- Call graph
A call graph (also known as a call
multigraph ) is a directed graph that represents calling relationships betweensubroutine s in acomputer program . Specifically, each node represents a procedure and each edge "(f,g)" indicates that procedure "f" calls procedure "g". Thus, a cycle in the graph indicates recursive procedure calls.Call graphs are a basic program analysis result that can be used for human understanding of programs, or as a basis for further analyses, such as an analysis that tracks the flow of values between procedures. One simple application of call graphs is finding procedures that are never called.
Call graphs can be dynamic or static. A dynamic call graph is a record of an execution of the program, e.g., as output by a profiler. Thus, a dynamic call graph can be exact, but only describes one run of the program. A static call graph is a call graph intended to represent every possible run of the program. The exact static call graph is
undecidable , so static call graph algorithms are generally overapproximations. That is, every call relationship that occur is represented in the graph, and possibly also some call relationships that would never occur in actual runs of the program.Call graphs can be defined to represent varying degrees of precision. A more precise call graph more precisely approximates the behavior of the real program, at the cost of taking longer to compute and more memory to store. The most precise call graph is fully context-sensitive, which means that for each procedure, the graph contains a separate node for each
call stack that procedure can be activated with. A fully context-sensitive call graph can be computed dynamically easily, although it may take up a large amount of memory. Fully context-sensitive call graphs are usually not computed statically, because it would take too long for a large program. The least precise call graph is context-insensitive, which means that there is only one node for each procedure.With languages that feature
dynamic dispatch , such as Java andC++ , computing a static call graph precisely requiresalias analysis results. Conversely, computing precise aliasing requires a call graph. Many static analysis systems solve the apparent infinite regress by computing both simultaneously.This term is frequently used in the
compiler andbinary translation community. By tracking a call graph, it may be possible to detect anomalies of program execution or code injection attacksFact|date=February 2007.oftware
Free software call-graph generators; [http://kcachegrind.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/show.cgi KCachegrind] : powerful tool to generate and analyze call graphs based on data generated by
Valgrind 's callgrind tool.; [http://www.csn.ul.ie/~mel/projects/codeviz/ codeviz] : a static call graph generator (the program is "not" run). Implemented as a patch to gcc; works for C and C++ programs.; [http://www.gson.org/egypt/ egypt] : a smallPerl script that uses gcc andGraphviz to generate the static call graph of a C program.; gprof : part of theGNU Binary Utilities ; [http://pycallgraph.slowchop.com/ pycallgraph] : a call graph generator for Python programs that usesGraphviz .; [http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/ doxygen] : Uses graphviz to generate static call/inheritance diagramsProprietary call-graph generators
; [http://www.aisee.com/aicall/ aiCall] : Free evaluation version
Other, related tools
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Graphviz : Turns a text representation of any graph (including a call graph) into a picture. Must be used together withgprof Unix philosophy doesn't handle graphics by itself.ample Graph
A sample Call Graph generate from
GProf analyzing itself (while analyzing itself):index called name |index called name 72384/72384 sym_id_parse [54] | 1508/1508 cg_dfn [15] [3] 72384 match [3] | [13] 1508 pre_visit [13] ---------------------- |---------------------- 4/9052 cg_tally [32] | 1508/1508 cg_assemble [38] 3016/9052 hist_print [49] | [14] 1508 propagate_time [14] 6032/9052 propagate_flags [52] |---------------------- [4] 9052 sym_lookup [4] | 2 cg_dfn [15] ---------------------- | 1507/1507 cg_assemble [38] 5766/5766 core_create_function_syms [41] | [15] 1507+2 cg_dfn [15] [5] 5766 core_sym_class [5] | 1509/1509 is_numbered [9] ---------------------- | 1508/1508 is_busy [11] 24/1537 parse_spec [19] | 1508/1508 pre_visit [13] 1513/1537 core_create_function_syms [41] | 1508/1508 post_visit [12] [6] 1537 sym_init [6] | 2 cg_dfn [15] ---------------------- |---------------------- 1511/1511 core_create_function_syms [41] | 1505/1505 hist_print [49] [7] 1511 get_src_info [7] | [16] 1505 print_line [16] ---------------------- | 2/9 print_name_only [25] 2/1510 arc_add [31] |---------------------- 1508/1510 cg_assemble [38] | 1430/1430 core_create_function_syms [41] [8] 1510 arc_lookup [8] | [17] 1430 source_file_lookup_path [17] ---------------------- |---------------------- 1509/1509 cg_dfn [15] | 24/24 sym_id_parse [54] [9] 1509 is_numbered [9] | [18] 24 parse_id [18] ---------------------- | 24/24 parse_spec [19] 1508/1508 propagate_flags [52] |---------------------- [10] 1508 inherit_flags [10] | 24/24 parse_id [18] ---------------------- | [19] 24 parse_spec [19] 1508/1508 cg_dfn [15] | 24/1537 sym_init [6] [11] 1508 is_busy [11] |-------------------------------------------- | 24/24 main [1210] 1508/1508 cg_dfn [15] | [20] 24 sym_id_add [20] [12] 1508 post_visit [12]References
*Ryder, B.G., "Constructing the Call Graph of a Program," Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on , vol.SE-5, no.3pp. 216- 226, May 1979 [http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?isnumber=35910&arnumber=1702621&count=17&index=5]
*Grove, D., DeFouw, G., Dean, J., and Chambers, C. 1997. Call graph construction inobject-oriented language s. SIGPLAN Not. 32, 10 (Oct. 1997), 108-124. [http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/263700.264352]
*Callahan, D.; Carle, A.; Hall, M.W.; Kennedy, K., "Constructing the procedure call multigraph," Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on , vol.16, no.4pp.483-487, Apr 1990 [http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?isnumber=1950&arnumber=54302&count=13&index=12]
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