630 lines
		
	
	
		
			25 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
			
		
		
	
	
			630 lines
		
	
	
		
			25 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
| <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
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|           "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
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| <html>
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| <head>
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|   <title>Source Annotations</title>
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|   <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="menu.css">
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|   <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="content.css">
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|   <script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/menu.js"></script>
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| </head>
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| <body>
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| 
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| <div id="page">
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| <!--#include virtual="menu.html.incl"-->
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| 
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| <div id="content">
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| 
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| <h1>Source Annotations</h1>
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| 
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| <p>The Clang frontend supports several source-level annotations in the form of
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| <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Attribute-Syntax.html">GCC-style
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| attributes</a> and pragmas that can help make using the Clang Static Analyzer
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| more useful. These annotations can both help suppress false positives as well as
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| enhance the analyzer's ability to find bugs.</p>
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| 
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| <p>This page gives a practical overview of such annotations. For more technical
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| specifics regarding Clang-specific annotations please see the Clang's list of <a
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| href="http://clang.llvm.org/docs/LanguageExtensions.html">language
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| extensions</a>. Details of "standard" GCC attributes (that Clang also
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| supports) can be found in the <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/">GCC
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| manual</a>, with the majority of the relevant attributes being in the section on
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| <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Function-Attributes.html">function
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| attributes</a>.</p>
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| 
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| <p>Note that attributes that are labeled <b>Clang-specific</b> are not
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| recognized by GCC. Their use can be conditioned using preprocessor macros
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| (examples included on this page).</p>
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| 
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| <h4>Specific Topics</h4>
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| 
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| <ul>
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| <li><a href="#generic">Annotations to Enhance Generic Checks</a>
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|   <ul>
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|     <li><a href="#null_checking"><span>Null Pointer Checking</span></a>
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|     <ul>
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|       <li><a href="#attr_nonnull"><span>Attribute 'nonnull'</span></a></li>
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|     </ul>
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|     </li>
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|   </ul>
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| </li>
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| <li><a href="#macosx">Mac OS X API Annotations</a>
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|   <ul>
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|     <li><a href="#cocoa_mem">Cocoa & Core Foundation Memory Management Annotations</a>
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|     <ul>
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|       <li><a href="#attr_ns_returns_retained">Attribute 'ns_returns_retained'</a></li>
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|       <li><a href="#attr_ns_returns_not_retained">Attribute 'ns_returns_not_retained'</a></li>
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|       <li><a href="#attr_cf_returns_retained">Attribute 'cf_returns_retained'</a></li>
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|       <li><a href="#attr_cf_returns_not_retained">Attribute 'cf_returns_not_retained'</a></li>
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|       <li><a href="#attr_ns_consumed">Attribute 'ns_consumed'</a></li>
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|       <li><a href="#attr_cf_consumed">Attribute 'cf_consumed'</a></li>
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|       <li><a href="#attr_ns_consumes_self">Attribute 'ns_consumes_self'</a></li>
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|     </ul>
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|     </li>
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|   </ul>
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| </li>
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| <li><a href="#custom_assertions">Custom Assertion Handlers</a>
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|   <ul>
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|     <li><a href="#attr_noreturn">Attribute 'noreturn'</a></li>
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|     <li><a href="#attr_analyzer_noreturn">Attribute 'analyzer_noreturn'</a></li>
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|   </ul>
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|   </li>
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| </ul>
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| 
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| <!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->
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| <h2 id="generic">Annotations to Enhance Generic Checks</h2>
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| <!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->
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| 
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| <h3 id="null_checking">Null Pointer Checking</h3>
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| 
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| <h4 id="attr_nonnull">Attribute 'nonnull'</h4>
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| 
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| <p>The analyzer recognizes the GCC attribute 'nonnull', which indicates that a
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| function expects that a given function parameter is not a null pointer. Specific
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| details of the syntax of using the 'nonnull' attribute can be found in <a
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| href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Function-Attributes.html#index-g_t_0040code_007bnonnull_007d-function-attribute-2263">GCC's
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| documentation</a>.</p>
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| 
