Install C++ Insights on Ubuntu 24.04

C++ Insights is a command line tool that shows how high-level C++ code is transformed by the compiler into a more detailed, low-level form by revealing things like implicit constructors, type deductions, range-based loops, lambda expansions, and other. This tutorial explains how to install C++ Insights on Ubuntu 24.04.

Prepare environment

C++ Insights relies on standard headers like stddef.h, which are provided by compilers such as GCC or Clang. Make sure a C++ compiler is installed, as it supplies the internal headers required for parsing.

sudo apt install -y g++

Install C++ Insights

Download the latest C++ Insights archive from GitHub repository:

wget -qO insights.tar.gz https://github.com/andreasfertig/cppinsights/releases/latest/download/insights-ubuntu-amd64.tar.gz

Extract the binary to /usr/local/bin so it's available system-wide:

sudo tar xf insights.tar.gz -C /usr/local/bin insights

Verify that C++ Insights was installed successfully by viewing the installed version:

insights --version

Remove the downloaded archive:

rm -rf insights.tar.gz

Testing C++ Insights

Assume the following C++ code is saved in a file called main.cpp:

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

int main() {
    const std::vector values = {1, 2, 3};

    for (const int val : values) {
        std::cout << val << std::endl;
    }

    return 0;
}

Run C++ Insights on the source file with the following command:

insights main.cpp -- -std=c++17 -I/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/13/include

• -- - separates C++ Insights options from compiler options.
• -std=c++17 - specifies that the code should be interpreted using the C++17 standard.
• -I/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/13/include - adds the path to internal GCC headers (like stddef.h), which are required for proper parsing of standard library components. You can specify multiple -I options to add additional directories, making sure all necessary headers are located during the analysis.

Output:

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

int main()
{
  std::vector<int, std::allocator<int> > v = std::vector<int, std::allocator<int> >{std::initializer_list<int>{1, 2, 3}, std::allocator<int>()};
  {
    std::vector<int, std::allocator<int> > & __range1 = v;
    __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<int *, std::vector<int, std::allocator<int> > > __begin1 = __range1.begin();
    __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<int *, std::vector<int, std::allocator<int> > > __end1 = __range1.end();
    for(; __gnu_cxx::operator!=(__begin1, __end1); __begin1.operator++()) {
      int x = __begin1.operator*();
      std::operator<<(std::cout.operator<<(x), "\n");
    }

  }
  return 0;
}

It reveals how the compiler transforms the code behind the scenes.

Uninstall C++ Insights

To uninstall C++ Insights, just remove the related file:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/insights