Chapter 26: Code Hardening

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In This Chapter

• An Introduction to Code Hardening

• Code Hardening Techniques

• Tools Support for Code Hardening

• Tracing Binary Applications

Introduction

The practice of code hardening (or defensive programming) is a useful technique to increase the quality and reliability of software. The practice entails anticipating where errors can occur in our code and then writing that code in a way that either avoids them altogether or identifies them immediately so that their source can be more easily tracked. Since C is not a safe language, some methods have proven invaluable to help build more reliable programs, which we ll detail here.

This chapter will cover a number of techniques under the umbrella of code hardening, all of which can be applied immediately. Since the benefits are clear, let s jump right into this chapter. We ll look at a variety of code-hardening methods, as well as tool-based techniques such as using the compiler or open source tools to help build secure and reliable GNU/Linux applications.