CodeQL code scanning for compiled languages

Compare build modes

Choose a build mode

When you are setting up code scanning for the first time, or across multiple repositories, it's best to use default setup. Default setup uses the simplest method available to generate a CodeQL database and analyze your code, so that you can start fixing alerts as soon as possible. Once you have resolved the initial alerts, you may want to switch to advanced setup with a manual build process for high risk repositories.

For language-specific autobuild behavior, runner requirements, and build-mode details for compiled languages, see Opções e etapas de build do CodeQL para idiomas compilados.

Use multiple build modes in a multi-language repository

For repositories with multiple compiled languages, you can use different build modes for different languages. For example, if your repository contains C/C++, C# and Java, you might want to provide manual build steps for one language (here C/C++). This workflow specifies a different build mode for each language.

strategy:
  matrix:
    include:
      # Analyzes C and C++ code using the commands in `Build C and C++ code`
      - language: c-cpp
        build-mode: manual
      # Analyzes C# code by automatically detecting a build
      - language: csharp
        build-mode: autobuild
      # Analyzes Java code directly from the codebase without a build
      - language: java-kotlin
        build-mode: none # analyzes Java only
steps:
- name: Checkout repository
  uses: actions/checkout@v5

# Initializes CodeQL tools and creates a codebase for analysis.
- name: Initialize CodeQL
  uses: github/codeql-action/init@v4
  with:
    languages: ${{ matrix.language }}
- if: ${{ matrix.build-mode == 'manual' }}
  name: Build C and C++ code
  run: |
    echo 'If you are using a "manual" build mode for one or more of the' \
      'languages you are analyzing, replace this with the commands to build' \
      'your code, for example:'
    echo ' make bootstrap'
    echo ' make release'
    exit 1

For information about the languages, libraries, and frameworks that are supported in the latest version of CodeQL, see Supported languages and frameworks in the CodeQL documentation. For information about the system requirements for running the latest version of CodeQL, see System requirements in the CodeQL documentation.

Use none build mode for CodeQL

For C# e Java, CodeQL creates a database without requiring a build when you enable default setup for code scanning unless the repository also includes Kotlin code. If a repository contains Kotlin code in addition to Java code, default setup is enabled with the autobuild process because Kotlin analysis requires a build.

Creating a CodeQL database without a build may produce less accurate results than using autobuild or manual build steps if:

• The build scripts cannot be queried for dependency information, and dependency guesses are inaccurate.
• The repository normally generates code during the build process.

To use autobuild or manual build steps, you can use advanced setup.

Use autobuild for CodeQL

The CodeQL action uses autobuild to analyze compiled languages in the following cases.

• Default setup is enabled and the language does not support none build (supported for C# e Java).
• Advanced setup is enabled and the workflow specifies build-mode: autobuild.
• Advanced setup is enabled and the workflow has an Autobuild step for the language using the autobuild action (github/codeql-action/autobuild@v4).

Use the build-mode option

# Initializes the CodeQL tools for scanning.
name: Analyze
strategy:
  matrix:
    include:
      # Analyze C and C++ code
      - language: c-cpp
        build-mode: autobuild
      # Analyze Go code
      - language: go
        build-mode: autobuild

steps:
  - uses: github/codeql-action/init@v4
    with:
      languages: ${{ matrix.language }}
      build-mode: ${{ matrix.build-mode }}

Use the Autobuild step

    # Initializes the CodeQL tools for scanning.
    - name: Initialize CodeQL
      uses: github/codeql-action/init@v4
      with:
        languages: ${{ matrix.language }}

    - name: Autobuild
      uses: github/codeql-action/autobuild@v4

Specify build steps manually

You can only specify manual build steps if you have enabled advanced setup, see Configuring advanced setup for code scanning.

Se autobuild falhar ou se você quiser analisar um conjunto diferente de arquivos de origem daqueles criados pelo processo autobuild, será necessário fazer o seguinte:

• Se o fluxo de trabalho especificar um modo de compilação para a linguagem, altere o modo de compilação para manual.
• Se o fluxo de trabalho contiver uma etapa de autobuild, remova ou comente a etapa de autobuild no fluxo de trabalho.

Em seguida, descompacte a etapa run e especifique manualmente o processo de build a ser usado. Para C/C++, C#, Go, Java, Kotlin e Swift, CodeQL analisará todo o código-fonte gerado pelas etapas de compilação especificadas.

Update your workflow to define the build-mode as manual.

# Initializes the CodeQL tools for scanning.
- name: Initialize CodeQL
- uses: github/codeql-action/init@v4
  with:
    languages: ${{ matrix.language }}
    build-mode: manual
- uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@v4
  with:
    category: "/language:${{ matrix.language }}"

Alternatively, update your workflow to comment out the "Autobuild" step.

    # Autobuild attempts to build any compiled languages.
    # - name: Autobuild
    #  uses: github/codeql-action/autobuild@v4

Add build commands

When manual building is enabled, uncomment the run step in the workflow and add build commands that are suitable for your repository. The run step runs command-line programs using the operating system's shell. You can modify these commands and add more commands to customize the build process.

- run: |
    make bootstrap
    make release

For more information about the run keyword, see Sintaxe de fluxo de trabalho para o GitHub Actions.

If you added manual build steps for compiled languages and code scanning is still not working on your repository, contact seu administrador do site.