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:

• ABSTRACTINTERPRETATION
• ALL
• AVGCYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY
• CODINGSTANDARD
• COMPILERWARNING
• CYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY
• DUPLICATEDCODE
• DUPLICATEDCODECUSTOM
• ELOC
• FANOUT
• FAST
• GATE
• INTEGRATIONBRANCHCOVERAGE
• INTEGRATIONDECISIONCOVERAGE
• INTEGRATIONFUNCTIONCOVERAGE
• INTEGRATIONSTATEMENTCOVERAGE
• INTEGRATIONTESTCOVERAGE
• LOC
• MAXCYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY
• SECURITY
• SYSTEMBRANCHCOVERAGE
• SYSTEMDECISIONCOVERAGE
• SYSTEMFUNCTIONCOVERAGE
• SYSTEMSTATEMENTCOVERAGE
• SYSTEMTESTCOVERAGE
• TOTALBRANCHCOVERAGE
• TOTALDECISIONCOVERAGE
• TOTALFUNCTIONCOVERAGE
• TOTALSTATEMENTCOVERAGE
• TOTALTESTCOVERAGE
• UNITBRANCHCOVERAGE
• UNITDECISIONCOVERAGE
• UNITFUNCTIONCOVERAGE
• UNITSTATEMENTCOVERAGE
• UNITTESTCOVERAGE

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.

• ALL will run all possible metrics.
• CYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY runs the metrics AVGCYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY, MAXCYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY.
• INTEGRATIONTESTCOVERAGE runs the metrics INTEGRATIONBRANCHCOVERAGE, INTEGRATIONDECISIONCOVERAGE,INTEGRATIONFUNCTIONCOVERAGE, INTEGRATIONSTATEMENTCOVERAGE.
• SYSTEMTESTCOVERAGE runs the metrics SYSTEMBRANCHCOVERAGE, SYSTEMDECISIONCOVERAGE, SYSTEMFUNCTIONCOVERAGE,SYSTEMSTATEMENTCOVERAGE.
• TOTALTESTCOVERAGE runs the metrics TOTALBRANCHCOVERAGE, TOTALDECISIONCOVERAGE, TOTALFUNCTIONCOVERAGE,TOTALSTATEMENTCOVERAGE.
• UNITTESTCOVERAGE runs the metrics UNITBRANCHCOVERAGE, UNITDECISIONCOVERAGE,UNITFUNCTIONCOVERAGE,UNITSTATEMENTCOVERAGE.
• DUPLICATEDCODE runs the metrics DUPLICATEDCODE,DUPLICATEDCODECUSTOM.
• FAST is a configurable alias. This can be used to set metrics that are fast to run. That way client runs can be done in reasonable time. For how to configure the specific metrics to run and the default list of metrics, see METRICALIASES.
• GATE is a special case; this runs the metrics that are associated with the quality gate for your project. For instance, if your quality gate checks your coding standard violations and fan out, it will contain CODINGSTANDARD and FANOUT. See client quality gates for more information on this option.

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:

• AI for ABSTRACTINTERPRETATION
• CS for CODINGSTANDARD
• CW for COMPILERWARNING
• CY for CYCLOMATICCOMPLEXITY
• DUP for DUPLICATEDCODE
• SEC for SECURITY
• ITC for INTEGRATIONTESTCOVERAGE
• STC for SYSTEMTESTCOVERAGE
• TTC for TOTALTESTCOVERAGE
• UTC for UNITTESTCOVERAGE

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.