# Sonar looks for build-wrapper even though it hasn't been configured

**URL:** <https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755>\
**Category:** SonarQube Server / Community Build\
**Tags:** build-wrapper, cfamily, scanner\
**Created:** [June 14, 2022, 7:42am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755 "2022-06-14T07:42:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 7:42am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/1 "2022-06-14T07:42:15Z")

</div>

I have previously asked about a problem with build-wrapper ([Build-wrapper doesn't record all compiled files, sometimes zero](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/build-wrapper-doesnt-record-all-compiled-files-sometimes-zero/63095)) but that topic is now closed. I have switched to not using build-wrapper anymore and it worked flawlessly for a while.

Now suddenly the sonar scanner complains that it doesn’t find `bw-outputs\build-wrapper-dump.json`. However, in sonar-project.properties I have replaced the line

```auto
sonar.cfamily.build-wrapper-output=bw-outputs

```

with

```auto
sonar.cfamily.compile-commands=build/compile_commands.json

```

so the scanner should not even use it anymore. Why would it want the build wrapper output? Where could this have been configured or written to that I have overlooked?

The scanner log says:

```auto
INFO: Using build-wrapper output: C:\Jenkins\workspace\...

```

and 30 seconds later it complains about the missing dump.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/colin/32/55255_2.png) [@Colin](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 8:11am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/2 "2022-06-14T08:11:34Z")

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Hey there.

- What version of SonarQube are you using?
- Is it possible that that `sonar.cfamily.build-wrapper-output` slipped into your Jenkins job configuration (you can also pass analysis parameters here rather than a _sonar-project.properties_ file)

The scanner should throw an error if it finds _both_ `sonar.cfamily.build-wrapper-output` and `sonar.cfamily.compile-commands`. So it seems to only be discovering the former.

You might also try a local run to see if the behavior is duplicated outside of the Jenkins environment.

---

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**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 8:54am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/3 "2022-06-14T08:54:47Z")

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Hi Colin, thanks for the quick reply! I am using SonarQube server 8.9.8 and SonarScanner 4.7.0.2747.

I don’t see any build-wrapper config in the Jenkinsfile, and when running locally, it still says that it is using the buildwrapper output ☹

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/colin/32/55255_2.png) [@Colin](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 9:03am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/4 "2022-06-14T09:03:19Z")

</div>

> [@michael-brade](#):
>
> Hi Colin, thanks for the quick reply! I am using SonarQube server 8.9.8 and SonarScanner 4.7.0.2747.

Ah, well there is one problem. Compilation database support was only introduced in SonarQube _v9.0_, with [CPP-1428](https://jira.sonarsource.com/browse/CPP-1428) so using SonarQube _v8.9 LTS_ is simply going to ignore any reference to _sonar.cfamily.compile-commands_ because it doesn’t actually exist in your version of SonarQube.

There is an experimental workaround documented in that ticket (to convert compile\_commands to a build wrapper output) from before we officially supported compilation databases in the analyzer.

I have no idea how (or what) was working for you with SonarQube _v8.9 LTS_

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 9:07am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/5 "2022-06-14T09:07:23Z")

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Oh gee! Thanks a lot, I will look into it. Yeah, no idea why it was working before, maybe the old buildwrapper output was still in the repo and got cleaned at some point. To be honest, I never checked the log in its detail 😇

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 9:09am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/6 "2022-06-14T09:09:38Z")

</div>

One more question: compilation database support is in SonarQube 9.x, so does it matter which SonarScanner I am using? Updating the scanner won’t help?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/colin/32/55255_2.png) [@Colin](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 9:13am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/7 "2022-06-14T09:13:20Z")

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Correct, updating the scanner won’t help. The scanner mostly just downloads the “real” logic from the SonarQube server to execute analysis.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/8 "2022-06-14T15:09:30Z")