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| <p>Both the Clang compiler and GCC will flag warnings for simple cases where a
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| null pointer is directly being passed to a function with a 'nonnull' parameter
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| (e.g., as a constant). The analyzer extends this checking by using its deeper
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| symbolic analysis to track what pointer values are potentially null and then
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| flag warnings when they are passed in a function call via a 'nonnull'
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| parameter.</p>
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| 
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| <p><b>Example</b></p>
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| 
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| <pre class="code_example">
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| <span class="command">$ cat test.m</span>
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| int bar(int*p, int q, int *r) __attribute__((nonnull(1,3)));
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| 
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| int foo(int *p, int *q) {
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|    return !p ? bar(q, 2, p) 
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|              : bar(p, 2, q);
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| }
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| </pre>
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| 
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| <p>Running <tt>scan-build</tt> over this source produces the following
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| output:</p>
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| 
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| <img src="images/example_attribute_nonnull.png" alt="example attribute nonnull">
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| 
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| <!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->
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| <h2 id="macosx">Mac OS X API Annotations</h2>
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| <!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->
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| 
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| <h3 id="cocoa_mem">Cocoa & Core Foundation Memory Management
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| Annotations</h3>
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| 
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| <!--
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| <p>As described in <a href="/available_checks.html#retain_release">Available
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| Checks</a>,
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| -->
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| <p>The analyzer supports the proper management of retain counts for
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| both Cocoa and Core Foundation objects. This checking is largely based on
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| enforcing Cocoa and Core Foundation naming conventions for Objective-C methods
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| (Cocoa) and C functions (Core Foundation). Not strictly following these
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| conventions can cause the analyzer to miss bugs or flag false positives.</p>
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| 
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| <p>One can educate the analyzer (and others who read your code) about methods or
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| functions that deviate from the Cocoa and Core Foundation conventions using the
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| attributes described here. However, you should consider using proper naming
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| conventions or the <a 
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| href="http://clang.llvm.org/docs/LanguageExtensions.html#the-objc-method-family-attribute"><tt>objc_method_family</tt></a>
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| attribute, if applicable.</p>
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| 
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| <h4 id="attr_ns_returns_retained">Attribute 'ns_returns_retained'
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| (Clang-specific)</h4>
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| 
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| <p>The GCC-style (Clang-specific) attribute 'ns_returns_retained' allows one to
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| annotate an Objective-C method or C function as returning a retained Cocoa
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| object that the caller is responsible for releasing (via sending a
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| <tt>release</tt> message to the object). The Foundation framework defines a
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| macro <b><tt>NS_RETURNS_RETAINED</tt></b> that is functionally equivalent to the
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| one shown below.</p>
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| 
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| <p><b>Placing on Objective-C methods</b>: For Objective-C methods, this
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| annotation essentially tells the analyzer to treat the method as if its name
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| begins with "alloc" or "new" or contains the word
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| "copy".</p>
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| 
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| <p><b>Placing on C functions</b>: For C functions returning Cocoa objects, the
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| analyzer typically does not make any assumptions about whether or not the object
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| is returned retained. Explicitly adding the 'ns_returns_retained' attribute to C
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| functions allows the analyzer to perform extra checking.</p>
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| 
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| <p><b>Important note when using Garbage Collection</b>: Note that the analyzer
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| interprets this attribute slightly differently when using Objective-C garbage
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| collection (available on Mac OS 10.5+). When analyzing Cocoa code that uses
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| garbage collection, "alloc" methods are assumed to return an object
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| that is managed by the garbage collector (and thus doesn't have a retain count
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| the caller must balance). These same assumptions are applied to methods or
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| functions annotated with 'ns_returns_retained'. If you are returning a Core
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| Foundation object (which may not be managed by the garbage collector) you should
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| use 'cf_returns_retained'.</p>
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| 
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| <p><b>Example</b></p>
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| 
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| <pre class="code_example">
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| <span class="command">$ cat test.m</span>
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| #import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
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| 
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| #ifndef __has_feature      // Optional.
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| #define __has_feature(x) 0 // Compatibility with non-clang compilers.
