Cppcheck failing to understand assert path

[Curtis Malainey]

I have a small program here that seems to detect a bug in cppcheck 2.4.1
which arises with code like panic and asserts that the dump state then loop
the system forever.

struct test {
        int i;
}

void fail() {
        while(1){}
}

int main(){
        struct test *test_p = NULL;

        void(test_p || fail());
        test_p->i = 0;
}

Which results in the following error

main.c:13:2: error: Null pointer dereference: test_p [nullPointer]
test_p->i = 0;
^
main.c:10:24: note: Assignment 'test_p=NULL', assigned value is 0
struct test *test_p = NULL;
^
main.c:13:2: note: Null pointer dereference
test_p->i = 0;
^

Even though it is clear that it is impossible for main to reach the
dereference when it is NULL.

Originally discovered here with the task_next variable
https://github.com/thesofproject/sof/blob/main/src/schedule/edf_schedule.c#L98

Using the command cppcheck --platform=unix32 --force --max-configs=4096 -q
--inline-suppr --suppress=variableScope --suppress=unusedFunction
-isrc/arch/xtensa -Isrc/include --std=c89 -itest -j 16 src/

Curtis

[Daniel Marjamäki]

Thanks! I would suggest that if possible, don't expand assert in Cppcheck analysis. The FP is fixed if I write assert there instead. And if assert is seen Cppcheck understands the semantics better and can warn about side effects in assert condition also.