Intel® Inspector User Guide for Windows* OS

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ID 767798
Date 3/31/2023
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
Intel® Inspector User Guide for Windows* OS
Intel® Inspector User Guide for Windows* OS x
Get Started Before You Begin Set Up a Project Collecting Results Investigating Results Testing for Regressions Suppressions Support API Support Troubleshooting User Interface Reference Problem Type Reference Command Line Interface Support MPI Applications Support Appendix Notices and Disclaimers
Get Started x
Dynamic Analysis vs. Static Analysis Key Terminology Sample Applications and Tutorials Workflows-Quick Paths to Maximizing Productivity
Workflows-Quick Paths to Maximizing Productivity x
Analysis Workflow Reporting Workflow Regression Testing Workflow
Before You Begin x
Visual Studio* Integration Standalone Intel Inspector GUI Startup Tasks
Startup Tasks x
Change Result and Result Directory Name Templates Choose Baseline Results for Setting States Display Application Output
Set Up a Project x
Build Your Application Choose Projects Configure Projects
Build Your Application x
Configure Debug Mode for Applications in the Visual Studio* IDE Set Up Applications to Build in Debug Mode in the Visual Studio* IDE
Choose Projects x
Choose Projects in the StandaloneIntel Inspector GUI Choose Projects in the Visual Studio* IDE Create Projects in the StandaloneIntel Inspector GUI Create Solutions/Projects From Applications in the Visual Studio* IDE
Configure Projects x
Binary/Symbol Search and Source Search Locations Choose Data Sets Manage Suppression Rules Search Non-standard Directories Set Project Properties-Advanced Setting Target Application Properties-Basic
Collecting Results x
Configuring Analyses Running Analyses Examining Result Data During Analysis
Configuring Analyses x
Memory Error Analysis Types Threading Error Analysis Types Managing Custom Analysis Types
Running Analyses x
Running Memory Error and Threading Error Analyses Stopping Analyses
Examining Result Data During Analysis x
Finding Memory Leaks On Demand Measuring Memory Growth
Investigating Results x
Viewing Results Choosing Problems Interpreting Result Data and Resolving Issues Investigating Problems Using Interactive Debugging Collaborating on Results Exporting and Importing Files Comparing Results
Viewing Results x
About Viewing Results Managing Help Snippet Displays Opening Results Showing Result Summaries
Choosing Problems x
Deselecting Filter Criteria Refining the Source File Set Selecting Filter Criteria Selecting Problems
Interpreting Result Data and Resolving Issues x
Severity Levels States Accessing Explain Problem Help Changing States Customizing Frame Presentation Customizing Data Columns Editing Source Code
Investigating Problems Using Interactive Debugging x
Intel Inspector Debug Extensions in the Visual Studio* IDE Disabling and Re-enabling Problem Breakpoints Stopping Analyses During Interactive Debugging
Collaborating on Results x
State Merge Merging States Across Results Reporting Result Data
Exporting and Importing Files x
Exporting Archives Importing Archives and Other Files
Testing for Regressions x
Testing for Regressions: Recommended Approach Testing for Regressions: Other Approaches
Suppressions Support x
Suppressions Support Using the GUI Suppressions Support Using Handwritten Suppression Rules Suppressions Support Using Third-party Suppression Rules
Suppressions Support Using the GUI x
Typical Suppressions Usage Model Using the GUI Suppression Rule Reach in the GUI Suppression Rule Examples in the GUI Defining Suppression Rules in the GUI Deleting Suppression Rules Applied to Marked Result Data in the GUI
Suppressions Support Using Handwritten Suppression Rules x
Typical Suppressions Usage Models Using Handwritten Suppression Files Suppression Rule Syntax in Text Format Suppression Rule Examples in Text Format
Suppressions Support Using Third-party Suppression Rules x
Typical Suppressions Usage Models Using Third-party Suppression Files Third-party Suppression Files
API Support x
APIs for Custom Synchronization APIs for Custom Memory Allocation APIs for Collection Control
Troubleshooting x
Troubleshooting Anti-virus Software Issues Troubleshooting Application Crashes Troubleshooting Internal Thread Suspension Attempt Troubleshooting No Problems Detected Troubleshooting No Symbolic Information Troubleshooting OpenMP* Technology Issues Troubleshooting Out-of-memory Conditions Troubleshooting Tamper-resistance Issues Troubleshooting Unexpected Application Behavior During Memory Error Analyses
User Interface Reference x
Context Menus: Problem Details Pane Context Menus: Project Navigator Context Menus: Solution Explorer Context Menus: Sources Window Panes Context Menus: Summary Window Panes Dialog Box: Corresponding inspxe-cl Command Options Dialog Box: Create a Project Dialog Box: Create Suppression Dialog Box: Custom Analysis Dialog Box: Delete Suppressions Dialog Box: Disabled Problem Breakpoints Dialog Box: Export Result Dialog Box: Merge States Dialog Box: Options-General Dialog Box: Options-Result Location Dialog Box: Options-State Management Dialog Box: Problem Report Dialog Box: Project Properties-Binary/Symbol Search Dialog Box: Project Properties-Source Search Dialog Box: Project Properties-Suppressions Dialog Box: Project Properties-Target Dialog Box: Refine Source File Set Dialog Box: Select Stack Frame(s) Dialog Box: View Stack Hot Keys Pane: Analysis Type-Custom Pane: Analysis Type-Memory Errors Pane: Analysis Type-Threading Errors Pane: Application Output Pane: Code and Stack Pane: Code Locations Pane: Collection Log Pane: Collector Messages Pane: Compare Results Pane: Filters Pane: Import Result Pane: Launch Application Pane: Problem Details Pane: Problems Pane: Project Navigator Pane: Timeline Toolbar: Command Toolbar: Intel Inspector Toolbar: Navigation Window: Collection Log Window: Compare Results Window: Import Result Window: Sources Window: Summary After Analysis Is Complete Window: Summary During Analysis
Problem Type Reference x
Cross-thread Stack Access Data Race Deadlock GDI Resource Leak Incorrect memcpy Call Invalid Deallocation Invalid Memory Access Invalid Partial Memory Access Kernel Resource Leak Lock Hierarchy Violation Memory Growth Memory Leak Memory Not Deallocated Mismatched Allocation/Deallocation Missing Allocation Thread Exit Information Thread Start Information Unhandled Application Exception Uninitialized Memory Access Uninitialized Partial Memory Access
Command Line Interface Support x
Command Syntax Command Syntax Alternatives and Rules Command Line Output Collecting Result Data from the Command Line Working with Reports from the Command Line Working with Suppressions from the Command Line Limitations of Suppression Rules Tips for Working with Suppression Files inspxe-cl Actions, Options and Arguments
Working with Reports from the Command Line x
Reporting Result Data from the Command Line Saving and Formatting Reports from the Command Line Interpreting Result Data from the Command Line
Working with Suppressions from the Command Line x
Limitations of Suppression Rules Tips for Working with Suppression Files Creating a Suppress-All File from the Command Line Converting Third-Party Suppression Files from the Command Line Applying Suppression Files from the Command Line Workaround for Disabled Suppressions from the Command Line
inspxe-cl Actions, Options and Arguments x
app-working-dir archive-name baseline-result collect collect-with command convert-suppression-file create-suppression-file csv-delimiter executable-of-interest export filter finalize format help include-snippets include-sources import knob knob-list merge-states module-filter module-filter-mode no-auto-finalize no-summary option-file quiet report report-all report-output result-dir return-app-exitcode search-dir sort-asc sort-desc suppression-file user-data-dir verbose version
MPI Applications Support x
MPI Analysis Workflow Configure Installation Options Collect MPI Performance/Correctness Data Finalize MPI Collected Data View MPI Collected Data MPI Analysis Limitations Support of Non-Intel MPI Implementations Additional MPI Resources
Appendix x
Product Design Sample Code Caveats Intel Inspector Filenames and Locations Notational Conventions Related Information System APIs Supported During Memory Error Analysis System APIs Supported During Threading Error Analysis Evaluation Features
Intel® Inspector User Guide for Windows* OS

