TASKING TriCore v6.2r2  Inspector v1.0r6
Release Note

Scope

This release note covers the initial features of the TASKING TriCore v6.2r2 Inspector v1.0r6.

For release notes prior to v1.0r6, please visit the TASKING TriCore Inspector support website.

Contents

• Important Notices
• Build Numbers
• Base Features
• Issues Detected in v1.0r6
• Issues Not Detected in v1.0r6
• Fixed Issues in v1.0r6
• License information

Important Notices

TriCore v6.2r2 Inspector v1.0r6 is based on TASKING VX-toolset for TriCore v6.2r2 patch 2. Inspector operates identically to the VX-toolset (except for the issue detection) down to the linker.

Generation of the final executable image by the linker has been disabled.

Components of the VX-toolset dealing with the final executable image, library sources and examples have been removed from the product.

Components modified for the issue detection have been renamed with prefix insp_ (insp_cctc, insp_cptc, insp_ctc, insp_astc, insp_ltc).

You can use the TASKING Inspector v1.0r6 for the TASKING VX-toolset for TriCore v6.2r2 product and any of the patches, with the following restrictions:

• When you use the Inspector with the TriCore v6.2r2 product or with v6.2r2p1 applied, the Inspector does not detect issues fixed in TriCore v6.2r2p2.
• The level of confidence in the error detection of the Inspector is high if your software is compiled with the TASKING VX-toolset for TriCore v6.2r2p2 and degrades if other patch versions of the compiler are used.

The inspector components now also silently accept the given detection options meant for other components. This prevents errors when e.g. passing an option file to all tools with a list of --detect or --ignore detector options.

Build Numbers

All executable files in this release have the following build number: Build 24041646.

Base Features

Detection options

By default, Inspector detects and reports full set of supported issues. The following options allow the user to customize this set:

--ignore=<issue-id>,... - disables detection of specified issues.

--detect=<issue-id>,... - disables detection of all issues and enables detection of specified issues only.

These options are supported by the Control Program, C/C++ Compiler, Assembler and Linker. Issue ID corresponds to issue's identification on the TASKING Issue Portal.

Detection messages

Inspector indicates issue detection by producing a warning message in two possible ways:

1. Definite detection.

Reported when Inspector can guarantee by detector's construction that the processed code is affected by the triggered issue. Note that the affected code may still be removed from the final executable image by subsequent optimizations or linker - this requires manual verification.

Example: ctc W999: [25/12] [INSP] detected occurrence of issue TCVX-44082.

2. Potential detection.

Reported when the issue is triggered, but Inspector can not guarantee that the processed code has been affected. Location and/or some additional information will be reported to facilitate verification by the user.

Example: ctc W998: [10/29] [INSP] detected potential occurrence of issue TCVX-43595.

3. No detection.

No definite or potential issues detected for the enabled list of detectors.

Example: [INSP] No definite or potential issues detected for the enabled list of detectors

Detection by assembly comparison

Some potential detectors produce a lot of false positives. To narrow the processing, assembly comparison mode is introduced.

--detect-asm=<issue-id> - with this option Inspector only detects a single specified issue.

After initial potential detection Inspector generates two instances of assembly code - affected and not affected by the issue.

If the comparison of these generated assembly files produces any meaningful difference, Inspector reports it and indicates locations of the generated files for the further analysis.

Message logging

Inspector supports separate logging of detection messages.

--insp-log=<file> - with this option all detection messages are duplicated into the specified file.

The log file is written in append mode and clearing it at the right moment is your responsibility

The logging mechanism supports concurrent writing for the multi-threaded build, but file locking over network is unreliable, so it shouldn't be used with a remotely located log file.

Issues Detected in v1.0r6

• Issue detection "Mixed" means: both "Definite" as well as "Potential" detection messages could be reported for that issue
• Available detectors for each tool are also listed if --detect option is used without an argument

Issues Not Detected in v1.0r6

• TCVX-43602 - Wrong STD include folder selection for C++11
• TCVX-44047 - C compiler may leave empty .src file when it is killed
• TCVX-44325 - User stack pointer 4-byte aligned when interrupt occurs between FCALL and FRET
• TCVX-44577 - Wrong BMHDx_BMI masks for AURIX 2G in tc1v1_6_2.bmhd.lsl
• TCVX-44758 - FP operations involving INF or NAN inputs may produce wrong results with --fp-model=sT
• TCVX-44770 and TCVX-45075 - Non-trapping software-emulated floating-point operations do not handle exceptional results correctly
• TCVX-44835 and TCVX-44962 - Struct alignments for bit-fields not always EABI compliant
• TCVX-44891 - Software-emulated 32-bit floating-point multiplication may yield 0.0f instead of FLT_MIN
• TCVX-45129 - Floating point comparison operations do not raise FE_INVALID when two NAN values are compared

These issues have been deemed impossible to detect in any meaningful way during compilation. User manual contains a detailed description of the situation when the issue might occur and how to prevent it.

Fixed Issues in v1.0r6

• INSPTC62R2-36 - Inspector messages are suppressed for some inspector tools with option --no-warnings

License Information

TASKING products are protected with TASKING license management software.

License key

You need a license key when you install a TASKING product on a computer. When you order a TASKING product from TASKING or one of its distributors, a license key will be sent to you by email or on paper.

See the TASKING License Management (TLM) Support page for information on obtaining a license.

Improved parallel process license handling

Some TASKING licenses can be limited to a maximum number of parallel processes per user (seat). When the maximum number of parallel processes is reached a new client process is set to waiting until the number of running client processes under the same license seat is below the process limit.

You can set the TSK_PROCESS_WAIT option in licopt.txt, or as an environment variable, to the parallel process time-out (default: unlimited). This specifies the number of seconds the system is allowed to wait for a process to run if the maximum number of parallel processes permitted by the license is already running.

Improved verbose logging

You can set the TSK_LOG_VERBOSE option in licopt.txt, or as an environment variable, to different verbose levels. With level 3 or higher, detailed license configuration information is shown, which is useful for debugging licensing problems. For example, it shows the environment variables or options used, the license key and the search path.

License pool mechanism

You can now define a named pool of specific licenses on the local license server.

A license pool is useful to specify that the licenses for one or more products shall be grouped together. This can be the case for example when your license agreement has constraints on geographical location, such as a single site license, country license or continental license. In that case you can put all product licenses that are allowed to be used by a specific location into a license pool.

Pool names for TASKING products released after March 2023 have the syntax POOL-name, where the name is free to choose from 1 up to 14 characters. Pool names are also supported with existing TASKING products, as long as you use the new local license server and specify the pool names in the fixed format POOL-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx.
Note that you also need to use this fixed pool name format if you are mixing older and newer TASKING products.

The PRODUCT keyword has been deprecated, but still works for backwards compatibility.

Support for wait for a free license

You can now set the TSK_LICENSE_WAIT option in licopt.txt to a configurable time period to wait for a free license seat to become available instead of directly terminating when a license request is denied.