lcov(1) 							   User Manuals 							   lcov(1)

NAME

       lcov - a graphical GCOV front-end

SYNOPSIS

       lcov -c|--capture
	    [-d|--directory directory] [-k|--kernel-directory directory]
	    [-o|--output-file tracefile] [-t|--test-name testname]
	    [-b|--base-directory directory] [-i|--initial] [--gcov-tool tool]
	    [--checksum] [--no-checksum] [--no-recursion] [-f|--follow]
	    [--compat-libtool] [--no-compat-libtool] [--ignore-errors errors]
	    [--to-package package] [--from-package package] [-q|--quiet]
	    [--no-markers]

       lcov -z|--zerocounters
	    [-d|--directory directory] [--no-recursion] [-f|--follow]
	    [-q|--quiet]

       lcov -l|--list tracefile
	    [-q|--quiet] [--list-full-path] [--no-list-full-path]

       lcov -a|--add-tracefile tracefile
	    [-o|--output-file tracefile] [--checksum] [--no-checksum]
	    [-q|--quiet]

       lcov -e|--extract tracefile pattern
	    [-o|--output-file tracefile] [--checksum] [--no-checksum]
	    [-q|--quiet]

       lcov -r|--remove tracefile pattern
	    [-o|--output-file tracefile] [--checksum] [--no-checksum]
	    [-q|--quiet]

       lcov --diff tracefile diff
	    [-o|--output-file tracefile] [--checksum] [--no-checksum]
	    [--convert-filenames] [--strip depth] [--path path] [-q|--quiet]

       lcov [-h|--help] [-v|--version]

DESCRIPTION

       lcov is a graphical front-end for GCC's coverage testing tool gcov. It collects line, function and branch coverage data for multiple source
       files and creates HTML pages containing the source code annotated with coverage information.  It also adds overview pages for easy  naviga-
       tion within the file structure.

       Use  lcov to collect coverage data and genhtml to create HTML pages. Coverage data can either be collected from the currently running Linux
       kernel or from a user space application. To do this, you have to complete the following preparation steps:

       For Linux kernel coverage:
	      Follow the setup instructions for the gcov-kernel infrastructure: http://ltp.sourceforge.net/coverage/gcov.php

       For user space application coverage:
	      Compile the application with GCC using the options "-fprofile-arcs" and "-ftest-coverage".

       Please note that this man page refers to the output format of lcov as ".info file" or "tracefile" and that the output  of  GCOV	is  called
       ".da file".

OPTIONS

       -a tracefile
       --add-tracefile tracefile
	      Add contents of tracefile.

	      Specify  several	tracefiles using the -a switch to combine the coverage data contained in these files by adding up execution counts
	      for matching test and filename combinations.

	      The result of the add operation will be written to stdout or the tracefile specified with -o.

	      Only one of -z, -c, -a, -e, -r, -l and --diff may be specified at a time.

       -b directory
       --base-directory directory
	      Use directory as base directory for relative paths.

	      Use this option to specify the base directory of a build-environment when lcov produces error messages like:

		     ERROR: could not read source file /home/user/project/subdir1/subdir2/subdir1/subdir2/file.c

	      In this example, use /home/user/project as base directory.

	      This option is required when using lcov on projects built with libtool or similar build environments that work with  a  base  direc-
	      tory,  i.e.  environments,  where  the  current  working directory when invoking the compiler is not the same directory in which the
	      source code file is located.

	      Note that this option will not work in environments where multiple base directories are used. In that case repeat the lcov call  for
	      each base directory while using the --ignore-errors option to prevent lcov from exiting when the first source code file could not be
	      found. This way you can get partial coverage information for each base directory which can then be combined using the -a option.

       -c
       --capture
	      Capture coverage data.

	      By default captures the current kernel execution counts and writes the resulting coverage data  to  the  standard  output.  Use  the
	      --directory option to capture counts for a user space program.

	      The result of the capture operation will be written to stdout or the tracefile specified with -o.

	      Only one of -z, -c, -a, -e, -r, -l and --diff may be specified at a time.

       --checksum
       --no-checksum
	      Specify whether to generate checksum data when writing tracefiles.