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| #endif
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| 
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| #ifndef NS_RETURNS_RETAINED
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| #if __has_feature(attribute_ns_returns_retained)
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| <span class="code_highlight">#define NS_RETURNS_RETAINED __attribute__((ns_returns_retained))</span>
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| #else
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| #define NS_RETURNS_RETAINED
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| #endif
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| #endif
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| 
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| @interface MyClass : NSObject {}
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| - (NSString*) returnsRetained <span class="code_highlight">NS_RETURNS_RETAINED</span>;
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| - (NSString*) alsoReturnsRetained;
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| @end
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| 
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| @implementation MyClass
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| - (NSString*) returnsRetained {
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|   return [[NSString alloc] initWithCString:"no leak here"];
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| }
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| - (NSString*) alsoReturnsRetained {
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|   return [[NSString alloc] initWithCString:"flag a leak"];
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| }
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| @end
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| </pre>
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| 
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| <p>Running <tt>scan-build</tt> on this source file produces the following output:</p>
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| 
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| <img src="images/example_ns_returns_retained.png" alt="example returns retained">
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| 
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| <h4 id="attr_ns_returns_not_retained">Attribute 'ns_returns_not_retained'
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| (Clang-specific)</h4>
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| 
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| <p>The 'ns_returns_not_retained' attribute is the complement of '<a
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| href="#attr_ns_returns_retained">ns_returns_retained</a>'. Where a function or
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| method may appear to obey the Cocoa conventions and return a retained Cocoa
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| object, this attribute can be used to indicate that the object reference
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| returned should not be considered as an "owning" reference being
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| returned to the caller. The Foundation framework defines a
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| macro <b><tt>NS_RETURNS_NOT_RETAINED</tt></b> that is functionally equivalent to
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| the one shown below.</p>
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| 
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| <p>Usage is identical to <a
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| href="#attr_ns_returns_retained">ns_returns_retained</a>.  When using the
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| attribute, be sure to declare it within the proper macro that checks for
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| its availability, as it is not available in earlier versions of the analyzer:</p>
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| 
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| <pre class="code_example">
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| <span class="command">$ cat test.m</span>
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| #ifndef __has_feature      // Optional.
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| #define __has_feature(x) 0 // Compatibility with non-clang compilers.
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| #endif
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| 
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| #ifndef NS_RETURNS_NOT_RETAINED
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| #if __has_feature(attribute_ns_returns_not_retained)
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| <span class="code_highlight">#define NS_RETURNS_NOT_RETAINED __attribute__((ns_returns_not_retained))</span>
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| #else
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| #define NS_RETURNS_NOT_RETAINED
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| #endif
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| #endif
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| </pre>
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| 
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| <h4 id="attr_cf_returns_retained">Attribute 'cf_returns_retained'
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| (Clang-specific)</h4>
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| 
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| <p>The GCC-style (Clang-specific) attribute 'cf_returns_retained' allows one to
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| annotate an Objective-C method or C function as returning a retained Core
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| Foundation object that the caller is responsible for releasing. The 
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| CoreFoundation framework defines a macro <b><tt>CF_RETURNS_RETAINED</tt></b>
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| that is functionally equivalent to the one shown below.</p>
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| 
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| <p><b>Placing on Objective-C methods</b>: With respect to Objective-C methods.,
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| this attribute is identical in its behavior and usage to 'ns_returns_retained'
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| except for the distinction of returning a Core Foundation object instead of a
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| Cocoa object. This distinction is important for two reasons:</p>
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| 
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| <ul>
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|   <li>Core Foundation objects are not automatically managed by the Objective-C
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|   garbage collector.</li>
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|   <li>Because Core Foundation is a C API, the analyzer cannot always tell that a
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|   pointer return value refers to a Core Foundation object. In contrast, it is
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|   trivial for the analyzer to recognize if a pointer refers to a Cocoa object
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|   (given the Objective-C type system).
