Intel® Inspector Tutorial: Analyzing Threading Errors in a C++ Sample Application for Windows* OS

Tutorial

  • 2021.1
  • 12/04/2020
  • Public Content
Contents

Standalone GUI: Build Application and Create New Project

Intel® Inspector
 is a dynamic memory and threading error checking tool for users developing serial and multithreaded applications on Windows* and Linux* operating systems. This topic is part of a
tutorial
 that shows how to find and fix
threading
 errors using the
Intel Inspector
 and a
C++
 sample application.
Follow these steps only if you are using the
Intel Inspector
 standalone GUI to complete this tutorial.
To create an application the
Intel Inspector
 can inspect for threading errors:

Get Software Tools

You need the following tools to try tutorial steps yourself using the
tachyon_insp_xe
 sample application:
  • Intel Inspector
     installation package and license
  • .zip
     file extraction utility
  • Supported compiler (see
    Release Notes
     for more information)
Acquire the
Intel Inspector
If you do not already have access to the
Intel Inspector
, you can download an evaluation copy from http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-software-evaluation-center/.
Install and Set Up the
Intel Inspector
 Sample Applications
  1. Copy the
    tachyon_inxp_xe.zip
     file from the
    <install-dir>\samples\<locale>\C++\
     directory to a writable directory or share on your system. The default
    <install-dir>
     is below
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\
    (on certain systems, instead of
    Program Files (x86)
    , the directory name is
    Program Files
    )
    .
  2. Extract the sample from the
    .zip
     file to create the
    tachyon_insp_xe
     directory.
  • Samples are non-deterministic. Your screens may vary from the screen captures shown throughout this tutorial.
  • Samples are designed only to illustrate the
    Intel Inspector
     features; they do not represent best practices for creating code.

Understand Optimal Compiler/Linker Settings

You can use the
Intel® Inspector
 to analyze memory and threading errors in both debug and release modes of C++ and Fortran binaries; however, applications compiled/linked in debug mode using the following settings produce the most accurate and complete analysis results.
Compiler/Linker Property
Correct C/C++ Setting
Impact If Not Set Correctly
Debug information
Enabled (
/Zi
 or
/ZI
)
Missing file/line information
Optimization
Disabled (
/Od
)
Incorrect file/line information
Dynamic runtime library
Selected (
/MD
 or
/MDd
)
False positives or missing code locations
Basic runtime error checks
Disabled (do not use
/RTC
;
Default
 option in Visual Studio* IDE)
False positives
Compiler/Linker Property
Correct Fortran Setting
Impact If Not Set Correctly
Debug information
Enabled (
/debug:full
)
Missing file/line information
Optimization
Disabled (
/Od
)
Incorrect file/line information
Dynamic runtime library
Selected (
/libs:dll/threads
 or
libs:dll/threads/dbglibs
 )
False positives or missing code locations
Basic runtime error checks
None (
/check:none
)
False positives

Build the Application

  1. Find
    Visual Studio Tools
     for your Visual Studio* and OS version, and select one of the command prompt shortcuts. For example, from the Microsoft Windows* 10
    All Apps
     screen, select
    Visual Studio 2013
    Visual Studio Tools
    VS2013 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt
    .
  2. In the command prompt window, change directory to the
    tachyon_inspxe\
     directory in its unzipped location.
  3. If you are using Microsoft Visual Studio* version 2012 or later, type
    devenv vc10\tachyon_insp_xe.sln /Upgrade
     to convert the
    tachyon_insp_xe.sln
     solution.
  4. Type
    devenv vc10\tachyon_insp_xe.sln /Build
     to build all projects in the solution.

Verify the Application Runs Outside the
Intel Inspector

  1. Change directory to
    vc10\find_and_fix_threading_errors_Win32\Debug\
    .
  2. Type
    find_and_fix_threading_errors.exe ..\..\..\dat\simpleballs.dat
     to execute the application.
  3. Check for non-deterministic application output similar to the following:
    Application output
    Notice the off-color dots in the image. The cause: Threading errors.
Keep the command prompt window open.

Set up the
Intel Inspector
 Environment

Setting up the
Intel Inspector
 environment is necessary only if you plan to use the
inspxe-gui
 command to launch the
Intel Inspector
 standalone GUI or the
inspxe-cl
 command to run the command line interface.
For the standalone
Intel Inspector
, run the
<inspector-install-dir>\inspxe-vars.bat
 command.
The default installation path,
<inspector-install-dir>
, is below
C:\Program Files (x86)\IntelSWTools\
 (on certain systems, instead of
Program Files (x86)
, the directory name is
Program Files
 ).
For the application as part of an
Intel® oneAPI HPC Toolkit
 or
Intel® oneAPI IoT Toolkit
 installation, run the
<oneapi-install-dir>\
env\vars
.bat
 command. The default installation path,
<oneapi-install-dir>
, is inside
C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\oneAPI
 .

Open the
Intel Inspector
 Standalone GUI

For the
Intel Inspector
 standalone GUI, do one of the following:
  • Run the
    inspxe-gui
     command.
  • From the Microsoft Windows* 7
    Start
     menu, select
    Intel Inspector [version]
    .
  • From the Microsoft Windows* 8/8.1/10
    All Apps
     screen, select
    Intel Inspector [version]
    .

Create a New Project

  1. Choose
    File
    New
    Project...
     to display a dialog box similar to the following:
    Create a Project dialog box
  2. In the
    Project name
     field, type
    threading
    . Then click the
    Create project
     button to create a
    config.inspxeproj
     file in the
    \Inspector\Projects\threading\
     directory (default location) and display a dialog box similar to the following:
    Target tab in the Project Properties dialog box
  3. Click the
    Browse...
     button next to the
    Application
     field and select the
    tachyon_insp_xe\vc10\find_and_fix_threading_errors_Win32\Debug\find_and_find_threading_errors.exe
     application. Notice the
    Intel Inspector
     autofills the project
    Working directory
     field for you.
  4. Click the
    Modify
     button next to the
    Application Parameters
     field. In the
    Application Parameters
     window, click the
    Browse to insert file path
     button, change the
    Select the file to launch
    window to show all files, select the
    tachyon_insp_xe\dat\simpleballs.dat
     file, click the
    OK
     button to close the
    Application Parameters
     window, then click the
    OK
     button to return to the Welcome page, where the name of the opened project displays in the title bar and in the
    Project Navigator
     pane. (If necessary, choose
    View
    Project Navigator
     to display the
    Project Navigator
    .)

Product and Performance Information

1

Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at www.Intel.com/PerformanceIndex.