How to use PVS-Studio for free

We want to help the software world become more familiar with static code analysis tools and improve the quality of software. We offer the possibility of free use of the PVS-Studio analyzer to students for educational purposes, individual developers and teams of enthusiasts.

Introduction

The clients of the PVS-Studio analyzer are the development departments of various companies. We would like individual clients to be our clients. Unfortunately, we did not succeed with the experimental product CppCat . We do not know how to build a successful static code analysis business by selling personal licenses. Therefore, now the PVS-Studio product is positioned solely as a B2B solution.

I think our failure with CppCat was predetermined. The world dictates its own laws, and, for example, the same Coverity is focused on corporate licenses. However, this does not mean that it is necessary to exclude other variants of interaction with the world.
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We have been thinking for a long time how to help small development teams or how to distribute academic licenses. At first glance, it seems that the easiest way is to give licenses to those who develop free software. Unfortunately, this decision does not seem right to us.

It is necessary to clarify our position. However, if you are not impatient, you can immediately go to the “Free PVS-Studio License” section. If the reader is interested to know the details, I suggest that you continue reading.

Reflections

Imagine an individual developer developing and selling, for example, some kind of game. Its code is closed and used for commercial purposes. Nevertheless, we are pleased to help him get acquainted with the methodology of static code analysis and are ready to give him a license. This is an advertising step that can pay off over time. Now he is alone, but who knows what will happen in 5 years.

On the other hand, let's take a team of 50 people working in a large company and engaged in creating an open free project. 50 people sit in the office, eat cookies, get paid and at the same time position themselves as idealists in terms of developing free software. Yes, the product is free, but the company derives significant profits from its existence by indirect methods. Just for a number of reasons, the company is convenient for the project to be open and free. It seems to us quite honest that such an organization should acquire a paid license to use the analyzer.

As you can see, the criterion of free software or open code is not suitable for us to make a decision. I would like to separate the projects developed in the company, and the projects of small teams of enthusiasts. This can be done solely by a license agreement, but in this case it is difficult to draw a line between different types of projects. In addition, this is of little help to us in terms of advertising. Let's be honest: companies provide free licenses for advertising. In this we are no worse and no better than others.

The solution was found intuitively. What distinguishes corporate projects from projects of enthusiasts? In corporate projects, less freedom and more bureaucracy. It is unlikely that Microsoft management will be happy if the developer writes in the Microsoft Office code that this is his personal project. This should be used and proposed to make changes to the code in which PVS-Studio is mentioned. At the same time, the code of open projects will advertise PVS-Studio.

Free license PVS-Studio

You need to perform two steps in order to start using the PVS-Studio static analyzer for free.

Step 1.

If you use PVS-Studio as a plug-in for Visual Studio, enter the following license key:

Name: PVS-Studio Free

Key: FREE-FREE-FREE-FREE

If you are using PVS-Studio for Linux, then immediately go to the second step, you will not need the license file.

Step 2.

Make changes to all compiled files of your project. This refers to files with extensions c, cc, cpp, cs, and so on. Header h-files do not need to be changed.

You must write two lines at the beginning of each file with a comment. We provide several options to choose from. This is a kind of fee for the possibility of free use of the PVS-Studio analyzer.

Comments for students (academic license):

// This is a personal academic project. Dear PVS-Studio, please check it.
// PVS-Studio Static Code Analyzer for C, C++ and C#: http://www.viva64.com

// This is an open source non-commercial project. Dear PVS-Studio, please check it.
// PVS-Studio Static Code Analyzer for C, C++ and C#: http://www.viva64.com

// This is an independent project of an individual developer. Dear PVS-Studio, please check it.
// PVS-Studio Static Code Analyzer for C, C++ and C#: http://www.viva64.com

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