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@title Arcanist User Guide: Lint
@group userguide
Guide to lint, linters, and linter configuration.
This is a configuration guide that helps you set up advanced features. If you're
just getting started, you don't need to look at this yet. Instead, start with
the @{article:Arcanist User Guide}.
This guide explains how lint works when configured in an `arc` project. If
you haven't set up a project yet, do that first. For instructions, see
@{article:Arcanist User Guide: Configuring a New Project}.
Overview
========
"Lint" refers to a general class of programming tools which analyze source code
and raise warnings and errors about it. For example, a linter might raise
warnings about syntax errors, uses of undeclared variables, calls to deprecated
functions, spacing and formatting conventions, misuse of scope, implicit
fallthrough in switch statements, missing license headers, use of dangerous
language features, or a variety of other issues.
Integrating lint into your development pipeline has two major benefits:
- you can detect and prevent a large class of programming errors; and
- you can simplify code review by addressing many mechanical and formatting
problems automatically.
When arc is integrated with a lint toolkit, it enables the `arc lint` command
and runs lint on changes during `arc diff`. The user is prompted to fix errors
and warnings before sending their code for review, and lint issues which are
not fixed are visible during review.
There are many lint and static analysis tools available for a wide variety of
languages. Arcanist ships with bindings for many popular tools, and you can
write new bindings fairly easily if you have custom tools.
Available Linters
=================
To see a list of available linters, run:
$ arc linters
Arcanist ships with bindings for a number of linters that can check for errors
or problems in JS, CSS, PHP, Python, C, C++, C#, Less, Puppet, Ruby, JSON, XML,
and several other languages.
Some general purpose linters are also available. These linters can check for
cross-language issues like sensible filenames, trailing or mixed whitespace,
character sets, spelling mistakes, and unresolved merge conflicts.
If you have a tool you'd like to use as a linter that isn't supported by
default, you can write bindings for it. For information on writing new linter
bindings, see @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Customizing Lint, Unit Tests and
Workflows}.
Configuring Lint
================
To configure lint integration for your project, create a file called `.arclint`
at the project root. This file should be in JSON format, and look like this:
```lang=js
{
"linters": {
"sample": {
"type": "pep8"
}
}
}
```
Here, the key ("sample") is a human-readable label identifying the linter. It
does not affect linter behavior, so just choose something that makes sense to
you.
The `type` specifies which linter to run. Use `arc linters` to find the names of
the available linters.
**Including and Excluding Files**: By default, a linter will run on every file.
This is appropriate for some linters (like the Filename linter), but normally
you only want to run a linter like **pep8** on Python files. To include or
exclude files, use `include` and `exclude`:
```lang=js
{
"linters": {
"sample": {
"type": "pep8",
"include": "(\\.py$)",
"exclude": "(^third-party/)"
}
}
}
```
The `include` key is a regular expression (or list of regular expressions)
identifying paths the linter should be run on, while `exclude` is a regular
expression (or list of regular expressions) identifying paths which it should
not run on.
Thus, this configures a **pep8** linter named "sample" which will run on files
ending in ".py", unless they are inside the "third-party/" directory.
In these examples, regular expressions are written in this style:
"(example/path)"
They can be specified with any delimiters, but using `(` and `)` means you don't
have to escape slashes in the expression, so it may be more convenient to
specify them like this. If you prefer, these are all equivalent:
"(example/path)i"
"/example\\/path/i"
"@example/path@i"
You can also exclude files globally, so no linters run on them at all. Do this
by specifying `exclude` at top level:
```lang=js
{
"exclude": "(^tests/data/)",
"linters": {
"sample": {
"type": "pep8",
"include": "(\\.py$)",
"exclude": "(^third-party/)"
}
}
}
```
Here, the addition of a global `exclude` rule means no linter will be run on
files in "tests/data/".
**Running Multiple Linters**: Often, you will want to run several different
linters. Perhaps your project has a mixture of Python and Javascript code, or
you have some PHP and some JSON files. To run multiple linters, just list
them in the `linters` map:
```lang=js
{
"linters": {
"jshint": {
"type": "jshint",
"include": "(\\.js$)"
},
"xml": {
"type": "xml",
"include": "(\\.xml$)"
}
}
}
```
This will run JSHint on `.js` files, and SimpleXML on `.xml` files.
