.
       
   433 The total execution count of a line is shown and subsequent lines show
       
   434 the execution counts for individual blocks that end on that line. After each
       
   435 block, the branch and call counts of the block will be shown, if the
       
   436 \&\fB\-b\fR option is given.
       
   437 .PP
       
   438 Because of the way \s-1GCC\s0 instruments calls, a call count can be shown
       
   439 after a line with no individual blocks.
       
   440 As you can see, line 13 contains a basic block that was not executed.
       
   441 .PP
       
   442 When you use the \fB\-b\fR option, your output looks like this:
       
   443 .PP
       
   444 .Vb 6
       
   445 \&        $ gcov -b tmp.c
       
   446 \&        90.00% of 10 source lines executed in file tmp.c
       
   447 \&        80.00% of 5 branches executed in file tmp.c
       
   448 \&        80.00% of 5 branches taken at least once in file tmp.c
       
   449 \&        50.00% of 2 calls executed in file tmp.c
       
   450 \&        Creating tmp.c.gcov.
       
   451 .Ve
       
   452 .PP
       
   453 Here is a sample of a resulting \fItmp.c.gcov\fR file:
       
   454 .PP
       
   455 .Vb 29
       
   456 \&                -:    0:Source:tmp.c
       
   457 \&                -:    0:Graph:tmp.gcno
       
   458 \&                -:    0:Data:tmp.gcda
       
   459 \&                -:    0:Runs:1
       
   460 \&                -:    0:Programs:1
       
   461 \&                -:    1:#include <stdio.h>
       
   462 \&                -:    2:
       
   463 \&                -:    3:int main (void)
       
   464 \&        function main called 1 returned 1 blocks executed 75%
       
   465 \&                1:    4:{
       
   466 \&                1:    5:  int i, total;
       
   467 \&                -:    6:
       
   468 \&                1:    7:  total = 0;
       
   469 \&                -:    8:
       
   470 \&               11:    9:  for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
       
   471 \&        branch  0 taken 91% (fallthrough)
       
   472 \&        branch  1 taken 9%
       
   473 \&               10:   10:    total += i;
       
   474 \&                -:   11:
       
   475 \&                1:   12:  if (total != 45)
       
   476 \&        branch  0 taken 0% (fallthrough)
       
   477 \&        branch  1 taken 100%
       
   478 \&            #####:   13:    printf ("Failure\en");
       
   479 \&        call    0 never executed
       
   480 \&                -:   14:  else
       
   481 \&                1:   15:    printf ("Success\en");
       
   482 \&        call    0 called 1 returned 100%
       
   483 \&                1:   16:  return 0;
       
   484 \&                -:   17:}
       
   485 .Ve
       
   486 .PP
       
   487 For each basic block, a line is printed after the last line of the basic
       
   488 block describing the branch or call that ends the basic block.  There can
       
   489 be multiple branches and calls listed for a single source line if there
       
   490 are multiple basic blocks that end on that line.  In this case, the
       
   491 branches and calls are each given a number.  There is no simple way to map
       
   492 these branches and calls back to source constructs.  In general, though,
       
   493 the lowest numbered branch or call will correspond to the leftmost construct
       
   494 on the source line.
       
   495 .PP
       
   496 For a branch, if it was executed at least once, then a percentage
       
   497 indicating the number of times the branch was taken divided by the
       
   498 number of times the branch was executed will be printed.  Otherwise, the
       
   499 message ``never executed'' is printed.
       
   500 .PP
       
   501 For a call, if it was executed at least once, then a percentage
       
   502 indicating the number of times the call returned divided by the number
       
   503 of times the call was executed will be printed.  This will usually be
       
   504 100%, but may be less for functions call \f(CW\*(C`exit\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`longjmp\*(C'\fR,
       
   505 and thus may not return every time they are called.
       
   506 .PP
       
   507 The execution counts are cumulative.  If the example program were
       
   508 executed again without removing the \fI.gcda\fR file, the count for the
       
   509 number of times each line in the source was executed would be added to
       
   510 the results of the previous run(s).  This is potentially useful in
       
   511 several ways.  For example, it could be used to accumulate data over a
       
   512 number of program runs as part of a test verification suite, or to
       
   513 provide more accurate long-term information over a large number of
       
   514 program runs.
       
   515 .PP
       
   516 The data in the \fI.gcda\fR files is saved immediately before the program
       
   517 exits.  For each source file compiled with \fB\-fprofile\-arcs\fR, the
       
   518 profiling code first attempts to read in an existing \fI.gcda\fR file; if
       
   519 the file doesn't match the executable (differing number of basic block
       
   520 counts) it will ignore the contents of the file.  It then adds in the
       
   521 new execution counts and finally writes the data to the file.
       