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| </ul>
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| 
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| <p><b>Placing on C functions</b>: When placing the attribute
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| 'cf_returns_retained' on the declarations of C functions, the analyzer
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| interprets the function as:</p>
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| 
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| <ol>
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|   <li>Returning a Core Foundation Object</li>
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|   <li>Treating the function as if it its name
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| contained the keywords "create" or "copy". This means the
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| returned object as a +1 retain count that must be released by the caller, either
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| by sending a <tt>release</tt> message (via toll-free bridging to an Objective-C
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| object pointer), calling <tt>CFRelease</tt> (or similar function), or using
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| <tt>CFMakeCollectable</tt> to register the object with the Objective-C garbage
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| collector.</li>
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| </ol>
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| 
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| <p><b>Example</b></p>
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| 
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| <p>In this example, observe the difference in output when the code is compiled
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| to not use garbage collection versus when it is compiled to only use garbage
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| collection (<tt>-fobjc-gc-only</tt>).</p>
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| 
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| <pre class="code_example">
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| <span class="command">$ cat test.m</span>
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| $ cat test.m
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| #import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>
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| 
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| #ifndef __has_feature      // Optional.
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| #define __has_feature(x) 0 // Compatibility with non-clang compilers.
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| #endif
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| 
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| #ifndef CF_RETURNS_RETAINED
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| #if __has_feature(attribute_cf_returns_retained)
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| <span class="code_highlight">#define CF_RETURNS_RETAINED __attribute__((cf_returns_retained))</span>
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| #else
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| #define CF_RETURNS_RETAINED
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| #endif
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| #endif
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| 
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| @interface MyClass : NSObject {}
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| - (NSDate*) returnsCFRetained <span class="code_highlight">CF_RETURNS_RETAINED</span>;
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| - (NSDate*) alsoReturnsRetained;
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| - (NSDate*) returnsNSRetained <span class="code_highlight">NS_RETURNS_RETAINED</span>;
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| @end
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| 
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| <span class="code_highlight">CF_RETURNS_RETAINED</span>
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| CFDateRef returnsRetainedCFDate()  {
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|   return CFDateCreate(0, CFAbsoluteTimeGetCurrent());
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| }
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| 
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| @implementation MyClass
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| - (NSDate*) returnsCFRetained {
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|   return (NSDate*) returnsRetainedCFDate(); <b><i>// No leak.</i></b>
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| }
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| 
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| - (NSDate*) alsoReturnsRetained {
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|   return (NSDate*) returnsRetainedCFDate(); <b><i>// Always report a leak.</i></b>
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| }
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| 
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| - (NSDate*) returnsNSRetained {
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|   return (NSDate*) returnsRetainedCFDate(); <b><i>// Report a leak when using GC.</i></b>
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| }
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| @end
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| </pre>
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| 
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| <p>Running <tt>scan-build</tt> on this example produces the following output:</p>
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| 
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| <img src="images/example_cf_returns_retained.png" alt="example returns retained">
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| 
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| <p>When the above code is compiled using Objective-C garbage collection (i.e.,
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| code is compiled with the flag <tt>-fobjc-gc</tt> or <tt>-fobjc-gc-only</tt>),
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| <tt>scan-build</tt> produces both the above error (with slightly different text
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| to indicate the code uses garbage collection) as well as the following warning,
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| which indicates a leak that occurs <em>only</em> when using garbage
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| collection:</p>
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| 
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| <img src="images/example_cf_returns_retained_gc.png" alt="example returns retained gc">
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| 
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| <h4 id="attr_cf_returns_not_retained">Attribute 'cf_returns_not_retained'
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| (Clang-specific)</h4>
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| 
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| <p>The 'cf_returns_not_retained' attribute is the complement of '<a
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| href="#attr_cf_returns_retained">cf_returns_retained</a>'. Where a function or
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| method may appear to obey the Core Foundation or Cocoa conventions and return
 | |
| a retained Core Foundation object, this attribute can be used to indicate that
 | |
| the object reference returned should not be considered as an
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| "owning" reference being returned to the caller. The 
 | |
| CoreFoundation framework defines a macro <b><tt>CF_RETURNS_NOT_RETAINED</tt></b>
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| that is functionally equivalent to the one shown below.</p>
 | |
| 
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| <p>Usage is identical to <a
 | |
| href="#attr_cf_returns_retained">cf_returns_retained</a>.  When using the
 | |
| attribute, be sure to declare it within the proper macro that checks for
 | |
| its availability, as it is not available in earlier versions of the analyzer:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <pre class="code_example">
 | |
| <span class="command">$ cat test.m</span>
 | |
| #ifndef __has_feature      // Optional.
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| #define __has_feature(x) 0 // Compatibility with non-clang compilers.
