[Python-Dev] Static analysis of CPython using coccinelle/spatch (original) (raw)

Terry Reedy tjreedy at udel.edu
Wed Nov 18 01:45:20 CET 2009

A.M. Kuchling wrote:

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 03:27:53PM -0500, David Malcolm wrote:

Has anyone else looked at using Coccinelle/spatch[1] on CPython source code? For an excellent explanation of Coccinelle, see <http://lwn.net/Articles/315686/>.

For those who have not looked, Coccinelle means ladybug (a bug-eating bug ;-) in French. Its principle use to to take C code and a SmPl file of high-level patch descriptions (fixers, in 2to3 talk) and produce a standard diff file. I wonder if this could be used to help people migrate C extensions to 3.1, by developing a SmPl file with the needed changes dictated by API changes. This is similar to its motivating application to Linux. From

http://coccinelle.lip6.fr/

"Coccinelle is a program matching and transformation engine which provides the language SmPL (Semantic Patch Language) for specifying desired matches and transformations in C code. Coccinelle was initially targeted towards performing collateral evolutions in Linux. Such evolutions comprise the changes that are needed in client code in response to evolutions in library APIs, and may include modifications such as renaming a function, adding a function argument whose value is somehow context-dependent, and reorganizing a data structure. "

As I understand it, the problem with C extensions and 3.1 is the current lack of a "collateral evolution" tool like 2to3 for Python code.

Terry Jan Reedy

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