Running Pylint
**************


Invoking Pylint
===============

Pylint is meant to be called from the command line. The usage is

   pylint [options] modules_or_packages

You should give Pylint the name of a python package or module, or some
number of packages or modules. Pylint "will not import" this package
or module, though uses Python internals to locate them and as such is
subject to the same rules and configuration. You should pay attention
to your "PYTHONPATH", since it is a common error to analyze an
installed version of a module instead of the development version.

It is also possible to analyze python files, with a few restrictions.
The thing to keep in mind is that Pylint will try to convert the file
name to a module name, and only be able to process the file if it
succeeds.

   pylint mymodule.py

should always work since the current working directory is
automatically added on top of the python path

   pylint directory/mymodule.py

will work if "directory" is a python package (i.e. has an __init__.py
file or it is an implicit namespace package) or if "directory" is in
the python path.

For more details on this see the Frequently Asked Questions.

It is also possible to call Pylint from an other python program,
thanks to "py_run()" function in "epylint" module, assuming Pylint
options are stored in "pylint_options" string, as:

   from pylint import epylint as lint
   lint.py_run(pylint_options)

To silently run Pylint on a "module_name.py" module, and get its
standard output and error:

   from pylint import epylint as lint
   (pylint_stdout, pylint_stderr) = lint.py_run('module_name.py', return_std=True)


Command line options
====================

First of all, we have two basic (but useful) options.

--version

show program's version number and exit

-h, --help

show help about the command line options

Pylint is architectured around several checkers. you can disable a
specific checker or some of its messages or messages categories by
specifying "--disable=<symbol>". If you want to enable only some
checkers or some message symbols, first use "--disable=all" then "--
enable=<symbol>" with <symbol> being a comma separated list of checker
names and message symbols. See the list of available features for a
description of provided checkers with their functionalities. The "--
disable" and "--enable" options can be used with comma separated lists
mixing checkers, message ids and categories like "-d C,W,no-
error,design"

It is possible to disable all messages with "--disable=all". This is
useful to enable only a few checkers or a few messages by first
disabling everything, and then re-enabling only what you need.

Each checker has some specific options, which can take either a yes/no
value, an integer, a python regular expression, or a comma separated
list of values (which are generally used to override a regular
expression in special cases). For a full list of options, use "--help"

Specifying all the options suitable for your setup and coding
standards can be tedious, so it is possible to use a configuration
file to specify the default values.  You can specify a configuration
file on the command line using the "--rcfile" option.  Otherwise,
Pylint searches for a configuration file in the following order and
uses the first one it finds:

1. "pylintrc" in the current working directory

2. ".pylintrc" in the current working directory

3. If the current working directory is in a Python module, Pylint
   searches up the hierarchy of Python modules until it finds a
   "pylintrc" file. This allows you to specify coding standards on a
   module-by-module basis.  Of course, a directory is judged to be a
   Python module if it contains an "__init__.py" file.

4. The file named by environment variable "PYLINTRC"

5. if you have a home directory which isn't "/root":

   1. ".pylintrc" in your home directory

   2. ".config/pylintrc" in your home directory

6. "/etc/pylintrc"

The "--generate-rcfile" option will generate a commented configuration
file on standard output according to the current configuration and
exit. This includes:

* Any configuration file found as explained above

* Options appearing before "--generate-rcfile" on the Pylint command
  line

Of course you can also start with the default values and hand tune the
configuration.

Other useful global options include:

--ignore=<file[,file...]>

Add files or directories to the blacklist. They should be base names,
not paths.

--output-format=<format>

Select output format (text, json, custom).

--msg-template=<template>

Modify text output message template.

--list-msgs

Generate pylint's messages.

--full-documentation

Generate pylint's full documentation, in reST format.


Parallel execution
==================

It is possible to speed up the execution of Pylint. If the running
computer has more CPUs than one, then the files for checking could be
spread on all cores via Pylints's sub-processes. This functionality is
exposed via "-j" command line parameter. If the provided number is 0,
then the total number of CPUs will be used.

Example:

   pylint -j 4 mymodule1.py mymodule2.py mymodule3.py mymodule4.py

This will spawn 4 parallel Pylint sub-process, where each provided
module will be checked in parallel. Discovered problems by checkers
are not displayed immediately. They are shown just after completing
checking a module.

There are some limitations in running checks in parallel in current
implementation. It is not possible to use custom plugins (i.e. "--
load-plugins" option), nor it is not possible to use initialization
hooks (i.e. "--init-hook" option).

This will spawn 4 parallel Pylint subprocesses, each provided module
being checked by one or another subprocess.


Exit codes
==========

Pylint returns bit-encoded exit codes. If applicable the table lists
related stderr stream message output.

+-----------+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
| exit code | meaning                   | stderr stream message                      |
|===========|===========================|============================================|
| 0         | no error                  |                                            |
+-----------+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
| 1         | fatal message issued      |                                            |
+-----------+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
| 2         | error message issued      |                                            |
+-----------+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
| 4         | warning message issued    |                                            |
+-----------+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
| 8         | refactor message issued   |                                            |
+-----------+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
| 16        | convention message issued |                                            |
+-----------+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
| 32        | usage error               | * "internal error while receiving          |
|           |                           | resultsfrom child linter" "Error occurred, |
|           |                           | stopping the linter."  * "<return of       |
|           |                           | linter.help()>"  * "Jobs number <#> should |
|           |                           | be greater than 0"                         |
+-----------+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