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| #endif
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| 
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| #ifndef CF_RETURNS_NOT_RETAINED
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| #if __has_feature(attribute_cf_returns_not_retained)
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| <span class="code_highlight">#define CF_RETURNS_NOT_RETAINED __attribute__((cf_returns_not_retained))</span>
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| #else
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| #define CF_RETURNS_NOT_RETAINED
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| #endif
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| #endif
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| </pre>
 | |
| 
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| <h4 id="attr_ns_consumed">Attribute 'ns_consumed'
 | |
| (Clang-specific)</h4>
 | |
| 
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| <p>The 'ns_consumed' attribute can be placed on a specific parameter in either
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| the declaration of a function or an Objective-C method. It indicates to the
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| static analyzer that a <tt>release</tt> message is implicitly sent to the
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| parameter upon completion of the call to the given function or method. The 
 | |
| Foundation framework defines a macro <b><tt>NS_RELEASES_ARGUMENT</tt></b> that 
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| is functionally equivalent to the <tt>NS_CONSUMED</tt> macro shown below.</p>
 | |
|   
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| <p><b>Important note when using Garbage Collection</b>: Note that the analyzer
 | |
| essentially ignores this attribute when code is compiled to use Objective-C
 | |
| garbage collection.  This is because the <tt>release</tt> message does nothing
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| when using GC.  If the underlying function/method uses something like
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| <tt>CFRelease</tt> to decrement the reference count, consider using
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| the <a href="#attr_cf_consumed">cf_consumed</a> attribute instead.</p>
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| 
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| <p><b>Example</b></p>
 | |
| 
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| <pre class="code_example">
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| <span class="command">$ cat test.m</span>
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| #ifndef __has_feature      // Optional.
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| #define __has_feature(x) 0 // Compatibility with non-clang compilers.
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| #endif
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| 
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| #ifndef NS_CONSUMED
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| #if __has_feature(attribute_ns_consumed)
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| <span class="code_highlight">#define NS_CONSUMED __attribute__((ns_consumed))</span>
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| #else
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| #define NS_CONSUMED
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| #endif
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| #endif
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| 
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| void consume_ns(id <span class="code_highlight">NS_CONSUMED</span> x);
 | |
| 
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| void test() {
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|   id x = [[NSObject alloc] init];
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|   consume_ns(x); <b><i>// No leak!</i></b>
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| }
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| 
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| @interface Foo : NSObject
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| + (void) releaseArg:(id) <span class="code_highlight">NS_CONSUMED</span> x;
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| + (void) releaseSecondArg:(id)x second:(id) <span class="code_highlight">NS_CONSUMED</span> y;
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| @end
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| 
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| void test_method() {
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|   id x = [[NSObject alloc] init];
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|   [Foo releaseArg:x]; <b><i>// No leak!</i></b>
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| }
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| 
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| void test_method2() {
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|   id a = [[NSObject alloc] init];
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|   id b = [[NSObject alloc] init];
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|   [Foo releaseSecondArg:a second:b]; <b><i>// 'a' is leaked, but 'b' is released.</i></b>
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| }
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| </pre>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <h4 id="attr_cf_consumed">Attribute 'cf_consumed'
 | |
| (Clang-specific)</h4>
 | |
| 
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| <p>The 'cf_consumed' attribute is practically identical to <a
 | |
| href="#attr_ns_consumed">ns_consumed</a>. The attribute can be placed on a
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| specific parameter in either the declaration of a function or an Objective-C
 | |
| method. It indicates to the static analyzer that the object reference is
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| implicitly passed to a call to <tt>CFRelease</tt> upon completion of the call
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| to the given function or method. The CoreFoundation framework defines a macro
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| <b><tt>CF_RELEASES_ARGUMENT</tt></b> that is functionally equivalent to the
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| <tt>CF_CONSUMED</tt> macro shown below.</p>
 | |
|     
 | |
| <p>Operationally this attribute is nearly identical to 'ns_consumed' with the
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| main difference that the reference count decrement still occurs when using
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| Objective-C garbage collection (which is import for Core Foundation types,
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| which are not automatically garbage collected).</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p><b>Example</b></p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <pre class="code_example">
 | |
| <span class="command">$ cat test.m</span>
 | |
| #ifndef __has_feature      // Optional.
