TASKING TriCore v6.3r1  Inspector v1.0r4 Release Note

Scope

This release note covers the initial features of the TASKING TriCore v6.3r1 Inspector v1.0r4.

For release notes prior to v1.0r4, please visit the TASKING TriCore Inspector support website.

Contents

• Important Notices
• Build Numbers
• Base Features
• Issues Detected in v1.0r4
• Issues Not Detected in v1.0r4
• Fixed Issues in v1.0r4
• License Information

Important Notices

TriCore v6.3r1 Inspector v1.0r4 is based on the TASKING VX-toolset for TriCore v6.3r1 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 v1.0r4 for the TASKING VX-toolset for TriCore v6.3r1 product and any of the patches, with the following restrictions:

• When you use the Inspector with the TriCore v6.3r1 product or with v6.3r1p1 applied, the Inspector does not detect issues fixed in TriCore v6.3r1p2.
• 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 v6.3r1p2 and degrades if other patch versions of the compiler are used.

Build Numbers

All executable files in this release have the following build number: Build 23121247.

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: [7/12] [INSP] detected occurrence of issue TCVX-44043.

2. Potential detection.

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

Example: ltc W998: [2/51] [INSP] detected potential occurrence of issue TCVX-43994.

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 the 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 should not be used with a remotely located log file.

Issues Detected in v1.0r4

• 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 v1.0r4

• TCVX-44325 - User stack pointer 4-byte aligned when interrupt occurs between FCALL and FRET
• TCVX-44962 and TCVX-44835 - Struct alignments for bit-fields not always EABI compliant
• TCVX-45075 - Non-trapping 64-bit floating-point emulation does not handle exceptional results correctly

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.

Fixed Issues in v1.0r4

• INSP_TC63R1-15 - Inspector tools not always correctly honor --detect / --ignore

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.

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.