	      Use --checksum to enable checksum generation or --no-checksum to disable it. Checksum generation is disabled by default.

	      When checksum generation is enabled, a checksum will be generated for each source code line and stored along with the coverage data.
	      This checksum will be used to prevent attempts to combine coverage data from different source code versions.

	      If you don't work with different source code versions, disable this option to speed up coverage data processing and  to  reduce  the
	      size of tracefiles.

       --compat-libtool
       --no-compat-libtool
	      Specify whether to enable libtool compatibility mode.

	      Use  --compat-libtool  to  enable libtool compatibility mode or --no-compat-libtool to disable it. The libtool compatibility mode is
	      enabled by default.

	      When libtool compatibility mode is enabled, lcov will assume that the source code relating to a .da  file  located  in  a  directory
	      named ".libs" can be found in its parent directory.

	      If  you have directories named ".libs" in your build environment but don't use libtool, disable this option to prevent problems when
	      capturing coverage data.

       --convert-filenames
	      Convert filenames when applying diff.

	      Use this option together with --diff to rename the file names of processed data sets according to the data provided by the diff.

       --diff tracefile difffile
	      Convert coverage data in tracefile using source code diff file difffile.

	      Use this option if you want to merge coverage data from different source code levels of a program, e.g. when  you  have  data  taken
	      from  an older version and want to combine it with data from a more current version.  lcov will try to map source code lines between
	      those versions and adjust the coverage data respectively.  difffile needs to be in unified format, i.e. it has to be  created  using
	      the "-u" option of the diff tool.

	      Note  that  lines  which are not present in the old version will not be counted as instrumented, therefore tracefiles resulting from
	      this operation should not be interpreted individually but together with other tracefiles taken from the newer version. Also keep	in
	      mind that converted coverage data should only be used for overview purposes as the process itself introduces a loss of accuracy.

	      The result of the diff operation will be written to stdout or the tracefile specified with -o.

	      Only one of -z, -c, -a, -e, -r, -l and --diff may be specified at a time.

       -d directory
       --directory directory
	      Use .da files in directory instead of kernel.

	      If  you  want  to work on coverage data for a user space program, use this option to specify the location where the program was com-
	      piled (that's where the counter files ending with .da will be stored).

	      Note that you may specify this option more than once.

       -e tracefile pattern
       --extract tracefile pattern
	      Extract data from tracefile.

	      Use this switch if you want to extract coverage data for only a particular set of files from a tracefile.  Additional  command  line
	      parameters  will	be  interpreted as shell wildcard patterns (note that they may need to be escaped accordingly to prevent the shell
	      from expanding them first).  Every file entry in tracefile which matches at least one of those patterns will be extracted.

	      The result of the extract operation will be written to stdout or the tracefile specified with -o.

	      Only one of -z, -c, -a, -e, -r, -l and --diff may be specified at a time.

       -f
       --follow
	      Follow links when searching for .da files.

       --from-package package
	      Use .da files in package instead of kernel or directory.

	      Use this option if you have separate machines for build and test and want to perform the .info file creation on the  build  machine.
	      See --to-package for more information.

       --gcov-tool tool
	      Specify the location of the gcov tool.

       -h
       --help
	      Print a short help text, then exit.

       --ignore-errors errors
	      Specify a list of errors after which to continue processing.

	      Use this option to specify a list of one or more classes of errors after which lcov should continue processing instead of aborting.

	      errors can be a comma-separated list of the following keywords:

	      gcov: the gcov tool returned with a non-zero return code.

	      source: the source code file for a data set could not be found.

       -i
       --initial
	      Capture initial zero coverage data.

	      Run  lcov with -c and this option on the directories containing .bb, .bbg or .gcno files before running any test case. The result is
	      a "baseline" coverage data file that contains zero coverage for every instrumented line.	Combine this data  file  (using  lcov  -a)
	      with coverage data files captured after a test run to ensure that the percentage of total lines covered is correct even when not all
	      source code files were loaded during the test.

