curl-curl/.github
Viktor Szakats 4497dbd9ac
clang-tidy: fixes and improvements
Fix bigger and smaller kinks in how clang-tidy is configured and used.
Sync behavior more between autotools and cmake, lib/src and tests. Bump
clang-tidy minimum version and prepare logic to allow using clang-tidy
to a fuller extent.

- move clang-tidy settings from builds to a new `.clang-tidy.yml`.
  To make it easy to see and edit checks at one place. Also to allow
  using the `--checks=` option internally to silence tests-specific
  checks. (clang-tidy does not support multiple `--check=` options via
  the command-line.)
  Use explicit `--config-file=` option to point to the configuration.
- .clang-tidy.yml: link to documentation.
- suppress `clang-diagnostic-nullability-extension` due to a false
  positive in libtests with `CURL_WERROR=ON` and `PICKY_COMPILER=OFF`.
- .clang-tidy.yml: enable `portability-*`, `misc-const-correctness`.
- drop `--quiet` clang-tidy option by default to make its working a bit
  more transparent. The extra output is minimial.
- consistently use double-dashes in clang-tidy command-line options.
  Supported by clang-tidy 9.0.0+ (2019-09-19). Before this patch single
  and double were used arbitrarily.
- src/tool_parsecfg: silence false positive `clang-analyzer-unix.Stream`.
  Seen with clang 18 + clang-tidy 19 and 20 (only with autotools.)
- INTERNALS: require clang-tidy 14.0.0+. For the `--config-file` option.
- INTERNALS: recommend clang-tidy 19.1.0+, to avoid bogus
  `clang-analyzer-valist.Uninitialized` warnings. (bug details below)

autotools:

- allow configuring the clang-tidy tool via `CLANG_TIDY` env.
  Also to use in GHA to point to a suffixed clang-tody tool.
- fix to pass CFLAGS to lib, src sources.
  (keep omitting them when using a non-clang compiler.)
- fix to pass `--warnings-as-errors=*` in quotes to avoid globbing.

cmake:

- fix to not pass an empty `-I` to clang-tidy.
- fix to pass CFLAGS (picky warnings) to clang-tidy for test sources.
  (keep omitting them when using a non-clang compiler.)
- fix to disable `clang-diagnostic-unused-function` for test sources.
  (tests have static entry points, which trigger this check when
  checking them as individidual sources.)
- fix forwarding `CURL_CLANG_TIDYFLAGS` to clang-tidy.
- force disable picky warnings when running clang-tidy with a non-clang
  compiler. To not pass these flags when checking lib and src.

CI:

- GHA/linux: avoid clang-tidy bug by upgrading to v19, and drop the
  workaround.
- GHA/linux: switch to clang from gcc in the clang-tidy job. Using gcc
  doesn't allow passing CFLAGS to clang-tidy, making it less effective.
  (My guess this was one factor contributing to this job often missing
  to find certain issues compared to GHA/macos.)

I recomment using clang-tidy with a clang compiler, preferably the same
version or one that's compatible. Other cases are best effort, and may
fail if a C flag is passed to clang-tidy that it does not understand.
Picky warnings are mostly omitted when using a non-clang compiler,
reducing its usefulness.

Details and reproducer for the v18 (and earlier) clang-tidy bug,
previously affecting the GHA/linux job:

clang-tidy <=18 emits false warnings way when passing multiple C sources
at once (as done with autotools):

```sh
cat > src1.c <<EOF
#include <string.h>
static void dummy(void *p) { memcmp(p, p, 0); }
EOF

cat > src2.c <<EOF
#include <stdarg.h>
void vafunc(int option, ...)
{
  va_list param;
  va_start(param, option);
  if(option)
    (void)va_arg(param, int);
  va_end(param);
}
EOF

/opt/homebrew/opt/llvm@18/bin/clang-tidy --checks=clang-analyzer-valist.Uninitialized src1.c src2.c

# src2.c:7:11: warning: va_arg() is called on an uninitialized va_list [clang-analyzer-valist.Uninitialized]
```

Follow-up to e86542038d #17047

Closes #20605
2026-02-19 00:02:11 +01:00
..
ISSUE_TEMPLATE BUG-BOUNTY.md: we stop the bug-bounty end of Jan 2026 2026-01-26 08:26:28 +01:00
scripts build: use native file open flags in Windows-specific code 2026-02-04 15:59:35 +01:00
workflows clang-tidy: fixes and improvements 2026-02-19 00:02:11 +01:00
CODEOWNERS CI: add whitespace checker 2024-06-27 13:33:30 +02:00
CONTRIBUTING.md tidy-up: Markdown, clang-format nits 2026-01-22 23:44:47 +01:00
dependabot.yml GHA/dependabot: tidy-ups 2025-11-02 17:45:50 +01:00
FUNDING.yml copyright: update all copyright lines and remove year ranges 2023-01-03 09:19:21 +01:00
labeler.yml tidy-up: merge root packages directory into projects 2026-01-12 23:49:35 +01:00
lock.yml copyright: update all copyright lines and remove year ranges 2023-01-03 09:19:21 +01:00
stale.yml badwords: fix issues found in scripts and other files 2025-11-17 17:18:07 +01:00