Insure++

Infobox_Software
name = Insure++



caption =
developer = Parasoft
latest_release_version = 7.1.1
latest_release_date = June 2, 2007
operating_system = Cross Platform
genre = Profiler / Memory debugger
license = Proprietary software
website = [http://www.parasoft.com/jsp/products/home.jsp?product=Insure&itemId=63 Insure++ at Parasoft.com]

Insure++ is a memory debugger computer program, used by software developers to detect various errors in programs written in C and C++. It is made by Parasoft, and is functionally similar to other memory debuggers, such as Purify and Valgrind.

Overview

Insure++ can automatically find erroneous accesses to free()d memory, array bounds violations, freeing unallocated memory (which often happens when a programmer free()s the same memory twice, or when he free()s global or stack memory), and many others.

Unlike Purify and Valgrind, Insure++ inserts its instrumentation at the source code level, which allows it to detect errors that the other tools miss. In particular, Insure++ can detect buffer overflows in automatic arrays, and overflows which involve pointers that accidentally "jump" from one valid memory region to another, as in the following example:

#include int main() { char *p = malloc(1024); /* first dynamically-allocated block */ char *q = malloc(1024); /* second block */ p += 1200; /* At this point, "p" is likely to point into the second block. However, false assumptions about the real behaviour lead to mistakes. */ *p = 'a'; /* invalid write (past the end of the first block) */ return 0; }

Also the source level instrumentation allows it to not only identify that a leak occurred, but where it occurred. Some tools merely provide information about where the memory was allocated, Insure++ also gives a stack trace for when/where the actual leak occurred.

External links

* [http://www.parasoft.com/Insure Parasoft's "Insure++" site]
* [http://grl.public.iastate.edu/Runtime.errors.Paper.March4.2006.pdf "A Survey of Systems for Detecting Serial Run-Time Errors" by The Iowa State University’s High Performance Computing Group]
* [http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2951 Linux Journal review of Parasoft Insure++]