Code Coverage with gcov

To measure C/C++ test coverage using gcov, enable the --coverage flags in your build system, compile the project, run tests to generate .gcno and .gcda data, and execute gcov to produce line, branch, and function coverage reports.

gcov generates basic text-based coverage reports from .gcda files, while gcovr builds upon gcov data to produce organized HTML reports, enabling easier visualization of line, branch, and function coverage metrics across C/C++ projects.

Yes, gcov works with both CMake and Makefile workflows. You must enable the --coverage compiler flags in your build configuration, compile the C/C++ project, and run your tests to collect the necessary coverage data.

To generate HTML coverage reports from .gcda files, run gcovr after executing your C/C++ test suites. gcovr parses the gcov data and outputs structured HTML reports detailing line, branch, and function coverage metrics.

.gcno files are generated during compilation with --coverage flags to record the program structure, while .gcda files are produced when running tests to capture execution counts, both required by gcov to calculate line and branch coverage.

Yes, you can track branch and function coverage in gcc-based projects by enabling --coverage flags during compilation. Running tests generates gcov data, which tools like gcov or gcovr process into detailed coverage reports.