Code Coverage with gcov

Purpose

Instrument C/C++ programs with gcov to measure test coverage.

Containment

The instrumented project is untrusted — its build scripts and the produced binary execute arbitrary code, and the .gcda/.gcno files that binary emits are untrusted bytes parsed by gcov/gcovr. Run every build, target-binary/test-suite execution, and gcov/gcovr invocation via libexec/raptor-run-sandboxed --output-dir <dir> <cmd> [args...] (--output-dir = the directory the command writes into). If a sandboxed step fails, fix the sandboxed invocation — never run the target's build system, binary, or the coverage extraction bare.

How It Works

Build with Coverage (sandboxed)

libexec/raptor-run-sandboxed --output-dir <project-dir> gcc --coverage -o program source.c

Run Program (sandboxed)

libexec/raptor-run-sandboxed --output-dir <project-dir> <project-dir>/program
# Creates .gcda files with execution data

Generate Reports

Text report (sandboxed — gcov parses the untrusted .gcda/.gcno bytes):

libexec/raptor-run-sandboxed --output-dir <project-dir> gcov source.c
# Creates source.c.gcov with line-by-line coverage

HTML report (sandboxed):

libexec/raptor-run-sandboxed --output-dir <project-dir> gcovr --html-details -o coverage.html

Coverage Flags

• --coverage (shorthand for -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage -lgcov)
• Add to both CFLAGS and LDFLAGS

Build System Integration

Makefile

ENABLE_COVERAGE ?= 0
ifeq ($(ENABLE_COVERAGE),1)
    CFLAGS += --coverage
    LDFLAGS += --coverage
endif

CMake

option(ENABLE_COVERAGE "Enable coverage" OFF)
if(ENABLE_COVERAGE)
    add_compile_options(--coverage)
    add_link_options(--coverage)
endif()

When User Requests Coverage

Steps

All build/run/report commands below go through libexec/raptor-run-sandboxed --output-dir <project-dir> ... (every make target — clean included — executes the untrusted Makefile's commands; rm -f *.gcda *.gcno is your own command and needs no wrapper):

1. Detect build system (Makefile/CMake/other)
2. Add --coverage to CFLAGS and LDFLAGS
3. Clean previous build: libexec/raptor-run-sandboxed --output-dir <project-dir> make clean (or bare rm -f *.gcda *.gcno)
4. Build with coverage: libexec/raptor-run-sandboxed --output-dir <project-dir> make ENABLE_COVERAGE=1 (or the cmake -DENABLE_COVERAGE=ON + build equivalent, same wrapper)
5. Run tests: libexec/raptor-run-sandboxed --output-dir <project-dir> make test (or the project's test binary, same wrapper)
6. Generate report: libexec/raptor-run-sandboxed --output-dir <project-dir> gcovr --html-details coverage.html --print-summary
7. Present summary and path to HTML report

Output

Text (.gcov files):

-:    0:Source:main.c
        5:   42:    int x = 10;
    #####:   43:    unused_code();

• 5: = executed 5 times
• #####: = not executed
• -: = non-executable

HTML: Interactive report with color-coded coverage

Metrics

• Line coverage: Executed lines / total lines
• Branch coverage: Taken branches / total branches
• Function coverage: Called functions / total functions

Target: 80%+ line coverage, 70%+ branch coverage