Splint is security tool to detect C program errors and ensure software development best practices.
Splint performs highly advanced checks made possible by additional information given via source code annotations. Annotations are stylized comments that document assumptions about functions, variables, parameters and types. This additional information is used to improve many traditional lint checks. The more annotations provided, the better the result of the checking process.
The Splint tool is adjustable, allowing programmers to select appropriate points on the effort-benefit curve for optimizing specific projects. As different checks are turned on and more information is given in code annotations, the number of bugs that can be detected increases exponentially. Splint checks for a wide range of programming bugs such as dereferencing a possibly null pointer, using possibly undefined storage, type mismatches and violations of information hiding.
Memory management errors, including uses of dangling references and memory leaks, can be detected by Splint alongside dangerous aliasing, modifications and global variable uses that are inconsistent with specified interfaces. Problematic control flow such as likely infinite loops, fall through cases or incomplete switches and suspicious statements are also checked. Furthermore, Splint can detect buffer overflow vulnerabilities, dangerous macro implementations or invocations and violations of customized naming conventions.
Overall, Splint is a reliable and powerful tool for programmers of all levels. It is highly recommended due to its efficiency in detecting programming errors and security vulnerabilities, which can prevent future issues in a program's performance.
Version 3.1.1: N/A