 | |
| #define __has_feature(x) 0 // Compatibility with non-clang compilers.
 | |
| #endif
 | |
| 
 | |
| #ifndef CF_CONSUMED
 | |
| #if __has_feature(attribute_cf_consumed)
 | |
| <span class="code_highlight">#define CF_CONSUMED __attribute__((cf_consumed))</span>
 | |
| #else
 | |
| #define CF_CONSUMED
 | |
| #endif
 | |
| #endif
 | |
| 
 | |
| void consume_cf(id <span class="code_highlight">CF_CONSUMED</span> x);
 | |
| void consume_CFDate(CFDateRef <span class="code_highlight">CF_CONSUMED</span> x);
 | |
| 
 | |
| void test() {
 | |
|   id x = [[NSObject alloc] init];
 | |
|   consume_cf(x); <b><i>// No leak!</i></b>
 | |
| }
 | |
| 
 | |
| void test2() {
 | |
|   CFDateRef date = CFDateCreate(0, CFAbsoluteTimeGetCurrent());
 | |
|   consume_CFDate(date); <b><i>// No leak, including under GC!</i></b>
 | |
|   
 | |
| }
 | |
| 
 | |
| @interface Foo : NSObject
 | |
| + (void) releaseArg:(CFDateRef) <span class="code_highlight">CF_CONSUMED</span> x;
 | |
| @end
 | |
| 
 | |
| void test_method() {
 | |
|   CFDateRef date = CFDateCreate(0, CFAbsoluteTimeGetCurrent());
 | |
|   [Foo releaseArg:date]; <b><i>// No leak!</i></b>
 | |
| }
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <h4 id="attr_ns_consumes_self">Attribute 'ns_consumes_self'
 | |
| (Clang-specific)</h4>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>The 'ns_consumes_self' attribute can be placed only on an Objective-C method
 | |
| declaration. It indicates that the receiver of the message is
 | |
| "consumed" (a single reference count decremented) after the message
 | |
| is sent. This matches the semantics of all "init" methods.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>One use of this attribute is declare your own init-like methods that do not
 | |
| follow the standard Cocoa naming conventions.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p><b>Example</b></p>
 | |
|   
 | |
| <pre class="code_example">
 | |
| #ifndef __has_feature
 | |
| #define __has_feature(x) 0 // Compatibility with non-clang compilers.
 | |
| #endif
 | |
| 
 | |
| #ifndef NS_CONSUMES_SELF
 | |
| #if __has_feature((attribute_ns_consumes_self))
 | |
| <span class="code_highlight">#define NS_CONSUMES_SELF __attribute__((ns_consumes_self))</span>
 | |
| #else
 | |
| #define NS_CONSUMES_SELF
 | |
| #endif
 | |
| #endif
 | |
| 
 | |
| @interface MyClass : NSObject
 | |
| - initWith:(MyClass *)x;
 | |
| - nonstandardInitWith:(MyClass *)x <span class="code_highlight">NS_CONSUMES_SELF</span> NS_RETURNS_RETAINED;
 | |
| @end
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>In this example, <tt>-nonstandardInitWith:</tt> has the same ownership
 | |
| semantics as the init method <tt>-initWith:</tt>. The static analyzer will
 | |
| observe that the method consumes the receiver, and then returns an object with
 | |
| a +1 retain count.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>The Foundation framework defines a macro <b><tt>NS_REPLACES_RECEIVER</tt></b>
 | |
| which is functionally equivalent to the combination of <tt>NS_CONSUMES_SELF</tt>
 | |
| and <tt>NS_RETURNS_RETAINED</tt> shown above.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| <!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->
 | |
| <h2 id="custom_assertions">Custom Assertion Handlers</h2>
 | |
| <!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>The analyzer exploits code assertions by pruning off paths where the
 | |
| assertion condition is false. The idea is capture any program invariants
 | |
| specified in the assertion that the developer may know but is not immediately
 | |
| apparent in the code itself. In this way assertions make implicit assumptions
 | |
| explicit in the code, which not only makes the analyzer more accurate when
 | |
| finding bugs, but can help others better able to understand your code as well.
