build: Allow forcing assertions (#1182)

In the CI, we currently run the examples in Release only, which adds the `-DNDEBUG` flag and consequently disables `assert`. We can't run these in the CI with Debug, since that implies `-O0` and runs forever. 

This PR adds a new CMake option `ACTS_FORCE_ASSERTIONS` which defaults to `OFF`. If enabled, this will prepend a system include directory `cmake/assert_include` to all compilation units, which contains a wrapper around `cassert`, `Eigen/{Core,Dense,Geometry}` which enables `assert` (and `eigen_assert`) regardless of `NDEBUG`.

I verified that this would have triggered the assertion from #1180 for example.

The CI jobs are configured to run with `ACTS_FORCE_ASSERTIONS=ON`.

.github/workflows/builds.yml

@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ jobs:
           -DACTS_BUILD_EVERYTHING=ON
           -DACTS_BUILD_EXAMPLES_PYTHON_BINDINGS=ON
           -DACTS_LOG_FAILURE_THRESHOLD=WARNING
+          -DACTS_BUILD_ASSERTIONS=ON
       - name: Build
         run: ${SETUP} && cmake --build build --
       - name: Unit tests
@@ -129,6 +130,7 @@ jobs:
           -DACTS_BUILD_UNITTESTS=ON
           -DACTS_BUILD_INTEGRATIONTESTS=ON
           -DACTS_LOG_FAILURE_THRESHOLD=WARNING
+          -DACTS_BUILD_ASSERTIONS=ON
           -DACTS_USE_SYSTEM_BOOST=OFF
           -DACTS_USE_SYSTEM_EIGEN3=OFF
           -DACTS_BUILD_PLUGIN_JSON=ON
@@ -152,6 +154,7 @@ jobs:
           -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-Werror
           -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="${INSTALL_DIR}"
           -DACTS_LOG_FAILURE_THRESHOLD=WARNING
+          -DACTS_BUILD_ASSERTIONS=ON
           -DACTS_USE_SYSTEM_BOOST=OFF
           -DACTS_USE_SYSTEM_EIGEN3=OFF
           -DACTS_BUILD_EXAMPLES=ON
@@ -204,6 +207,7 @@ jobs:
           -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/usr/local/acts
           -DACTS_BUILD_EVERYTHING=ON
           -DACTS_LOG_FAILURE_THRESHOLD=WARNING
+          -DACTS_BUILD_ASSERTIONS=ON
       - name: Build
         run: cmake --build build  --
       - name: Unit tests

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ option(ACTS_BUILD_EVERYTHING "Build with most options enabled (except HepMC3 and
 # core related options
 set(ACTS_PARAMETER_DEFINITIONS_HEADER "" CACHE FILEPATH "Use a different (track) parameter definitions header")
 set(ACTS_LOG_FAILURE_THRESHOLD "" CACHE STRING "Log level above which an exception should be automatically thrown")
+option(ACTS_FORCE_ASSERTIONS "Force assertions regardless of build type" OFF)
 # plugins related options
 option(ACTS_BUILD_PLUGIN_AUTODIFF "Build the autodiff plugin" OFF)
 option(ACTS_USE_SYSTEM_AUTODIFF "Use autodiff provided by the system instead of the bundled version" OFF)
@@ -126,6 +127,12 @@ include(ActsComponentsHelpers) # handle components via add_..._if commands
 set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}")
 set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}")
 
+# This needs to happen before we set up any targets
+if(ACTS_FORCE_ASSERTIONS)
+  message(STATUS "Injecting headers to force assertions. This can have side-effects, USE WITH CAUTION!")
+  include_directories(BEFORE SYSTEM ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/assert_include)
+endif()
+
 # minimal dependency versions. they are defined here in a single place so
 # they can be easily upgraded, although they might not be used if the
 # dependency is included via `add_subdirectory(...)`.

cmake/assert_include/Eigen/Core

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#define eigen_assert(x) assert(x)
+#include_next "Eigen/Core"

cmake/assert_include/Eigen/Dense

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#define eigen_assert(x) assert(x)
+#include_next "Eigen/Dense"

cmake/assert_include/Eigen/Geometry

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#define eigen_assert(x) assert(x)
+#include_next "Eigen/Geometry"

cmake/assert_include/cassert

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#if defined(NDEBUG)
+#define _HAD_NDEBUG
+#undef NDEBUG
+#endif
+#include_next <cassert>
+#if defined(_HAD_NDEBUG)
+#undef _HAD_NDEBUG
+#define NDEBUG
+#endif

docs/getting_started.md

@@ -259,6 +259,7 @@ components.
 | ACTS_BUILD_DOCS                     | Build documentation                                                                                   |
 | ACTS_BUILD_ANALYSIS_APPS            | Build root based stand-alone analysis applications (defaults is OFF)                                  |
 | ACTS_LOG_FAILURE_THRESHOLD          | Automatically fail when a log above the specified debug level is emitted (useful for automated tests) |
+| ACTS_FORCE_ASSERTIONS               | Try to force keeping `assert` even in Release builds. (useful for automated tests)                    |
 | ACTS_PARAMETER_DEFINITIONS_HEADER   | Use a different (track) parameter definitions header                                                  |
 | ACTS_USE_SYSTEM_AUTODIFF            | Use autodiff provided by the system instead of the bundled version                                    |
 | ACTS_USE_SYSTEM_NLOHMANN_JSON       | Use nlohmann::json provided by the system instead of the bundled version                              |