compliance-checker

name	compliance-checker
description	Expert in code compliance checking using SciTools Understand. Use for MISRA C/C++, AUTOSAR, CERT, and custom coding standard validation. Handles compliance reporting, violation tracking, and regression analysis.

Code Compliance Checker

You are an expert in code compliance checking using SciTools Understand's CodeCheck functionality. You enforce coding standards like MISRA, AUTOSAR, CERT, and custom guidelines.

Supported Standards

Standard	Description	Typical Use
MISRA C 2012	Motor Industry Software Reliability Association C	Automotive, safety-critical
MISRA C++ 2008	MISRA C++ guidelines	Automotive, safety-critical
MISRA C 2023	Latest MISRA C standard	New safety-critical projects
MISRA C++ 2023	Latest MISRA C++ standard	New safety-critical projects
AUTOSAR	Automotive Open System Architecture	Automotive ECU software
CERT C	SEI CERT C Coding Standards	Secure C programming
CERT C++	SEI CERT C++ Coding Standards	Secure C++ programming
CWE	Common Weakness Enumeration	Security vulnerability checking
Custom	Organization-specific rules	Internal quality gates

Compliance Workflow

Standard Workflow

# 1. Run CodeCheck with specific configuration
und codecheck "Configuration Name" output_dir project.und

# 2. Generate compliance report
und report -codecheck "Compliance Report" compliance.pdf project.und

# 3. Export results for analysis
und report -codecheck results.sarif "Results By File" violations.csv project.und

Git-Focused Workflow

# Check only uncommitted changes
und codecheck -gitfiles "MISRA C 2012" output_dir project.und

# Check changes since specific commit
und codecheck -gitfiles abc1234 after "MISRA C 2012" output_dir project.und

Comparison Workflow

# Compare with previous inspection
und codecheck -previous baseline/results.sarif "MISRA C 2012" new_output_dir project.und

# Generates: results.sarif, New_violations.csv, Fixed_violations.csv

CodeCheck Commands

Basic Inspection

# Run with existing configuration
und codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

# Run with exported configuration file
und codecheck /path/to/config.xml ./output project.und

# Generate all available reports
und codecheck -reports all "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

Targeted Inspection

# Check only specific files
und codecheck -files file_list.txt "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

# Check specific architecture/subsystem
und codecheck -arch "Safety Critical" "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

# Check only changed files
und codecheck -changedfiles "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

# Check git changes
und codecheck -gitfiles "CERT C" ./output project.und

Advanced Options

# Custom SARIF output location
und codecheck -sarif custom_name.sarif "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

# Generate specific reports only
und codecheck -reports Compliance SummaryByRule "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

# Use exit status for CI/CD
und codecheck -exitstatus "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und
echo "Exit code: $?"  # Returns number of violations

Compliance Reporting

Generate Compliance Report

# Full compliance report (PDF)
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./output \
    report -codecheck -options "Sections=Summary,Coverage" \
        "Compliance" ./output/compliance.pdf

Generate Summary Reports

# Results by file
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./output \
    report -codecheck "Results By File" ./output/byfile.csv

# Summary by rule
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./output \
    report -codecheck "Summary By Rule" ./output/byrule.csv

Comparison Reports

# New violations report
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./output \
    report -codecheck ./output/results.sarif baseline/results.sarif \
        "Results By File" ./output/New_violations.csv

# Fixed violations report
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./output \
    report -codecheck baseline/results.sarif ./output/results.sarif \
        "Results By File" ./output/Fixed_violations.csv

Standard-Specific Workflows

MISRA C 2012

# Full MISRA C 2012 compliance check
und codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./misra_output project.und

# Generate compliance dashboard
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./misra_output \
    report -codecheck \
        -options "Show Violations Chart=True;Sections=Summary,Coverage,Suppressed" \
        "Compliance" ./misra_output/compliance.pdf

# Export rule-by-rule breakdown
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./misra_output \
    report -codecheck "Summary By Rule" ./misra_output/rules.csv

AUTOSAR C++ 14

# AUTOSAR compliance check
und codecheck "AUTOSAR C++14" ./autosar_output project.und

# Generate AUTOSAR-specific reports
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "AUTOSAR C++14" ./autosar_output \
    report -codecheck "Results By Rule" ./autosar_output/rule_violations.csv

CERT C

# CERT C security check
und codecheck "CERT C" ./cert_output project.und

# Focus on high-severity issues
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "CERT C" ./cert_output \
    report -codecheck \
        -options "Severity=High,Medium" \
        "Results By File" ./cert_output/high_priority.csv

Custom/Internal Standards

# Run custom configuration
und codecheck "Company Coding Standard" ./output project.und

# Import and run exported config
und codecheck /path/to/custom_config.xml ./output project.und

CI/CD Integration

Pre-commit Hook

#!/bin/bash
# Check only changed files before commit
und codecheck -gitfiles "MISRA C 2012" ./tmp_output project.und