 | |
| It can also help remove certain kinds of analyzer false positives by pruning off
 | |
| false paths.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>In order to exploit assertions, however, the analyzer must understand when it
 | |
| encounters an "assertion handler." Typically assertions are
 | |
| implemented with a macro, with the macro performing a check for the assertion
 | |
| condition and, when the check fails, calling an assertion handler.  For example, consider the following code
 | |
| fragment:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <pre class="code_example">
 | |
| void foo(int *p) {
 | |
|   assert(p != NULL);
 | |
| }
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>When this code is preprocessed on Mac OS X it expands to the following:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <pre class="code_example">
 | |
| void foo(int *p) {
 | |
|   (__builtin_expect(!(p != NULL), 0) ? __assert_rtn(__func__, "t.c", 4, "p != NULL") : (void)0);
 | |
| }
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>In this example, the assertion handler is <tt>__assert_rtn</tt>. When called,
 | |
| most assertion handlers typically print an error and terminate the program. The
 | |
| analyzer can exploit such semantics by ending the analysis of a path once it
 | |
| hits a call to an assertion handler.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>The trick, however, is that the analyzer needs to know that a called function
 | |
| is an assertion handler; otherwise the analyzer might assume the function call
 | |
| returns and it will continue analyzing the path where the assertion condition
 | |
| failed. This can lead to false positives, as the assertion condition usually
 | |
| implies a safety condition (e.g., a pointer is not null) prior to performing
 | |
| some action that depends on that condition (e.g., dereferencing a pointer).</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>The analyzer knows about several well-known assertion handlers, but can
 | |
| automatically infer if a function should be treated as an assertion handler if
 | |
| it is annotated with the 'noreturn' attribute or the (Clang-specific)
 | |
| 'analyzer_noreturn' attribute. Note that, currently, clang does not support 
 | |
| these attributes on Objective-C methods and C++ methods.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <h4 id="attr_noreturn">Attribute 'noreturn'</h4>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>The 'noreturn' attribute is a GCC-attribute that can be placed on the
 | |
| declarations of functions. It means exactly what its name implies: a function
 | |
| with a 'noreturn' attribute should never return.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>Specific details of the syntax of using the 'noreturn' attribute can be found
 | |
| in <a
 | |
| href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Function-Attributes.html#index-g_t_0040code_007bnoreturn_007d-function-attribute-2264">GCC's
 | |
| documentation</a>.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>Not only does the analyzer exploit this information when pruning false paths,
 | |
| but the compiler also takes it seriously and will generate different code (and
 | |
| possibly better optimized) under the assumption that the function does not
 | |
| return.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p><b>Example</b></p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>On Mac OS X, the function prototype for <tt>__assert_rtn</tt> (declared in
 | |
| <tt>assert.h</tt>) is specifically annotated with the 'noreturn' attribute:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <pre class="code_example">
 | |
| void __assert_rtn(const char *, const char *, int, const char *) <span class="code_highlight">__attribute__((__noreturn__))</span>;
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <h4 id="attr_analyzer_noreturn">Attribute 'analyzer_noreturn' (Clang-specific)</h4>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>The Clang-specific 'analyzer_noreturn' attribute is almost identical to
 | |
| 'noreturn' except that it is ignored by the compiler for the purposes of code
 | |
| generation.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>This attribute is useful for annotating assertion handlers that actually
 | |
| <em>can</em> return, but for the purpose of using the analyzer we want to
 | |
| pretend that such functions do not return.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>Because this attribute is Clang-specific, its use should be conditioned with
 | |
| the use of preprocessor macros.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p><b>Example</b>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <pre class="code_example">
 | |
| #ifndef CLANG_ANALYZER_NORETURN
 | |
| #if __has_feature(attribute_analyzer_noreturn)
 | |
| <span class="code_highlight">#define CLANG_ANALYZER_NORETURN __attribute__((analyzer_noreturn))</span>
 | |
| #else
 | |
| #define CLANG_ANALYZER_NORETURN
 | |
| #endif
 | |
| #endif
 | |
| 
 | |
| void my_assert_rtn(const char *, const char *, int, const char *) <span class="code_highlight">CLANG_ANALYZER_NORETURN</span>;
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| </body>
 | |
| </html>
 | |
| 
 |