codeql fails with exit code 32 for c language analysis under the macOS environment

[xwm1992]

Description of the issue

Hello codeql community,

our community project has merged the c language code to the repository, but after that each pull request faced the ci check error,

and we try to fix this issue at the pull request[1] below, but it still can't pass the codeql perform at the macOS environment [2], please help take a look at this issue, maybe we ignore something, but the UbuntuOS has passed the ci check, make us confused, please help to solve this issue, thanks a lot.

[1]apache/eventmesh#4543
[2]https://github.com/apache/eventmesh/actions/runs/6768882396/job/18394170320

[aibaars]

The problem is that the matrix does not define a language property, so maxtrix.language is null. Therefore the Build C step is skipped and CodeQL can't analyze the C code.

I also see you defined languages: ${{ matrix.language }} in the codeql-action/init step. Because matrix.language is not defined, this causes the codeql-action/init step to enable the analysis of all languages found in the repository.

[pandaapo]

Thank you for your reply. I think the author may make some corresponding modifications based on what you said. Furthermore, could you please explain why CodeQL did not report an error under ubuntu, but did so under macOS?

[aibaars]

could you please explain why CodeQL did not report an error under ubuntu, but did so under macOS?

That is a very good question. Does the gradle command build some C/C++ code on Linux but not on macOS? The best way to debug this would be to re-run all jobs of the workflow with debug logging enabled. This causes the codeql-action to upload a debug artifact containing the analysed sources, logs, and other things. It should show which C/C++ files were analysed when running on Linux and the logs should show which C/C++ compiler processes were intercepted.

[aibaars]

Hmm, the error message is also a little strange CodeQL detected code written in Java/Kotlin, Go and c, but not any written in C/C++. . It says CodeQL detected c but not any C/C++. That doesn't make any sense. 😕

[xwm1992]

Hmm, the error message is also a little strange CodeQL detected code written in Java/Kotlin, Go and c, but not any written in C/C++. . It says CodeQL detected c but not any C/C++. That doesn't make any sense. 😕

Yes, this point makes me very confused, especially this question reported under macOS. Is there any difference between c and C/C++ under macOS for codeql?

[xwm1992]

The problem is that the matrix does not define a language property, so maxtrix.language is null. Therefore the Build C step is skipped and CodeQL can't analyze the C code.

I also see you defined languages: ${{ matrix.language }} in the codeql-action/init step. Because matrix.language is not defined, this causes the codeql-action/init step to enable the analysis of all languages found in the repository.

as you said, Build C step is skipped, but during the initialize period it recognized the c language.