MATLAB: What are the roles of include folders, include options and the #include directive,etc… in Polyspace

Question

What are the roles of the include folders, the include options, the #include directive,etc… ?

Answer 1

By default, in the C and C++ languages, header files are included in the source files with the #include directive.

Ex.

#include <stdio.h>

...

In order to tell Polyspace where these header files to include are, the user needs to specify include folders. This is done, when setting up a project, by adding these include folders to the project (the 'Include' folder of a project, int the Project Browser view).

When Polyspace will analyze each source file at the beginning of the verification or analysis process, it will process the #include directives and will look for the requested include files (like stdio.h) in the different include folders.

NB: The corresponding command line option to define the include folders is -I.

The other way to include header files is by using the option -include, found in the Environment Settings topic on the configuration.

The role of this option is to automatically include a header file in every source files. It is equivalent to have a #include directive in every source files of the project.

With this option -include, the user will specify a header file, and not an folder.

This option can be used for example to define macros (using #define directives) in every source files without having to define them in the Polyspace project.