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I have now tried the conversion approach with the given script (which I had to fix due to missing escapes). The result is a crash:

```auto
java.lang.NullPointerException
	at com.sonar.cpp.analyzer.MsvcDriver.onCapture(MsvcDriver.java:242)
	at com.sonar.cpp.plugin.CFamilySensor.process(CFamilySensor.java:590)
	at com.sonar.cpp.plugin.CFamilySensor.process(CFamilySensor.java:373)
	at com.sonar.cpp.plugin.CFamilySensor.execute(CFamilySensor.java:177)
	at org.sonar.scanner.sensor.AbstractSensorWrapper.analyse(AbstractSensorWrapper.java:48)
	at org.sonar.scanner.sensor.ModuleSensorsExecutor.execute(ModuleSensorsExecutor.java:85)
	at org.sonar.scanner.sensor.ModuleSensorsExecutor.execute(ModuleSensorsExecutor.java:62)
	at org.sonar.scanner.scan.ModuleScanContainer.doAfterStart(ModuleScanContainer.java:82)
	at org.sonar.core.platform.ComponentContainer.startComponents(ComponentContainer.java:137)
	at org.sonar.core.platform.ComponentContainer.execute(ComponentContainer.java:123)
	at org.sonar.scanner.scan.ProjectScanContainer.scan(ProjectScanContainer.java:392)
	at org.sonar.scanner.scan.ProjectScanContainer.scanRecursively(ProjectScanContainer.java:388)
	at org.sonar.scanner.scan.ProjectScanContainer.doAfterStart(ProjectScanContainer.java:357)
	at org.sonar.core.platform.ComponentContainer.startComponents(ComponentContainer.java:137)
	at org.sonar.core.platform.ComponentContainer.execute(ComponentContainer.java:123)
	at org.sonar.scanner.bootstrap.GlobalContainer.doAfterStart(GlobalContainer.java:150)

```

I can’t do much with this… do you know why this is happening? Here is my python script as well:  
[convert-compile-commands.py.txt](https://community.sonarsource.com/uploads/short-url/2HKJNihWylbAyjcUFKLwpVaIKlM.txt) (1.1 KB)  
(I had to add the `txt` extension, otherwise the upload wouldn’t work.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Kaminski](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/tomasz_kaminski/32/20007_2.png) [@Tomasz\_Kaminski](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Tomasz_Kaminski)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/9 "2022-06-14T16:38:49Z")

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HI @michael-brade,

To attempt at solving the crash, more information would be needed. Could you please share the full debug log for the `sonar-scanner` (pass option `-X`) , and the input (compilation database) and produced output. If you think this file contains private information, let us know, and we’ll send you a private message that will allow you to send it privately.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 1:23pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/11 "2022-06-15T13:23:31Z")

</div>

Thank you! Yes, I now have the log and the build-wrapper-dump.json, but not the compilation database 🙈 It got deleted too quickly. And yes, please send me a private message.

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**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Kaminski](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/tomasz_kaminski/32/20007_2.png) [@Tomasz\_Kaminski](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Tomasz_Kaminski)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 4:09pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/15 "2022-06-15T16:09:02Z")

</div>

Thank you for sharing. I have checked the produced `build-wrapper.json` and noticed few things:

- there are 14 entries with `rc.exe` as executable (other than `cl.exe`), and they are most likely causing crashes. Could you remove them from either `compile-commands.json` or generated `build-wrapper.json`?
- the env is missing the environment (like `INCLUDE`) variables for `cl.exe`. To capture proper variables you need to run conversion in the “Developer command prompt” or call `vcvars64.bat` to set up variables. [Relevant MSVC docs](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/building-on-the-command-line?view=msvc-170).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/16 "2022-06-15T16:39:24Z")

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Cool, I will try the first one with the next builds, probably on Friday. Your second point is already the case… without `vcvars64.bat`, not even the cmake would run. I guess I will have to look into what’s going on there.

Thanks 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 9:57am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/17 "2022-06-22T09:57:33Z")

</div>

little update: `vcvars64.bat` has to be called in every stage and sonar was a separate stage, therefore the variables were missing. However, the crash still happens. I’ll try without `rc.exe` next.

BTW, what exactly is in line 242 in MsvcDriver.java that is null?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Kaminski](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/tomasz_kaminski/32/20007_2.png) [@Tomasz\_Kaminski](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Tomasz_Kaminski)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 1:16pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/18 "2022-06-22T13:16:35Z")

</div>

> little update: `vcvars64.bat` has to be called in every stage and sonar was a separate stage, therefore the variables were missing. However, the crash still happens. I’ll try without `rc.exe` next.

I apologize if I was unclear, the missing `INCLUDE` env (`vcvars64.bat` ), will lead the problems with analysis when it is running, but were not causing the crash.