**Adjusting Message Severities**: Arcanist raises lint messages at various
severities. Each message has a different severity: for example, lint might
find a syntax error and raise an `error` about it, and find trailing whitespace
and raise a `warning` about it.
Normally, you will be presented with lint messages as you are sending code for
review. In that context, the severities behave like this:
- `error` When a file contains lint errors, they are always reported. These
are intended to be severe problems, like a syntax error. Unresolved lint
errors require you to confirm that you want to continue.
- `warning` When a file contains warnings, they are reported by default only
if they appear on lines that you have changed. They are intended to be
minor problems, like unconventional whitespace. Unresolved lint warnings
require you to confirm that you want to continue.
- `autofix` This level is like `warning`, but if the message includes patches
they will be applied automatically without prompting.
- `advice` Like warnings, these messages are only reported on changed lines.
They are intended to be very minor issues which may merit a note, like a
"TODO" comment. They do not require confirmation.
- `disabled` This level suppresses messages. They are not displayed. You can
use this to turn off a message if you don't care about the issue it
detects.
By default, Arcanist tries to select reasonable severities for each message.
However, you may want to make a message more or less severe, or disable it
entirely.
For many linters, you can do this by providing a `severity` map:
```lang=js
{
"linters": {
"sample": {
"type": "pep8",
"severity": {
"E221": "disabled",
"E401": "warning"
}
}
}
}
```
Here, the lint message `E221` (which is "multiple spaces before operator") is
disabled, so it won't be shown. The message `E401` (which is "multiple imports
on one line") is set to "warning" severity.
If you want to remap a large number of messages, you can use `severity.rules`
and specify regular expressions:
```lang=js
{
"linters": {
"sample": {
"type": "pep8",
"severity.rules": {
"(^E)": "warning",
"(^W)": "advice"
}
}
}
}
```
This adjusts the severity of all "E" codes to "warning", and all "W" codes to
"advice".
**Locating Binaries and Interpreters**: Normally, Arcanist expects to find
external linters (like `pep8`) in `$PATH`, and be able to run them without any
special qualifiers. That is, it will run a command similar to:
$ pep8 example.py
If you want to use a different copy of a linter binary, or invoke it in an
explicit way, you can use `interpreter` and `bin`. These accept strings (or
lists of strings) identifying places to look for linters. For example:
```lang=js
{
"linters": {
"sample": {
"type": "pep8",
"interpreter": ["python2.6", "python"],
"bin": ["/usr/local/bin/pep8-1.5.6", "/usr/local/bin/pep8"]
}
}
}
```
When configured like this, `arc` will walk the `interpreter` list to find an
available interpreter, then walk the `bin` list to find an available binary.
If it can locate an appropriate interpreter and binary, it will execute those
instead of the defaults. For example, this might cause it to execute a command
similar to:
$ python2.6 /usr/local/bin/pep8-1.5.6 example.py
**Additional Options**: Some linters support additional options to configure
their behavior. You can run this command get a list of these options and
descriptions of what they do and how to configure them:
$ arc linters --verbose
This will show the available options for each linter in detail.
**Running Different Rules on Different Files**: Sometimes, you may want to
run the same linter with different rulesets on different files. To do this,
create two copies of the linter and just give them different keys in the
`linters` map:
```lang=js
{
"linters": {
"pep8-relaxed": {
"type": "pep8",
"include": "(^legacy/.*\\.py$)",
"severity.rules": {
"(.*)": "advice"
}
},
"pep8-normal": {
"type": "pep8",
"include": "(\\.py$)",
"exclude": "(^legacy/)"
}
}
}
```
This example will run a relaxed version of the linter (which raises every
message as advice) on Python files in "legacy/", and a normal version everywhere
else.
**Example .arclint Files**: You can find a collection of example files in
`arcanist/resources/arclint/` to use as a starting point or refer to while
configuring your own `.arclint` file.
Advanced Configuration: Lint Engines
====================================
If you need to specify how linters execute in greater detail than is possible
with `.arclint`, you can write a lint engine in PHP to extend Arcanist. This is
an uncommon, advanced use case. The remainder of this section overviews how the
lint internals work, and discusses how to extend Arcanist with a custom lint
engine. If your needs are met by `.arclint`, you can skip to the next section
of this document.
The lint pipeline has two major components: linters and lint engines.
