[cfe-dev] avoid loops in the exploded graph?

[Artem Dergachev via cfe-dev]

The addTransition() method family is well-defended against accidentally 
squeezing the current state into it, there's no need to check if the 
state has changed on the checker side. I don't remember what i was 
thinking, but this statement in the guide is definitely outdated or 
incorrect.

I don't think this TODO is anyhow important to address. State comparison 
is O(1) regardless of how many changes were made. The TODO should 
probably be removed.

That said, these special cases and default arguments of addTransition(), 
i.e., passing null state, passing current state, passing null 
predecessor, passing current predecessor, passing null tag, etc., are 
too numerous and counter-intuitive to memorize, no wonder i was 
confused. I believe we should break this up into several methods instead 
(with different, intuitive names).


On 10/9/18 5:50 AM, Whisperity via cfe-dev wrote:
>
> Use Occam’s razor, there is a very easy explanation for that 
> particular TODO. Namely that no one had the time or effort to fix the 
> checkers mentioned in the comment, and potentially the plethora of 
> others introduced that exploit the early return. 😊
>
> *From: *Donát Nagy via cfe-dev <mailto:cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org>
> *Sent: *2018. október 9., kedd 14:03
> *To: *dkszelethus at gmail.com <mailto:dkszelethus at gmail.com>; 
> lewisurn at gmail.com <mailto:lewisurn at gmail.com>
> *Cc: *cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org <mailto:cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org>
> *Subject: *Re: [cfe-dev] avoid loops in the exploded graph?
>
> Hi,
>
> My intuition is that in some situations it is guaranteed that the 
> state will be modified and then the if (NewState!=State) check is 
> unnecessary. In other situations there is a possibility that the state 
> will remain the same (e.g. the expression was already marked as 
> tainted, so nothing changes) and this could theoretically create to a 
> loop edge (an edge from the current node to itself) in the exploded graph.
>
> A loop edge is obviously undesirable, because it could send graph 
> traversal into infinite loops, so wee need to guarantee that they do 
> not appear in the exploded graph.  As Kristóf wrote, the method 
> CheckerContext::addTransitionImpl() always guarantees this with a 
> defensive check (with a TODO to turn it into an assert); but in some 
> checkers it is also tested by the checker itself.
>
> Donát
>
> On k, 2018-10-09 at 11:10 +0200, Kristóf Umann via cfe-dev wrote:
>
>     Hi!
>
>     If you look at how addTransition is implemented, you can see a big
>     TODO before a defensive check:
>     https://github.com/llvm-mirror/clang/blob/7c8e954f273730037b454edf94c8d13123dbedf6/include/clang/StaticAnalyzer/Core/PathSensitive/CheckerContext.h#L289
>
>     According to that, it would seem that a checker-side check should
>     always be there.
>
>     Let's see what others think of this -- to me it would make more
>     sense to have this check within addTransition, and I'm unsure
>     myself why that TODO is there.
>
>     Lou Wynn via cfe-dev <cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org
>     <mailto:cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org>> ezt írta (időpont: 2018. okt. 9.,
>     K, 3:42):
>
>         Hi,
>
>         I read the comment "avoid loops in the exploded graph" in the
>         following snippet of code which is on page 32 of the workbook
>         <https://github.com/haoNoQ/clang-analyzer-guide/releases/download/v0.1/clang-analyzer-guide-v0.1.pdf>.
>
>         LocationContext *LC = C. getLocationContext ();
>         ProgramStateRef State = C. getState ();
>         const Expr *E = /* Obtain an expression value of which is
>         untrusted */;
>         ProgramStateRef NewState = State -> addTaint (E, LC );
>         if ( NewState != State ) // avoid loops in the exploded graph
>           C. addTransition ( NewState );
>
>         My question is why the new tainted state requires the if
>         statement to prevent loops, while other new states in the book
>         do not have the if statement when C.addTransition(State) is
>         used? Do other states which are not tainted not need to
>         prevent loops? For example, on page 30, when a new state is
>         added, it reads:
>
>         ProgramStateRef State = C. getState ();
>         State = modifyState ( State ); // do stuff
>         C. addTransition ( State );
>
>         There is no if state to prevent a loop.
>
>         -- 
>
>         Love,
>
>         Lou
>
>         _______________________________________________
>         cfe-dev mailing list
>         cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org <mailto:cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org>
>         http://lists.llvm.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cfe-dev
>
>     _______________________________________________
>
>     cfe-dev mailing list
>
>     cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org  <mailto:cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org>
>
> http://lists.llvm.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cfe-dev
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> cfe-dev mailing list
> cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org
> http://lists.llvm.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cfe-dev

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/cfe-dev/attachments/20181009/a0e55457/attachment.html>