I have a large legacy C++ project compiled under Visual Studio 2008. I know there is a reasonably amount of ‘dead’ code that is not accessed anywhere — methods that are not called, whole classes that are not used.
I’m looking for a tool that will identify this by static analysis.
This question: Dead code detection in legacy C/C++ project suggests using code coverage tools. This isn’t an option as the test coverage just isn’t high enough.
It also mentions a -Wunreachable-code. option to gcc. I’d like something similar for Visual Studio. We already use the linker’s /OPT:REF option to remove redundant code, but this doesn’t report the dead code at a useful level (when used with /VERBOSE there are over 100,000 lines, including a lot from libraries).
Are there any better options that work well with a Visual Studio project?
You’ll want something along the lines of QA-C++ (http://www.programmingresearch.com/QACPP_MAIN.html), also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tools_for_static_code_analysis for similar products.
You’re looking for a static code analysis tool that detects unreachable code; many coding guidelines (such as MISRA-C++, if I’m not mistaken) require that no unreachable code exists. An analysis tool geared specifically to enforce such a guideline would be your best bet.
And you’ll like be able to find other uses for the tool as well.