gcovlcov

gcovlcov is a utility that converts and aggregates code coverage data produced by GCC's gcov into the LCOV data format. It is used to generate an lcov.info file that can be consumed by the lcov tooling and by genhtml to produce HTML coverage reports. The tool is typically employed in C and C++ projects that rely on GCC coverage instrumentation.

gcovlcov operates by reading the coverage data generated during test execution, including the .gcno and .gcda files found in the build tree, and emitting an LCOV-formatted file. It can combine results from multiple runs or from multiple build directories to produce a consolidated report, which is useful for tracking coverage across larger codebases or test suites.

In a typical workflow, a project is compiled with coverage options (-fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage or --coverage), tests are executed, and the resulting gcov data is converted to LCOV format with gcovlcov. The resulting info file may be filtered, merged, and then processed by lcov or genhtml to produce HTML reports. Many projects use wrappers or CI pipelines to automate this step and to generate per-file and per-function coverage summaries.

gcovlcov is part of the broader ecosystem surrounding GCC coverage tooling. Availability and exact syntax can vary by distribution and version, and users often rely on the LCOV project or related scripts to interpret the generated data.