   522 .Sh "Using \fBgcov\fP with \s-1GCC\s0 Optimization"
       
   523 .IX Subsection "Using gcov with GCC Optimization"
       
   524 If you plan to use \fBgcov\fR to help optimize your code, you must
       
   525 first compile your program with two special \s-1GCC\s0 options:
       
   526 \&\fB\-fprofile\-arcs \-ftest\-coverage\fR.  Aside from that, you can use any
       
   527 other \s-1GCC\s0 options; but if you want to prove that every single line
       
   528 in your program was executed, you should not compile with optimization
       
   529 at the same time.  On some machines the optimizer can eliminate some
       
   530 simple code lines by combining them with other lines.  For example, code
       
   531 like this:
       
   532 .PP
       
   533 .Vb 4
       
   534 \&        if (a != b)
       
   535 \&          c = 1;
       
   536 \&        else
       
   537 \&          c = 0;
       
   538 .Ve
       
   539 .PP
       
   540 can be compiled into one instruction on some machines.  In this case,
       
   541 there is no way for \fBgcov\fR to calculate separate execution counts
       
   542 for each line because there isn't separate code for each line.  Hence
       
   543 the \fBgcov\fR output looks like this if you compiled the program with
       
   544 optimization:
       
   545 .PP
       
   546 .Vb 4
       
   547 \&              100:   12:if (a != b)
       
   548 \&              100:   13:  c = 1;
       
   549 \&              100:   14:else
       
   550 \&              100:   15:  c = 0;
       
   551 .Ve
       
   552 .PP
       
   553 The output shows that this block of code, combined by optimization,
       
   554 executed 100 times.  In one sense this result is correct, because there
       
   555 was only one instruction representing all four of these lines.  However,
       
   556 the output does not indicate how many times the result was 0 and how
       
   557 many times the result was 1.
       
   558 .PP
       
   559 Inlineable functions can create unexpected line counts.  Line counts are
       
   560 shown for the source code of the inlineable function, but what is shown
       
   561 depends on where the function is inlined, or if it is not inlined at all.
       
   562 .PP
       
   563 If the function is not inlined, the compiler must emit an out of line
       
   564 copy of the function, in any object file that needs it.  If
       
   565 \&\fIfileA.o\fR and \fIfileB.o\fR both contain out of line bodies of a
       
   566 particular inlineable function, they will also both contain coverage
       
   567 counts for that function.  When \fIfileA.o\fR and \fIfileB.o\fR are
       
   568 linked together, the linker will, on many systems, select one of those
       
   569 out of line bodies for all calls to that function, and remove or ignore
       
   570 the other.  Unfortunately, it will not remove the coverage counters for
       
   571 the unused function body.  Hence when instrumented, all but one use of
       
   572 that function will show zero counts.
       
   573 .PP
       
   574 If the function is inlined in several places, the block structure in
       
   575 each location might not be the same.  For instance, a condition might
       
   576 now be calculable at compile time in some instances.  Because the
       
   577 coverage of all the uses of the inline function will be shown for the
       
   578 same source lines, the line counts themselves might seem inconsistent.
       
   579 .SH "SEE ALSO"
       
   580 .IX Header "SEE ALSO"
       
   581 \&\fIgpl\fR\|(7), \fIgfdl\fR\|(7), \fIfsf\-funding\fR\|(7), \fIgcc\fR\|(1) and the Info entry for \fIgcc\fR.
       
   582 .SH "COPYRIGHT"
       
   583 .IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
       
   584 Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
       
   585 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       
   586 .PP
       
   587 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
       
   588 under the terms of the \s-1GNU\s0 Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
       
   589 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
       
   590 Invariant Sections being ``\s-1GNU\s0 General Public License'' and ``Funding
       
   591 Free Software'', the Front-Cover texts being (a) (see below), and with
       
   592 the Back-Cover Texts being (b) (see below).  A copy of the license is
       
   593 included in the \fIgfdl\fR\|(7) man page.
       
   594 .PP
       
   595 (a) The \s-1FSF\s0's Front-Cover Text is:
       
   596 .PP
       
   597 .Vb 1
       
   598 \&     A GNU Manual
       
   599 .Ve
       
   600 .PP
       
   601 (b) The \s-1FSF\s0's Back-Cover Text is:
       
   602 .PP
       
   603 .Vb 3
       
   604 \&     You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU
       
   605 \&     software.  Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise
       
   606 \&     funds for GNU development.
       
   607 .Ve