bisect.sh: make it possible to detect commits which fix scan time regressions / improved documentation (#4863)

tools/bisect/README.md

@@ -85,9 +85,26 @@ Provide the expected error ID (`unreadVariable`) as the `expected` parameter.
 
 ## Bisecting scan time regressions
 
-We use daca@home to track differences in scan time. An overview of regressions in scan time can be found at http://cppcheck1.osuosl.org:8000/time_gt.html.
+It is also possible to bisect for a regression in scan time.
 
-You need to download the archive as specified by the second line in the output and extract it.
+This is done by determinaing the time it took for the "good" commit to finish and setting a timeout twice that size for the calls to determine the "bad" commit.
+
+To bisect these kinds of regressions you currently need to adjust the `bisect.sh` script and set the `hang` variable to appropriate value:<br/>
+`1` - find the commit which started the hang<br/>
+`2` - find the commit which resolved the hang<br/>
+
+### General notes
+
+As we are currently using the process exitcode to pass the elapsed time to the script it will not work properly with vey long runtime (>= 255 seconds) as it will overflow.
+
+In case the run-time before the regression was very short (<= 1 second) you might need to adjust the `elapsed_time` variable in `bisect.sh` to a higher value to avoid potential false positives.
+This might also be necessary to determine one of multiple regressions in the commit range. 
+
+After the bisect finished you should take a look at the output and make sure the elpased time of the repective commit looks as expected.
+
+### daca@home notes
+
+We use daca@home to track differences in scan time. An overview of regressions in scan time can be found at http://cppcheck1.osuosl.org:8000/time_gt.html.
 
 If the overall scan time regressed you need to specify the whole folder.
 
@@ -97,6 +114,8 @@ If a timeout (potential hang) was introduced you can simply specify the file fro
 
 ### Bisecting daca@home issues
 
+You need to download the archive as specified by the second line in the output and extract it.
+
 Use the following data as respective parameters:
 
 `hash-good` the latest tagged release - the second value from the `cppcheck:` line<br/>

tools/bisect/bisect.sh

@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ expected=$4
 
 # TODO: verify "good" commit happened before "bad" commit
 
+# 0 - regular result based bisect
+# 1 - find commit which started hang
+# 2 - find commit which resolved hang
 hang=0
 
 script_dir="$(dirname "$(realpath "$0")")"
@@ -48,7 +51,7 @@ git bisect start -- Makefile 'addons/*.py' 'cfg/*.cfg' 'cli/*.cpp' 'cli/*.h' 'ex
 
 git checkout "$hash_good" || exit 1
 
-if [ $hang -eq 1 ]; then
+if [ $hang -ne 0 ]; then
   # TODO: exitcode overflow on 255
   # get expected time from good commit
   python3 "$script_dir/bisect_hang.py" "$bisect_dir" "$options"
@@ -69,8 +72,8 @@ git bisect good || exit 1
 git checkout "$hash_bad" || exit 1
 
 # verify the given commit is actually "bad"
-if [ $hang -eq 1 ]; then
+if [ $hang -ne 0 ]; then
-  python3 "$script_dir/bisect_hang.py" "$bisect_dir" "$options" $elapsed_time
+  python3 "$script_dir/bisect_hang.py" "$bisect_dir" "$options" $elapsed_time $hang
 else
   python3 "$script_dir/bisect_res.py" "$bisect_dir" "$options" "$expected"
 fi
@@ -84,8 +87,8 @@ fi
 git bisect bad || exit 1
 
 # perform the actual bisect
-if [ $hang -eq 1 ]; then
+if [ $hang -ne 0 ]; then
-  git bisect run python3 "$script_dir/bisect_hang.py" "$bisect_dir" "$options" $elapsed_time || exit 1
+  git bisect run python3 "$script_dir/bisect_hang.py" "$bisect_dir" "$options" $elapsed_time $hang || exit 1
 else
   git bisect run python3 "$script_dir/bisect_res.py" "$bisect_dir" "$options" "$expected" || exit 1
 fi

tools/bisect/bisect_hang.py

@@ -33,10 +33,14 @@ bisect_path = sys.argv[1]
 options = sys.argv[2]
 if '--error-exitcode=0' not in options:
     options += ' --error-exitcode=0'
-if len(sys.argv) == 4:
+if len(sys.argv) >= 4:
     elapsed_time = float(sys.argv[3])
 else:
     elapsed_time = None
+if len(sys.argv) == 5:
+    invert = sys.argv[4] == "2"
+else:
+    invert = False
 
 try:
     cppcheck_path = build_cppcheck(bisect_path)
@@ -68,8 +72,8 @@ if run_res is None:
     sys.exit(EC_SKIP)  # error occured
 
 if not run_res:
-    sys.exit(EC_BAD)  # timeout occured
+    sys.exit(EC_BAD if not invert else EC_GOOD)  # timeout occured
 
 print('run_time: {}'.format(run_time))
 
-sys.exit(EC_GOOD)  # no timeout
+sys.exit(EC_GOOD if not invert else EC_BAD)  # no timeout