nullability/inference/inference.proto

// Part of the Crubit project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM
// Exceptions. See /LICENSE for license information.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception

// Data structures for whole-codebase nullability inference.
//
// To accurately determine nullability of public APIs, we join information from
// many translation units (e.g. a function's implementation, and all callsites).
//
// In large codebases, we may distribute this process as a mapreduce:
// - process the many translation units in parallel, obtaining evidence
//   about all functions defined/called
// - group the evidence by the function it describes, and combine it to form
//   conclusions for each one
//
// Key data structures are the evidence from one TU (map output/reduce input),
// and the conclusions (reduce output).
syntax = "proto2";

package clang.tidy.nullability;

// A symbol whose nullability should potentially be inferred.
message Symbol {
  // Clang "Unified Symbol Resolution" identifier for the symbol.
  optional string usr = 1;
}

// A "slot" identifies a position in a symbol's type that may have nullability.
//
// We use uint32 rather than the Slot type to represent slot numbers in protos.
// (A symbol may have any number of slots, and proto2 enums are closed).
// The Slot enum only defines well-known slot values for functions. Fields and
// global variables use Slot numbers aligned with the indices of their
// nullability vectors.
enum Slot {
  // The slot number for a function's return type.
  SLOT_RETURN_TYPE = 0;
  // The slot number for a function's first parameter.
  // The second param is SLOT_PARAM + 1, etc.
  SLOT_PARAM = 1;
}

// An observation of nullability based on local analysis (e.g. a function body).
// Evidence from across different functions/TUs is combined to form conclusions.
message Evidence {
  optional Symbol symbol = 1;
  optional uint32 slot = 2;
  optional Kind kind = 3;
  // Source location: file:line:col. Optional, for debugging only.
  optional string location = 4;

  // A pattern in the code that might help us determine nullability.
  enum Kind {
    // The declaration was annotated with _Null_unspecified or similar.
    ANNOTATED_UNKNOWN = 0;
    // The declaration was annotated with _Nullable or similar.
    ANNOTATED_NULLABLE = 1;
    // The declaration was annotated with _Nonnull or similar.
    ANNOTATED_NONNULL = 2;

    // A pointer was dereferenced without being checked for null first.
    UNCHECKED_DEREFERENCE = 3;
    // A Nullable value was passed as an argument.
    NULLABLE_ARGUMENT = 4;
    // A Nonnull value was passed as an argument.
    NONNULL_ARGUMENT = 5;
    // A value with Unknown nullability was passed as an argument.
    UNKNOWN_ARGUMENT = 6;
    // A Nullable value was returned.
    NULLABLE_RETURN = 7;
    // A Nonnull value was returned.
    NONNULL_RETURN = 8;
    // A value with Unknown nullability was returned.
    UNKNOWN_RETURN = 9;
    // A value was assigned to a Nonnull declaration.
    // e.g. evidence for `p` from `int* _Nonnull q = p;`.
    ASSIGNED_TO_NONNULL = 10;
    // A value was assigned to a declaration that is a reference to a mutable
    // nullable pointer, e.g. evidence for `p` from `int* _Nullable& q = p;`.
    ASSIGNED_TO_MUTABLE_NULLABLE = 11;
    // The program aborts if a value is null.
    ABORT_IF_NULL = 12;
    // A nullable value was assigned.
    // e.g. evidence for `p` from `int* p = nullptr;`.
    ASSIGNED_FROM_NULLABLE = 13;
    // A pointer was used with an arithmetic operator without being checked for
    // null first.
    ARITHMETIC = 14;
    // A non-static member variable has a default initializer that is a literal
    // nullptr or is simply constructed from a literal nullptr. This is
    // considered to be a weaker signal than other assignments to nullable, due
    // to the common use of nullptr as a default value to avoid quieter
    // uninitialized memory errors in favor of loud segfaults, so we
    // differentiate the evidence. Default initializers that are nullable but
    // not using literal nullptrs use the stronger evidence
    // ASSIGNED_TO_NULLABLE, as they likely indicate more explicit Nullable
    // intent.
    NULLPTR_DEFAULT_MEMBER_INITIALIZER = 15;
    // __attribute((nonnull[(optional_param_indices)])) was applied to a
    // function or parameter declaration or __attribute((returns_nonnull)) was
    // applied to a function declaration.
    GCC_NONNULL_ATTRIBUTE = 16;
    // A Nullable value was returned as a reference.
    NULLABLE_REFERENCE_RETURN = 17;
    // A Nonnull value was returned as a mutable reference.
    NONNULL_REFERENCE_RETURN = 18;
    // A value with Unknown nullability was returned as a reference.
    UNKNOWN_REFERENCE_RETURN = 19;
    // A Nullable value was passed as a reference argument.
    NULLABLE_REFERENCE_ARGUMENT = 20;
    // A Nonnull value was passed as a mutable reference argument.
    NONNULL_REFERENCE_ARGUMENT = 21;
    // A value with Unknown nullability was passed as a reference argument.
    UNKNOWN_REFERENCE_ARGUMENT = 22;
    // A nonnull value was assigned.
    // e.g. evidence for `p` from `int a; int* p = &a;`.
    ASSIGNED_FROM_NONNULL = 23;
    // An unknown value was assigned.
    // e.g. evidence for `p` from `int* p = getUnknownPtr();`.
    ASSIGNED_FROM_UNKNOWN = 24;
    // A value was bound to a reference to a nonnull pointer, regardless of
    // whether the pointer can be mutated through the reference. If any Nonnull
    // reference exists, the pointer must be declared Nonnull to prevent the
    // pointer from being directly, or through a different reference, assigned
    // to null and then accessed through the Nonnull reference unsafely.
    // e.g. evidence for `p` from `int* _Nonnull&q = p;`.
    ASSIGNED_TO_NONNULL_REFERENCE = 26;
    // A reference to a nonnull value was returned as a reference to a const
    // value. This is distinct from NONNULL_REFERENCE_RETURN because it does not
    // require that the return type is Nonnull, the way returning a reference to
    // a mutable nonnull value does.
    NONNULL_REFERENCE_RETURN_AS_CONST = 27;
    // A reference to a nonnull value was passed as an argument to a const
    // reference parameter. This is distinct from NONNULL_REFERENCE_ARGUMENT
    // because it does not require that the argument type is Nonnull, the way
    // passing a reference to a mutable nonnull value does.
    NONNULL_REFERENCE_ARGUMENT_AS_CONST = 28;
    // A decl that is defined by the standard or strong convention to be
    // Nonnull.
    WELL_KNOWN_NONNULL = 29;
    // A decl that is defined by the standard or strong convention to be
    // Nullable.
    WELL_KNOWN_NULLABLE = 30;
    // A pointer was used with an array subscript operator without being checked
    // for null first.
    ARRAY_SUBSCRIPT = 31;
    // A smart pointer field was left not-nullable in the exit block of a
    // supported late initializer method.
    LEFT_NOT_NULLABLE_BY_LATE_INITIALIZER = 32;
    // A smart pointer field was left default-initialized (to null) or
    // initialized to a nullable value in the exit block of a constructor.
    LEFT_NULLABLE_BY_CONSTRUCTOR = 33;
  }
}