**Linters** are programs which detect problems in a source file. Usually a
linter is an external script, which Arcanist runs and passes a path to, like
`jshint` or `pep8`.
The script emits some messages, and Arcanist parses the output into structured
errors. A piece of glue code (like @{class@arcanist:ArcanistJSHintLinter} or
@{class@arcanist:ArcanistPEP8Linter}) handles calling the external script and
interpreting its output.
**Lint engines** coordinate linters, and decide which linters should run on
which files. For instance, you might want to run `jshint` on all your `.js`
files, and `pep8.py` on all your `.py` files. And you might not want to lint
anything in `externals/` or `third-party/`, and maybe there are other files
which you want to exclude or apply special rules for.
By default, Arcanist uses the
@{class@arcanist:ArcanistConfigurationDrivenLintEngine} engine if there is
an `.arclint` file present in the working copy. This engine reads the `.arclint`
file and uses it to decide which linters should be run on which paths. If no
`.arclint` is present, Arcanist does not select an engine by default.
You can write a custom lint engine instead, which can make a more powerful set
of decisions about which linters to run on which paths. For instructions on
writing a custom lint engine, see @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Customizing
Lint, Unit Tests and Workflows}.
To name an alternate lint engine, set `lint.engine` in your `.arcconfig` to the
name of a class which extends @{class@arcanist:ArcanistLintEngine}. For more
information on `.arcconfig`, see @{article:Arcanist User Guide: Configuring a
New Project}.
You can also set a default lint engine by setting `lint.engine` in your global
user config with `arc set-config lint.engine`, or specify one explicitly with
`arc lint --engine <engine>`. This can be useful for testing.
There are several other engines bundled with Arcanist, but they are primarily
predate `.arclint` and are effectively obsolete.
Using Lint to Improve Code Review
=================================
Code review is most valuable when it's about the big ideas in a change. It is
substantially less valuable when it devolves into nitpicking over style,
formatting, and naming conventions.
The best response to receiving a review request full of style problems is
probably to reject it immediately, point the author at your coding convention
documentation, and ask them to fix it before sending it for review. But even
this is a pretty negative experience for both parties, and less experienced
reviewers sometimes go through the whole review and point out every problem
individually.
Lint can greatly reduce the negativity of this whole experience (and the amount
of time wasted arguing about these things) by enforcing style and formatting
rules automatically. Arcanist supports linters that not only raise warnings
about these problems, but provide patches and fix the problems for the author --
before the code goes to review.
Good linter integration means that code is pretty much mechanically correct by
the time any reviewer sees it, provides clear rules about style which are
especially helpful to new authors, and has the overall effect of pushing
discussion away from stylistic nitpicks and toward useful examination of large
ideas.
It can also provide a straightforward solution to arguments about style, if you
adopt a policy like this:
- If a rule is important enough that it should be enforced, the proponent must
add it to lint so it is automatically detected or fixed in the future and
no one has to argue about it ever again.
- If it's not important enough for them to do the legwork to add it to lint,
they have to stop complaining about it.
This may or may not be an appropriate methodology to adopt at your organization,
but it generally puts the incentives in the right places.
Philosophy of Lint
==================
Some general thoughts on how to develop lint effectively, based on building
lint tools at Facebook:
- Don't write regex-based linters to enforce language rules. Use a real parser
or AST-based tool. This is not a domain you can get right at any nontrivial
complexity with raw regexes. That is not a challenge. Just don't do this.
- False positives are pretty bad and should be avoided. You should aim to
implement only rules that have very few false positives, and provide ways to
mark false positives as OK. If running lint always raises 30 warnings about
irrelevant nonsense, it greatly devalues the tool.
- Move toward autocorrect rules. Most linters do not automatically correct
the problems they detect, but Arcanist supports this and it's quite
valuable to have the linter not only say "the convention is to put a space
after comma in a function call" but to fix it for you.
= Next Steps =
Continue by:
- integrating and customizing built-in linters and lint bindings with
@{article:Arcanist User Guide: Customizing Existing Linters}; or
- use a linter that hasn't been integrated into Arcanist with
@{article:Arcanist User Guide: Script and Regex Linter}; or
- learning how to add new linters and lint engines with
@{article:Arcanist User Guide: Customizing Lint, Unit Tests and Workflows}.

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