vargrind

Variable shadowing tool - Tracks data about variables (frequency of use, etc) during program execution

Goals

bolded = important

Provide shadow states (SS) for all variables in the program (Shadow state - information describing the various aspect of various variables)
- Information Proper
  - Name
  - Type
  - Parent scope (the name of the function that defined it)
  - Special descriptors (const, volatile, etc)
  - References in code?
  - Lifetime (from declaration to deletion/program exit)
  - Location (In memory)
- Number of uses
  - Total (Inside of the whole program)
  - Scope (Per scope)
- Users (functions/operations which used the variable)
  - All (Logged all uses of the variable, program wide or scope specific)
  - Last
  - Most frequent
- Changes (Variable's value change)
  - History
  - Current value
  - Previous value
  - Instigator (which function/operation changed it)
Output SS info
- To terminal
- To external logs/files (export)
Support complex data types (struct, class)
- Shallow analysis mode (Treat complex data types as closed packages)
- Deep analysis mode (Break complex types down into simple types and analyze each one as a separate variable)
  - Shadow attribute's parent class/struct
Post-completion optimizations

In order to use Vargrind, one must have Valgrind source code cloned. Info about cloing Valgrind code can be found here: https://valgrind.org/downloads/repository.html

If the user encounters some compilation issues, it is recommended to recursively delete whole valgrind directory and start the installation again.

As a prerequisite, user shall have the autotools and automake installed in order to build the project.

Usage: valgrind --tool=vargrind --read-var-info=yes ./program_name

This project is licensed under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, see the LICENSE.txt file for details.