Python 3 Migration

Helix QAC (v3.1.0/2021.3) replaced our internal version of Python 2 with Python 3. Any projects or CCTs created with earlier version of Helix QAC are unlikely to work without upgrading their CIP generation scripts. Typical output seen when using an invalid CIP script would look like:

$ qacli analyze -f -P .
Helix QAC has issued the following command:
C:\Users\Morpheus\AppData\Local\Perforce\Helix-QAC-2021.2\samples\sample_inspect_c-2021.2\prqa\configs\Initial\config\DATA\Helix_Generic_C\Script\Helix_Generic_C.py
but the command failed.
Exit Code: 1 (0x1)
C:\Users\Morpheus\AppData\Local\Perforce\Helix-QAC-2021.2\samples\sample_inspect_c-2021.2\src\inspect.c:qac:23:1:0
Progress(File-based Analysis): ................................... done

0 successes and 1 failure.
See log for more details: C:\Users\Morpheus\AppData\Local\Perforce\Helix-QAC-2021.3\app\logs\Helix-QAC_20211122T13281583_17040.log

Additionally, if you see the following in the logfile then this also indicates an old Python 2 script is being used:

13:39:38.237   30932 QAF.debug: PRQA::QAAPI::QAUtils::startProcess: ===     import dircache
13:39:38.237   30932 QAF.debug: PRQA::QAAPI::QAUtils::startProcess: === ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'dircache'

Depending upon your requirements, you can either upgrade an existing project to be Python 3 compatible or you may upgrade an existing CCT to be Python 3 compatible. This CCT can then be used later when creating projects.

Project Upgrading

The easiest way to upgrade a project is to use the qacli project upgrade command mentioned in the following section. This updates the component versions in the projects and upgrades the CIP generation scripts to Python 3.

CCT Upgrading

It's also possible to manually update a project or CCT by using the standalone Python script; update_to_py3.py. This script, given a directory that the project or CCT resides in, will update all Python files in that directory and all sub-directories. It will additionally replace known changed files with their newer Python 3 versions, such as qaf.py, cygpathHandler.py, gnu_gcc.py, msvc.py, Helix_Generic_C++.py and Helix_Generic_C.py. It can be run using our internal version for Python, for example to convert the project in the current directory:

C:\Perforce\Helix-QAC-2021.3\components\python-3.9.6\python.exe C:\Perforce\Helix-QAC-2021.3\scripts\update_to_py3.py my_old_project

Replacing C:\Temp\my_old_project\prqa\configs\Initial\config\DATA\core_qaf\qaf.py
Replacing C:\Temp\my_old_project\prqa\configs\Initial\config\DATA\Helix_Generic_C\Script\Helix_Generic_C.py

Once upgraded, the project or CCT cannot be used with older versions of Helix QAC.

The upgrade procedure caters for common issues we have seen with our shipped CIP scripts. If the CIP generation scripts have been significantly modified by the user then they may need to be manually adjusted after the upgrade.