	      Recommended procedure when capturing data for a test case:

	      1. create baseline coverage data file
		     # lcov -c -i -d appdir -o app_base.info

	      2. perform test
		     # appdir/test

	      3. create test coverage data file
		     # lcov -c -d appdir -o app_test.info

	      4. combine baseline and test coverage data
		     # lcov -a app_base.info -a app_test.info -o app_total.info

       -k subdirectory
       --kernel-directory subdirectory
	      Capture kernel coverage data only from subdirectory.

	      Use this option if you don't want to get coverage data for all of the kernel, but only for specific subdirectories. This option  may
	      be specified more than once.

	      Note that you may need to specify the full path to the kernel subdirectory depending on the version of the kernel gcov support.

       -l tracefile
       --list tracefile
	      List the contents of the tracefile.

	      Only one of  -z, -c, -a, -e, -r, -l and --diff may be specified at a time.

       --list-full-path
       --no-list-full-path
	      Specify whether to show full paths during list operation.

	      Use --list-full-path to show full paths during list operation or --no-list-full-path to show shortened paths. Paths are shortened by
	      default.

       --no-markers
	      Use this option if you want to get coverage data without regard to exclusion markers in the source code file. See  geninfo  (1)  for
	      details on exclusion markers.

       --no-recursion
	      Use this option if you want to get coverage data for the specified directory only without processing subdirectories.

       -o tracefile
       --output-file tracefile
	      Write data to tracefile instead of stdout.

	      Specify "-" as a filename to use the standard output.

	      By convention, lcov-generated coverage data files are called "tracefiles" and should have the filename extension ".info".

       --path path
	      Strip path from filenames when applying diff.

	      Use  this option together with --diff to tell lcov to disregard the specified initial path component when matching between tracefile
	      and diff filenames.

       -q
       --quiet
	      Do not print progress messages.

	      This option is implied when no output filename is specified to prevent progress messages to mess with coverage data  which  is  also
	      printed to the standard output.

       -r tracefile pattern
       --remove tracefile pattern
	      Remove data from tracefile.

	      Use  this switch if you want to remove coverage data for a particular set of files from a tracefile. Additional command line parame-
	      ters will be interpreted as shell wildcard patterns (note that they may need to be escaped accordingly to  prevent  the  shell  from
	      expanding them first).  Every file entry in tracefile which matches at least one of those patterns will be removed.

	      The result of the remove operation will be written to stdout or the tracefile specified with -o.

	      Only one of -z, -c, -a, -e, -r, -l and --diff may be specified at a time.

       --strip depth
	      Strip path components when applying diff.

	      Use  this  option together with --diff to tell lcov to disregard the specified number of initial directories when matching tracefile
	      and diff filenames.

       -t testname
       --test-name testname
	      Specify test name to be stored in the tracefile.

	      This name identifies a coverage data set when more than one data set is merged into a combined tracefile (see option -a).

	      Valid test names can consist of letters, decimal digits and the underscore character ("_").

       --to-package package
	      Store .da files for later processing.

	      Use this option if you have separate machines for build and test and want to perform the .info file creation on the  build  machine.
	      To do this, follow these steps:

	      On the test machine:
		     - run the test
		     - run lcov -c [-d directory] --to-package file
		     - copy file to the build machine

	      On the build machine:
		     - run lcov -c --from-package file [-o and other options]

	      This  works  for both kernel and user space coverage data. Note that you might have to specify the path to the build directory using
	      -b with either --to-package or --from-package. Note also that the package data must be converted to a .info file before  recompiling
	      the program or it will become invalid.

       -v
       --version
	      Print version number, then exit.

       -z
       --zerocounters
	      Reset all execution counts to zero.

	      By default tries to reset kernel execution counts. Use the --directory option to reset all counters of a user space program.

	      Only one of -z, -c, -a, -e, -r, -l and --diff may be specified at a time.

FILES

       /etc/lcovrc
	      The system-wide configuration file.

       ~/.lcovrc
	      The per-user configuration file.

AUTHOR

       Peter Oberparleiter <Peter.Oberparleiter@de.ibm.com>

SEE ALSO

       lcovrc(5), genhtml(1), geninfo(1), genpng(1), gendesc(1), gcov(1)

2010-08-06							     LCOV 1.9								   lcov(1)