> BTW, what exactly is in line 242 in MsvcDriver.java that is null?

Output from the compiler probe is unexpected, missing elements that we assume will be there. `rc.exe` output is empty, so this is why I believe it is causing a crash.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 1:25pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/19 "2022-06-22T13:25:47Z")

</div>

I see. Thanks a lot. I have now filtered the `rc.exe` but it still crashes ☹ However, the INCLUDE var is also _still_ missing, so I need to analyze it further. Just for reference, here is the current Jenkinsfile part:

```auto
        stage('SonarQube Analysis') {
			when {
				not {
					triggeredBy 'TimerTrigger'
				}
			}

            steps {
				bat """
					call "${env.VS_VCVARS}"
					python.exe convert-compile-commands.py build\\compile_commands.json
				"""

				catchError(buildResult: 'UNSTABLE', stageResult: 'FAILURE') {
					withSonarQubeEnv(SONAR_SERVER) {
						script {
							if (env.CHANGE_BRANCH) {
								// pull request
								bat "C:\\Jenkins\\sonar-scanner\\bin\\sonar-scanner.bat -X -Dsonar.projectVersion=${ BRANCH_NAME ==~ /feature-.+/ ? BRANCH_NAME + "-" + BUILD_NUMBER : VERSION} -Dsonar.pullrequest.branch=${env.CHANGE_BRANCH} -Dsonar.pullrequest.key=${env.CHANGE_ID} -Dsonar.pullrequest.base=${env.CHANGE_TARGET}"
							} else {
								// normal branch (usually master)
								bat "C:\\Jenkins\\sonar-scanner\\bin\\sonar-scanner.bat -X -Dsonar.projectVersion=${ BRANCH_NAME ==~ /feature-.+/ ? BRANCH_NAME + "-" + BUILD_NUMBER : VERSION} -Dsonar.branch.name=${BRANCH_NAME}"
							}
						}
                	}
				}

				timeout(time: 1, unit: 'HOURS') {
           			waitForQualityGate abortPipeline: true
          		}
            }
        }

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Kaminski](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/tomasz_kaminski/32/20007_2.png) [@Tomasz\_Kaminski](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Tomasz_Kaminski)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 3:56pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/20 "2022-06-22T15:56:17Z")

</div>

Could you please check that the `"executable":` lines in the produced `build_wrapper.json` contain only `cl.exe` entry? To be extra safe, you could also check what is produced if you invoked this command in your CI: we are looking for a line with the version of the compiler.  
You can also share the product file via PM and I could take a look.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/21 "2022-06-22T16:34:47Z")

</div>

Oh gee!!! I think I found the issue, at least it’s an obious error: python outputs

```auto
"cmd": [
        "'C:\\...

```

Note the extra quote. It came from the shlex.quote function, I have a fix in the pipeline. Let’s see…

Second, which command did you mean with “invoke this command in your CI:”? did you forget something after the colon? 😇

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 5:20pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/22 "2022-06-22T17:20:07Z")

</div>

Not good news: environment is fixed, the wrong quote removed, but sonar still crashes. So we are back to square one. I think I now also understood what you meant with “this command”: if I run the executable command in the CI, I get:

```auto
Microsoft (R) C/C++-Optimierungscompiler Version 19.31.31104 für x64
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Syntax: cl [Option...] Dateiname... [/link Linkeroption...]

```

Is that what you would expect?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Kaminski](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/tomasz_kaminski/32/20007_2.png) [@Tomasz\_Kaminski](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Tomasz_Kaminski)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 6:36am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/23 "2022-06-23T06:36:15Z")

</div>

By command, I mean running the command from the `build-wrapper-dump.json` exactly as specified in the generated file, and preferably in the same place as the sonar-scanner is invoked.

```auto
"C:\\PROGRA~2\\MICROS~3\\2022\\PROFES~1\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\1431~1.311\\bin\\Hostx64\\x64\\cl.exe"

```

(Removed the additional quote).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![michael-brade](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/michael-brade/32/33276_2.png) [@michael-brade](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/michael-brade)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 6:38am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755/24 "2022-06-23T06:38:19Z")

</div>

jup, that’s exactly what I did to get the output of my last comment yesterday

[Next page](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/sonar-looks-for-build-wrapper-even-though-it-hasnt-been-configured/64755.md?page=2)