Working with Suppressions from the Command Line

Suppression files - files containing suppression rules - can be created and applied using the Intel Inspectorinspxe-cl command tool, or using Intel Inspector GUI tools. When analysis is performed on the command line, the ability to apply suppressions is automatically enabled regardless of project or result settings.

A suppression file is a collection of suppression rules for problems identified during analysis that you want excluded from future analysis results. For example, these problems could be in code that is not your responsibility, in third-party libraries, or false positives. When a suppression file is used during a subsequent analysis run, suppressed problems are ignored so that you can focus on unsuppressed and newly detected problems.

From the command line, you can create a suppress-all file to suppress all detected problems that remain in a specified result. When the code has changed and there are new problems that you want to suppress, you can create additional suppression files through the command line for these new unfixed problems. To create or delete individual suppression rules from a suppression file, you can use the Intel Inspector GUI tools. To edit suppression rules, you can use a text editor.

NOTE:

Suppression files can be used along with other problem-suppression tactics, such as assigning a problem the Not a Problem state, then filtering out all problems with this state when viewing problems in the GUI or generating a report on the command line. You can also propagate this state assignment forward into other results using one of the following techniques:

  • To merge problem state assignments from one existing result to another, use the merge-states option. State assignments from the merge-from result are used to update state assignments in the merge-to result. Problem states in the merge-to result are edited according to a set of rules.

  • To propagate problem state assignments forward when performing analysis, finalization or generating a report, use the baseline-result option.

Limitations of Suppression Rules

Intel Inspector suppression rules generally remain effective for edited source code, but when lines of code are changed within a function where a problem is marked, the problem may not be recognized the next time the suppression file is used.

This is because Intel Inspector identifies a problem based on source code lines relative to the start of a function, rather than absolute line number values. This makes it easier to track problems marked for suppression as lines of code are inserted and deleted in source files. However, adding or deleting lines within a function, prior to the location of a suppressed problem, can cause a problem to no longer match the suppression rule. In these cases, the problem is designated as a new problem in the subsequent analysis. If Inspector did not do this, suppressions would fail any time a line of code is added or removed.

Tips for Working with Suppression Files

  • Suppression rules are based on results for a particular analysis type, so the same general category of analysis must be used to generate a suppression file and when using it in subsequent analysis runs. For example, you would use one set of suppression files for threading error analysis, and a different set for memory error analysis.

  • Put all suppression files created for a specific type of analysis in a single, standard suppressions directory. This allows you to apply all the suppression files in this directory simply by specifying the directory path. To make it easy to switch between the GUI and the command line, store suppression files in the Microsoft Visual Studio* IDE standard suppressions directory: C:\myProject\My Inspector Results-[project name]\suppressions.

  • If your suppression files are not in a single directory, option files provide an easy way to pass in a series of suppression file paths to a -collect or -collect-with action.

  • You may use the same suppression file for multiple analysis runs, and may create and apply additional suppression files as needed.

  • Each suppression rule has some overhead associated with it, so it can be worthwhile to edit the suppression file and combine multiple related rules.

  • Conversion of third-party suppression files can only be performed through the command line.

  • Suppressions can also be applied when generating a report.

Parent topic: Command Line Interface Support
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