Finding C++ static initialization order problems

Question

We\'ve run into some problems with the static initialization order fiasco, and I\'m looking for ways to comb through a whole lot of code to find possible occurrences. Any s

Answer 1

I just wrote a bit of code to track down this problem. We have a good size code base (1000+ files) that was working fine on Windows/VC++ 2005, but crashing on startup on Solaris/gcc. I wrote the following .h file:

#ifndef FIASCO_H
#define FIASCO_H

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// [WS 2010-07-30] Detect the infamous "Static initialization order fiasco"
// email warrenstevens --> [initials]@[firstnamelastname].com 
// read --> http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/ctors.html#faq-10.12 if you haven't suffered
// To enable this feature --> define E-N-A-B-L-E-_-F-I-A-S-C-O-_-F-I-N-D-E-R, rebuild, and run
#define ENABLE_FIASCO_FINDER
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#ifdef ENABLE_FIASCO_FINDER

#include 
#include 

inline bool WriteFiasco(const std::string& fileName)
{
    static int counter = 0;
    ++counter;

    std::ofstream file;
    file.open("FiascoFinder.txt", std::ios::out | std::ios::app);
    file << "Starting to initialize file - number: [" << counter << "] filename: [" << fileName.c_str() << "]" << std::endl;
    file.flush();
    file.close();
    return true;
}

// [WS 2010-07-30] If you get a name collision on the following line, your usage is likely incorrect
#define FIASCO_FINDER static const bool g_psuedoUniqueName = WriteFiasco(__FILE__);

#else // ENABLE_FIASCO_FINDER
// do nothing
#define FIASCO_FINDER

#endif // ENABLE_FIASCO_FINDER

#endif //FIASCO_H

and within every .cpp file in the solution, I added this:

#include "PreCompiledHeader.h" // (which #include's the above file)
FIASCO_FINDER
#include "RegularIncludeOne.h"
#include "RegularIncludeTwo.h"

When you run your application, you will get an output file like so:

Starting to initialize file - number: [1] filename: [p:\\OneFile.cpp]
Starting to initialize file - number: [2] filename: [p:\\SecondFile.cpp]
Starting to initialize file - number: [3] filename: [p:\\ThirdFile.cpp]

If you experience a crash, the culprit should be in the last .cpp file listed. And at the very least, this will give you a good place to set breakpoints, as this code should be the absolute first of your code to execute (after which you can step through your code and see all of the globals that are being initialized).

Notes:

• It's important that you put the "FIASCO_FINDER" macro as close to the top of your file as possible. If you put it below some other #includes you run the risk of it crashing before identifying the file that you're in.

• If you're using Visual Studio, and pre-compiled headers, adding this extra macro line to all of your .cpp files can be done quickly using the Find-and-replace dialog to replace your existing #include "precompiledheader.h" with the same text plus the FIASCO_FINDER line (if you check off "regular expressions, you can use "\n" to insert multi-line replacement text)