vala-lint

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Check code-style of Vala code files

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<div align="center">
  <h1 align="center"><center>Vala-Lint</center></h1>
  <h3 align="center"><center>Check Vala code files for code-style errors</center></h3>
  <br>
  <br>
</div>

---

Small command line tool and library for checking Vala code files for code-style errors.
Based on the [elementary Code-Style guidelines](https://docs.elementary.io/develop/writing-apps/code-style).

## Building, Testing, and Installation
You'll need the following dependencies:

meson
    gio-2.0
    valac
    json-glib-1.0

Run meson build to configure the build environment. Change to the build directory and run ninja test to build and run automated tests

meson build --prefix=/usr
    cd build
    ninja test

To install, use ninja install, then execute with `io.elementary.vala-lint`

sudo ninja install
    io.elementary.vala-lint

## Usage
You can use vala-lint or its library to scan your files and projects easily. By default, you can lint every Vala file in the current directory and all subdirectories by

io.elementary.vala-lint

Additionally, vala-lint uses [globs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glob_%28programming%29) to match files or directories. For example, you can lint every file in a given directory by

io.elementary.vala-lint ../my-project/test

or specify particular files via

io.elementary.vala-lint ../my-project/test/unit-test.vala
    io.elementary.vala-lint ../my-project/test/*-test.vala

You can automatically fix a certain class of issues by

io.elementary.vala-lint --fix ../my-project/test/*-test.vala

To list all options, type `io.elementary.vala-lint -h`. Additional command line flags are: `--print-end` for printing not only the start but also the end of a mistake, and `--exit-zero` to always return a 0 (non-error) status code, even if lint mistakes are found.

### Configuration
Using a configuration file, you can overwrite the default settings of vala-lint. It can be included via the `config`-option

io.elementary.vala-lint -c vala-lint.conf

A file of the default configuration can be generated and saved by

io.elementary.vala-lint --generate-config >> vala-lint.conf

The generated file will look like

```Ini
[Checks]
block-opening-brace-space-before=error
double-semicolon=error
double-spaces=error
ellipsis=error
line-length=warn
naming-convention=error
no-space=error
note=warn
space-before-paren=error
use-of-tabs=error
trailing-newlines=error
trailing-whitespace=error
unnecessary-string-template=error

[Disabler]
disable-by-inline-comments=true

[line-length]
max-line-length=120
ignore-comments=true

[naming-convention]
exceptions=UUID

[note]
keywords=TODO,FIXME
```

As this is the default configuration, you only need to specifiy differing settings. In the *Checks* group, each check can have three states. Using *error* (the default), the rule is displayes in output and triggers an exit code, for *warn* it is shown in output without an exit code and for *off* the rule is completely silent. The *Disabler* group allows for disabling a single check at a specific line using an inline comment (see Disabling Errors below). Furthermore, each check can have individual, hopefully self-explanatory, settings, which are also listed in the [wiki](https://github.com/elementary/vala-lint/wiki/Vala-Lint-Checks).

### Disabling Errors
You can disable a single or multiple errors on a given line by adding an inline comment like

```vala
if(...) { // vala-lint=space-before-paren, line-length
```

If you want to skip an entire file, you can use

```vala
// vala-lint=skip-file
```

at the beginning of the file.

### Ignoring Files
You can disable linting of files matching certain patterns by creating a `.valalintignore` text file.
If the file is created in your home directory it will be applied globally.
The patterns must be like those used for globbing filenames. Type `man glob` into a terminal
for further information.

If the file is created in the root directory of your project it will apply only to that project and
will override any global setting.
If no `.valalintignore` file is found then the patterns in any `.gitignore` file found in the
project root are ignored.

The format of the file is one pattern per line. Usually you would want to ignore certain folders like

```vala
build
po
data
```

Note that if you do provide a `.valalintignore` file, you must repeat any patterns in a `.gitignore`
file that you do not want to lint.

Although `vala-lint` ignores non-Vala files, ignoring large directories significantly speeds up linting.

You may also ignore specific kinds of `.vala` files like
```vala
~*.vala
```

### Docker and Continuous Integration
Vala-Lint is primarily intended to be used in Continuous Integration (CI). It's available in a convenient, always up-to-date Docker container `valalang/lint:latest` hosted on Docker Hub.

docker run -v "$PWD":/app valalang/lint:latest

### pre-commit Integration
You can use Vala-Lint via [pre-commit](https://pre-commit.com/) by adding the following entry to your `.pre-commit-config.yaml`:

```yaml
- repo: https://github.com/vala-lang/vala-lint
  rev: master
  hooks:
  - id: vala-lint
```

vala-lint

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