TICS command line options

This page is a glossary of all the command line options that are allowed in TICS.

Allowed TICS options

The following TICS options are allowed:

-archivefile file
use the given archive file for the archive extraction
-branchname branch name
branch in quality database that is used to compare results
-buildrelationsearchdepth int
maximum depth to search for makefiles (relative to the source file)
-calc METRICS
calculate the specified (comma separated) metric type(s). For instance: -calc CODINGSTANDARD
-cdtoken
allows you to specify a custom client-data token for the purpose of the Client Viewer functionality. Only alphanumerical characters and underscore are permitted.
-changed
only check files that have changed with respect to the database
-checkedoutonly
only check files that are checked out in the SCM tool. If the SCM tool does not use a 'checked out' mechanism before commit, then instead it checks the set of files that are changed according to the SCM tool.
-codetype
filter the input files by code type (default: PRODUCTION)
-compiler CodeComposer|Csc|Gcc|Keil|MULTI|None|Qac|Tasking|VC|<string>
use the specified compiler
-compileroptions string
pass the specified (comma separated) options to the compiler
-config string
use the given compiler configuration
-delta string
show new violations relative to a given SCM tag in the database
-deltaonly
show only new violations relative to the database
-err file
write error messages to the specified file
-exitsqa
use the QA statement acceptation (yes/no) status as exit code. When used in combination with the command line options -viewer or -calc GATE, the viewer quality gate is taken into account.
-exitviolations
use the number of violations as exit code
-generatedcode
report violations in generated lines in addition to handwritten lines
-groupfile file
use the given group file
-help
show this help info
-ide eclipse|keil|rrt|slickedit|tasking|tornado|vs11|vs12|vs14|vs15|vs16
format output for the specified ide
-ignorefilters
Ignore all ARCHIVE filters. All build files, source files and directories provided to the TICS client as input will be analyzed without an ARCHIVE check.
-language language
calculate only files of the given language
-level int
show violations upto the specified level
-log int
show diagnostic messages upto the specified log level
-lowpriority
run the TICS client with low priority
-maxresults int
show maximally the specified number of violations
-msbuildinplace
perform MSBuild in the project directory
-nocalc METRICS
do not calculate the specified (comma separated) metric type(s). For instance: -calc ALL -nocalc DUPLICATEDCODE
-noconfig
do not use TICSConfig settings
-nodelta
do not show deltas
-nologo
suppress TICS logo output
-noproject
do not use the TICSPROJECT environment variable
-norecalc METRICS
do not recalculate the specified (comma separated) metric type(s) for unchanged files. For instance: -recalc ALL -norecalc DUPLICATEDCODE
-nowarn
suppress all warnings
-out file
output the analysis results to file in plain text format
-overviews
show violation overview tables [default: on]
-parallel
indicate that the client is running concurrently with other instances
-project string
quality database that is used to compare results
-projfile file
use the given project file
-recalc METRICS
recalculate the specified (comma separated) metric type(s) for unchanged files. For instance: -recalc COMPILERWARNING
-resultdir resultdir
Use the given result directory for code coverage.
-results
show violation messages [default: on]
-shownew
annotate new violations relative to the database
-showresolved
show resolved violations in violation overview
-showsuppressions
show suppressed violations in violation overview
-showsynopsis
show rule synopsis in violation overview [default: on]
-sort level|linenr|new
sort the violations according to the specified criterion (default 'linenr')
-srcfile file
source file that is used to check header file
-st
dump stack trace in case of errors
-synchronize
synchronize the file server files with the client
-timeinfo
show timing information on individual process stages [default: on]
-tmpdir dir
use the specified directory for intermediate files
-totaloverviews
show cumulative violation overview tables [default: on]
-version
show version info and exit
-viewer
uploads client results to the TICS Viewer for the purpose of the Client Viewer functionality
-xml file
output the analysis results to file in XML format

List of Metrics supported by TICS client

The following metrics can be passed as an argument to the client:

Metric aliases

The metric alias is a simplified way to invoke multiple metrics. This makes it unnecessary to invoke all individual metrics. For instance, the GATE metric alias can be used to invoke metrics dependent on your quality gate settings.

The following example shows how to use a metric alias:

TICS -calc AVGCYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY,UNITTESTCOVERAGE /home/user/repository

This invocation of the client will invoke the following metrics on the directory /home/user/repository: AVGCYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY, UNITBRANCHCOVERAGE, UNITDECISIONCOVERAGE, UNITFUNCTIONCOVERAGE, UNITSTATEMENTCOVERAGE.

Metric abbreviations

It is also possible to run metrics by using abbrevations for the metric name. The following metric abbreviations are available:

The following example shows how to use a metric abbreviation:

TICS -calc CY,UTC /home/user/repository

This invocation of the client will invoke the following metrics on the directory /home/user/repository: AVGCYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY, MAXCYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY, UNITBRANCHCOVERAGE, UNITDECISIONCOVERAGE, UNITFUNCTIONCOVERAGE, UNITSTATEMENTCOVERAGE.