Install Clang-Tidy on Ubuntu 24.04

Clang-Tidy is a command line tool that performs static analysis on C and C++ source code to identify bugs, stylistic issues, and performance improvements. It helps enforce coding standards, catch potential errors early, and maintain high-quality, readable code across a project. This tutorial explains how to install Clang-Tidy on Ubuntu 24.04.

Prepare environment

Clang-Tidy requires access to standard headers such as stddef.h, which are provided by the compiler itself - either GCC or Clang. To ensure proper analysis, make sure you have a compiler like GCC or Clang installed, as they include these internal headers needed for parsing.

sudo apt install -y gcc

Install Clang-Tidy

Download the Clang-Tidy binary from the GitHub repository's releases page using the following command:

sudo wget -qO /usr/local/bin/clang-tidy https://github.com/cpp-linter/clang-tools-static-binaries/releases/latest/download/clang-tidy-20_linux-amd64

Set execute permission for a file:

sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/clang-tidy

You can check the Clang-Tidy version with the following command:

clang-tidy --version

Testing Clang-Tidy

Suppose the following C code snippet is saved in a file named main.c:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    char a[3] = {10, 20, 30};
    printf("%d\n", a[3]);

    return 0;
}

Execute Clang-Tidy on this file with the following command:

clang-tidy main.c -- -std=c99 -I/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/13/include

• -- - separates Clang-Tidy options from compiler options.
• -std=c99 - specifies that the code should be parsed using the C99 standard. This is important so Clang-Tidy understands the code properly.
• -I/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/13/include - adds a directory where GCC internal headers (like stddef.h) are located. We can specify multiple -I options to include additional directories as needed, ensuring all required headers are found during analysis.

Output:

2 warnings generated.
/home/adminer/main.c:5:5: warning: 2nd function call argument is an uninitialized value [clang-analyzer-core.CallAndMessage]
    5 |     printf("%d\n", a[3]);
      |     ^              ~~~~
/home/adminer/main.c:5:5: note: 2nd function call argument is an uninitialized value
    5 |     printf("%d\n", a[3]);
      |     ^              ~~~~
/home/adminer/main.c:5:20: warning: array index 3 is past the end of the array (that has type 'char[3]') [clang-diagnostic-array-bounds]
    5 |     printf("%d\n", a[3]);
      |                    ^ ~
/home/adminer/main.c:4:5: note: array 'a' declared here
    4 |     char a[3] = {10, 20, 30};
      |     ^

Clang-Tidy warns that accessing a[3] is out-of-bounds and not initialized.

Uninstall Clang-Tidy

To uninstall Clang-Tidy, just remove the related file:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/clang-tidy