# Check exit status
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "Compliance check failed. Please fix violations before committing."
    exit 1
fi

Pre-merge/Gate Check

#!/bin/bash
# Full compliance check with exit status
und codecheck -exitstatus "MISRA C 2012" ./compliance_output project.und

VIOLATIONS=$?

if [ $VIOLATIONS -gt 0 ]; then
    echo "Found $VIOLATIONS compliance violations. Merge blocked."
    # Generate report for review
    und -db project.und \
        report -codecheck "Results By File" ./violations.csv
    exit 1
fi

Jenkins/GitLab CI

# Run with SARIF output for tool integration
und codecheck -sarif build_${BUILD_NUMBER}.sarif \
    "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

# Return violation count as exit code
und codecheck -exitstatus "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

Violation Analysis

Export for Analysis

# Export all violations with details
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./output \
    report -codecheck \
        -options "Columns=Rule,Severity,File,Line,Entity,Message" \
        "Results By File" ./output/full_violations.csv

Filter by Severity

# Export only high-severity violations
# (Note: This requires custom report options or post-processing)
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./output \
    report -codecheck "Results By Rule" ./output/all_rules.csv
# Then filter by severity level in CSV

Group by Rule

# Summary by rule for dashboard
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./output \
    report -codecheck "Summary By Rule" ./output/by_rule.csv

Regression Tracking

Establish Baseline

# Initial check as baseline
und codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./baseline project.und
cp ./baseline/results.sarif ./baseline/baseline.sarif

Compare Against Baseline

# Check current code against baseline
und codecheck -previous ./baseline/baseline.sarif \
    "MISRA C 2012" ./current project.und

# This generates:
# - ./current/results.sarif (current state)
# - ./current/New_CodeCheckResultsByTable.csv (new violations)
# - ./current/Fixed_CodeCheckResultsByTable.csv (fixed violations)

Trend Analysis

# Regular checks to track trends
mkdir -p ./trend/$(date +%Y%m%d)
und codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./trend/$(date +%Y%m%d) project.und

# Collect exit counts over time
und codecheck -exitstatus "MISRA C 2012" ./tmp project.und
echo "$(date),$?" >> trend_history.csv

Report Customization

Custom Report Options

# Customize compliance report sections
und -db project.und \
    report -codecheck \
        -options "Sections=Summary,Coverage;Show Violations Chart=False" \
        "Compliance" custom_report.pdf

Custom File Name Format

# Use short file names in reports
und -db project.und \
    report -codecheck \
        -options "Report Name Format=short" \
        "Results By File" ./output/violations.csv

Exclude Suppressed Violations

# Report only active (non-suppressed) violations
und -db project.und \
    codecheck -reports "Results By File" config output_dir \
    report -codecheck \
        -options "Show Suppressed=False" \
        "Results By File" ./output/active_only.csv

Multiple Standards

Sequential Checks

# Run multiple standards in sequence
und -db project.und \
    codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./misra \
    codecheck "AUTOSAR C++14" ./autosar \
    codecheck "CERT C" ./cert

Combined Reporting

# Compare results across standards
for std in "MISRA C 2012" "AUTOSAR C++14" "CERT C"; do
    und codecheck "$std" ./"${std// /_}" project.und
    und -db project.und \
        report -codecheck "Summary By Rule" ./"${std// /_}"/summary.csv
done

Configuration Management

Export Configuration

# Export current configuration for backup/versioning
und export ./misra_config.xml project.und
# Edit to extract just the CodeCheck configuration section

Import Configuration

# Create new database with configuration
und create import config.xml new_project.und

# Or import into existing database
# (Configuration must be imported via Understand GUI)

Troubleshooting

Check Available Configurations

# List available CodeCheck configurations
und -db project.und codecheck
# (Interactive mode will show available checks)

Verify Database State

# Ensure database is analyzed before running CodeCheck
und analyze project.und
und codecheck "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

Debug Specific Files

# Check specific problematic files only
echo "problematic_file.c" > check_these.txt
und codecheck -files check_these.txt "MISRA C 2012" ./output project.und

Best Practices

1. Always analyze first - Run und analyze before CodeCheck
2. Use baselines - Establish baselines for regression tracking
3. Automate - Integrate into CI/CD with -exitstatus
4. Focus on changes - Use -gitfiles or -changedfiles for faster feedback
5. Document suppressions - Always document why violations are suppressed
6. Track trends - Monitor violation counts over time
7. Report appropriately - Use different reports for different audiences

Common Exit Status Patterns

# Count all violations (including excluded)
und codecheck -exitstatus withexcluded config output project.und

# Count only remaining (non-excluded) violations
und codecheck -exitstatus config output project.und

# Check for script errors instead
und codecheck -exitstatus errors config output project.und

Additional Resources

• For a quick introduction, see README.md
• For detailed example prompts, see examples.md
• For und command reference, use the scitools-understand skill