enum Nullability {
  UNKNOWN = 0;
  NONNULL = 1;
  NULLABLE = 2;
}

// A conclusion about nullability based on global analysis (e.g. all TUs).
message SlotInference {
  optional Nullability nullability = 1;
  // Indicates that not we could not reconcile all evidence into a conclusion.
  // e.g. a decl that was both unconditionally dereferenced and assigned null.
  optional bool conflict = 2;
  // Examples of evidence that contributed. Optional, for debugging only.
  repeated Evidence sample_evidence = 3;
  // Indicates that this inference does not represent new information beyond
  // what is explicitly written in the source code, and so does not need to be
  // separately propagated from one round of inference into the next.
  // e.g. an inference gathered from ANNOTATED_NONNULL Evidence.
  optional bool trivial = 4;
  // Slot identifiers for which this inference is applicable. Used only for
  // debugging information.
  repeated string slot_id = 5;
}

// Summary of an incomplete set of Evidence for a slot.
// Once all evidence has been incorporated, can be finalized into SlotInference.
// This type should be treated as opaque, and its serialization is not stable.
message SlotPartial {
  map</*Kind*/ uint32, uint32> kind_count = 1;

  message SampleLocations {
    // A bounded number of locations are stored.
    repeated string location = 1;
  }
  map</*Kind*/ uint32, SampleLocations> kind_samples = 2;

  // Slot identifiers for which this partial is relevant. Used only for
  // debugging information.
  repeated string slot_id = 3;
}

// A half-open source range to be removed: [begin, end).
message RemovalRange {
  optional uint64 begin = 1;
  optional uint64 end = 2;
}

// Nullability information for a pointer-type source range. Does not include the
// full source range for the type, as that isn't needed for adding/removing
// nullability annotations.
message SlotRange {
  // Path of the file containing this range.
  optional string path = 1;
  // The nullability default set by the pragma affecting `path`, if one exists.
  optional Nullability pragma_nullability = 2;
  // The offset at which a qualifier-position annotation should be inserted. For
  // a named pointer type not ending with `*`, including smart pointers and
  // aliases to raw pointers, this precedes the type but follows any
  // cv-qualifiers. For other pointers, this follows the `*` but precedes any
  // cv-qualifiers.
  // This field uniquely identifies a pointer-type slot range within a file, as
  // no two pointer ranges can be annotated with a qualifier-positioned
  // annotation in the same location.
  optional uint64 qualifier_annotation_insertion_offset = 3;
  optional Nullability existing_annotation = 4;
  // The source ranges of existing annotations to be removed if modifying the
  // annotation for this range.
  repeated RemovalRange existing_annotation_removal_range = 5;
}