---
name: "spgen"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "coccinelle"
version: "1.3.0.deb-1+b2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/spgen"
---

# spgen(1)

harden a Coccinelle semantic patch spgen \<SmPL-patch.cocci\> \[-c \| --config \<spgen config\>\] \[-i \| --interactive\] \[--default\] \[-o \<output file\>\] \[--no-output\] \[-help \| --help\]

## NAME

spgen - harden a Coccinelle semantic patch

**spgen** *\<SmPL-patch.cocci\>* **\[-c \| --config \<spgen config\>\]** **\[-i \| --interactive\]** **\[--default\]** **\[-o \<output file\>\]** **\[--no-output\]** **\[-help \| --help\]**

## DESCRIPTION

**spgen** is a source-to-source transformation tool for hardening Coccinelle semantic patch scripts.\
 It takes a semantic patch and outputs the same patch with added metadata and more options in the form of virtual rules:

\- **patch**: used for + or - rules that transform matching C code.

\- **context**: used for \* rules that find matching C code.

\- **org**: used for script rules that output matches in emacs org format.

\- **report**: used for script rules that output matches in pretty print format.

A semantic patch hardened with **spgen** thus preserves the functionality of the original patch, but allows the user to control the output mode.

The user can also specify metadata to be included in the hardened script.

\- Description of the patch's functionality.

\- Confidence level for the patch.

\- Authors of the patch.

\- URL for gaining more information about the patch.

\- Known limitations of the patch.

\- Keywords for the patch.

\- **spatch** options with which to run the patch.

\- Additional comments regarding the patch.

\- Rule messages to be output in script mode for each match.

The metadata can be specified in a configuration file or entered through the commandline in interactive mode. The syntax of the configuration file follows a simple newline-separated \<attribute=value\> pattern. Use interactive mode to get an automatically generated configuration file.

## EXAMPLES

Generate a hardened version of \<foo.cocci\> using the configuration in \<foo.config\>:

  ./spgen \<foo.cocci\> --config \<foo.config\>

Generate a hardened version of \<foo.cocci\> using interactive mode through the commandline. The user will be able to save their interactively specified configuration to a file:

  ./spgen \<foo.cocci\> --interactive

By default, **spgen** will look for a foo.config file in the same directory and use that as configuration. If not found, it will start in interactive mode:

  ./spgen \<foo.cocci\>

Output the hardened version to \<newfoo.cocci\> instead of stdout:

  ./spgen \<foo.cocci\> -o \<newfoo.cocci\>

Suppose that \<foo.cocci\> is the original patch and \<newfoo.cocci\> is the hardened version of \<foo.cocci\>. Then what could be achieved with

  spatch --sp-file \<foo.cocci\> \<foo.c\>

can now be achieved with

  spatch --sp-file \<newfoo.cocci\> \<foo.c\> -D *patch*

Substitute *patch* with *context*, *org*, or *report* for any of the other modes.

## OPTIONS

Here is a summary of the options available on **spgen**:

## SYNOPSIS

**spgen** *\<SmPL-patch.cocci\>* **\[-c \| --config \<spgen config\>\]** **\[-i \| --interactive\]** **\[--default\]** **\[-o \<output file\>\]** **\[--no-output\]** **\[-help \| --help\]**

- **-help \| --help**

  Print the help menu.

- **-c \| --config \<foo.config\>**

  Harden the \<SmPL-patch.cocci\> using the configuration specified in \<foo.config\>.

- **-i \| --interactive**

  Harden the \<SmPL-patch.cocci\> using configuration options specified through the commandline.

- **-o \<output.cocci\>**

  Output the hardened semantic patch to \<output.cocci\> instead of stdout.

- **--default**

  Harden the \<SmPL-patch.cocci\> without a configuration, instead using default values. This option mainly exists to see what the generated script would look like, as the default values are not specific to the input script.

- **--no-output**

  Run the program without outputting anything. This option mainly exists to check that the input script and configuration file are parsable.

## AUTHOR

**spgen** and this man page were written by Chi Pham \<chidaph@gmail.com\>

## REPORTING BUGS

Send a mail to \<cocci@inria.fr\>

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2015, Chi Pham spgen is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, according to version 2 of the License.

## SEE ALSO

[*spatch*(1)](/spatch/1.md), [*pycocci*(1)](/pycocci/1.md), [*diff*(1)](/diff/1.md)