An Analysis of Library Usage in the C++ Code Base of Fedora Linux 37

Several aspects of library usage in C++ are explored. A framework is proposed for analyzing the C++ code base of Linux distributions that employ the DNF package manager, such as Fedora Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This framework is used in conjunction with a C++ source-code analysis tool (developed by the authors) to study library usage with a fine level of granularity, considering instances of uses of types, type aliases, member/nonmember functions, variables, and enumerators. The effectiveness of our proposed framework and C++ analysis tool is demonstrated by applying them to the C++ code base of Fedora Linux 37. Using this approach, we were able to analyze library usage in the C++ source code of over 2300 software packages. Numerous observations are made about various aspects of library usage that can facilitate improved teaching of C++, allow more effective design/implementation of C++ libraries, and help to direct the future evolution of the C++ standard.