Programming in Linux

AY 2023-24
GITAM UNIVERSITY v0.1, 05th Feb 2024

A University should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning.

Rajesh Sola
www.gitamedu.com
 Outline

Installing & Preparing Linux

Building simple programs - GNU Tools, GCC options
Building Multi File programs, header files
Smart Building with make (Makefiles)
Code Visualization - Pythontutor
Memory Leak & Heap Error detection
Source Formatting
Static Analysis
 Linux Installation

Dual Boot Linux

Linux over VirtualBox/VMWare

Linux over WSL

Preferred Linux Distribution – Ubuntu 22.04 / LTS version

 WSL How to

- Enable in WSL in "Turn Windows Features On or Off"

- In Windows Command Prompt

wsl --update
wsl --install -d Ubuntu
wsl --status
wsl -l –v
wsl

Enjoy the Linux enabled on top of WSL

 Simple Commands

ls • List files & directories in current/specified dir

pwd • Prints path of present working directory

mkdir • Create a new directory

cd • Change the directory

cp • Copy 1 or more files

mv • Move/Rename the files

rm • Remove the files & directories

Simple Tutorial:- https://linuxjourney.com/lesson/the-shell

 Programming in Linux

- Open Integrated Terminal in VS Code and Switch to WSL

- Install gcc and other build essentials
sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential

- Write a simple program, say hello.c

- Build using gcc, with one of the following methods
gcc hello.c -o hello # hello.out, h.out
./hello
gcc hello.c
./a.out
 Build Phases & GNU Tools, GCC options

Preprocessing gcc options & GNU Tools for these stage

gcc –E sample.c # stop with preprocessing, tool : cpp
gcc sample.c –c # stop with compilation, generates sample.o
gcc sample.o # linking, one or more obj files + std libs
Compile + Assemble # ld is the actual tool for linking

gcc –S sample.c # generates equivalent assembly, sample.s

gcc sample.s –o sample.o # assemble the code, generated obj file,
# as is the actual tool for assembling
Linking

Compile only, generates object

file

Where is the definition of printf? std C library (libc.a/libc.so)

stdio.h just provides prototype
 Multi File Programming

test.c int sum(int x,int y) sum.c

#include<sdio,h>
{
int res = x + y;
int main()
return res;
{
}
int a,b,c,d;
a=10;
b=20;
c=sum(a,b);
d=squre(a); int square(int x) sqr.c
printf(“c=%d,d=%d\n”,c,d); {
return 0; int res = x * x;
} return res;
}

gcc test.c -c Observe errors with these kind of commands

gcc sum.c -c
gcc sqr.c -c gcc test.c (or) gcc test.o
gcc test.o sum.o sqr.o -o all.out gcc sum.c (or) gcc sum.o
 Adding Prototype & Header Files

#include<sdio,h>
#ifndef __FUN_H
test.c fun.h
#define __FUN_H
int sum(int,int);
int square(int);
int sum(int,int);
int square(int);
int main()
{
#endif
int a,b,c,d;
a=10;
b=20;
c=sum(a,b); #include<sdio,h>
d=squre(a); test.c
printf(“c=%d,d=%d\n”,c,d); #include "fun.h"
return 0;
} int main()
{
int a,b,c,d;
a=10;
b=20;
c=sum(a,b);
d=squre(a);
printf(“c=%d,d=%d\n”,c,d);
return 0;
}
 Makefiles

all : all.out Makefile

all.out : test.o um.o sqr.o all : all.out
gcc test.o sum.o sqr.o -o all.out all.out : test.o um.o sqr.o
test.o : test.c fun.h gcc $^ -o $@
gcc test.c -c test.o : test.c fun.h
sum.o : sum.c fun.h gcc $< -c
gcc sum.c -c sum.o : sum.c fun.h
sqr.o : sqr.c fun.h gcc $< -c
gcc sqr.c -c sqr.o : sqr.c fun.h
clean: gcc $< -c
rm -rf (.o all.out clean:
run: all.out rm -rf (.o all.out
./all.out run: all.out
./all.out

Using special variables - $@, $^, $<

make clean
make
make run Modify one of the file (test.c or sum.c or sqr.c or fun.h) and re-run
make, observe which commands are repeated and which are not
 Code Visualization

- Visualizing C Programs using pythontutor

- Visualizing Execution Flow – Step by Step
- Visualizing Memory Layout (Stack, Heap)
- Visualizing Stack Frames
- Examples
- Example-1: Dynamic Memory
- Example-2: Recursion
- Example-3: Pass by reference
 Heap Analysis

- Memory Leak and Heap Error Detection

- valgrind tool usage
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<time.h> gcc -g dyndemo.c –o dyndemo
int main() valgrind ./dyndemo
{
int *ptr;
int n=10;
ptr = malloc(n * sizeof(int));
srand(time(0));
for(int i=0;i<n;i++)
parr[i]=rand()%100;
for(int i=0;i<n;i++) ❑ Observe memory leaks in absence of free
sum += parr[i]; ❑ Observe clean report when dynamic memory is
//free(parr); freed properly
return 0;
}
 Code Style

Source Formatting – Coding Style

Naming Conventions

• Camel Case
• Snake Case
• Pascal Case
• or any other convention followed by project team

Meaningful Names

▪ Which is the default style followed by clang-format?

clang-format sample.c
▪ Explore other styles supported by clang-format
clang-format –i sample.c
 Static Analysis
Proprietary Tools
Coding Standards for Static Analysis
• MISRA
• SEI CERT
• Klockwork
• Custom Standards by Projects/Communities • Polyspace
• Helix QA-C, QAC++
• LDRA Tools
Free and/or Open-Source Tools • Sonarlint
• Coverity
• cppcheck
• clang • Parasoft
• clang-tidy
TODO:- Analyzing few examples using
cppcheck/clang-tidy
 Static Analysis

Unused Variables
#include<stdio.h>

int main() #include<stdio.h>

{ Uninitialized Variables
int *ptr; int main()
ptr = fetch(); {
//do something int a=5, b;
Incompatible pointer
printf("val=%d\n",*ptr); b = a++ * a++ * a++;
assignments/operations
return 0; printf("a=%d,b=%d\n",a,b);
} }
int *fetch()
{ //Undefined behavior in absence
int x=100; //of sequence points
return &x;
}

cppcheck example.c Some rule sets [ standards / custom rules ]:-

clang –analyze example.c • https://rules.sonarsource.com/c/
clang-tidy example.c • https://wiki.sei.cmu.edu/confluence/display/c
• https://barrgroup.com/embedded-systems/books/embedded-c-coding-standard
• Embedded System development Coding Reference guide
 Further Topics

• Basic GIT Familiarity

• Patches - generating & applying, using diff / git
• Static & Dynamic Libraries – creation & linking
• Debugging using gdb/lldb

Stay tuned for further updates!!

THANK YOU