valgrind

Valgrind

Valgrind: debugging at its best (because it is so simple)

  • Main target: memory errors

  • Writing and reading beyond array bounds

  • Usage of uninitialized memory

  • Double free/delete

  • Memory leaks

Drawback: considerable execution slowdown ⟶

  • Race conditions not easily debugged

  • Multithreading is hard generally

  • Larger programs are not easily emulated ⟶ smaller test suites that are regularly checked with valgrind

Valgrind in Action (1)

There are bugs that cannot be found because they …

  • almost never occur

  • almost never are visible

  • Cannot be reproduced in tests programs

  • …

Find the Bug!

#include <stdlib.h>
void main(void)
{
    char *bug = malloc(64);
    bug[64] = '\0';
}

Valgrind in Action (2)

valgrind at Bug Search

$ valgrind ./a.out
...
Invalid write of size 1
   at 0x400552: main (array-bounds-write.c:5)
 Address 0x51bb072 is 0 bytes after a block of size 50
   at 0x4C28C6D: malloc (vg_replace_malloc.c:236)
   by 0x400545: main (array-bounds-write.c:4)
...

Valgrind in Action (3)

Memory leak

$ valgrind --leak-check=full ./a.out
...
50 bytes in 1 blocks are definitely lost in loss rec..
   at 0x4C28C6D: malloc (vg_replace_malloc.c:236)
   by 0x400545: main (array-bounds-write.c:4)
...

⟶ very helpful!

Valgrind: more …

Uncovers many more types of errors:

  • Usage of uninitialized variables

  • De-allocation errors (free/delete/delete[])

  • Erroneous system call usage

  • …

More information: