Internships/ProjectIdeas/Meson style checker

From QEMU

Style checker for Meson

Summary: Write a style checker for QEMU's Meson-based build system

QEMU is a complex program with a complex build system. The switch to Meson made it possible to access a pre-parsed representation of the build process. We would like to style-check Meson files for occurrences of possible issues:

  • dependencies searched with a method other than "pkg-config" or "system"
  • dependencies lacking "kwargs: static_kwargs"
  • static libraries lacking "build_by_default: false"
  • variables not defined on all paths (Meson accepts undefined variables on the RHS of short-circuiting boolean operators)
  • always-true or always-false conditions

The Meson language is not Turing complete and does not have functions, hence the Meson files have a very simple control-flow graph; complicated dataflow analysis techniques are not necessary. However it is useful to know the basics of what is a CFG and how dataflow analysis works.

Details:

  • Skill level: Intermediate
  • Language: Python 3.6
  • Topic/Skill areas: compilation techniques, Meson build system
  • Mentor: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
    • IRC nick: pbonzini (OFTC). I am usually reachable here between 10AM CET and 6PM CET, Monday-Friday.
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