Frequently Asked Questions / Usage tips for PyLint
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Question:
  Is it possible to give file as argument to pylint, instead of module ?

Answer:
  pylint expects the name of a package or module as argument. As a convenience,
  you can give to it a file name if it's possible to guess a module name from
  the file's path, using the python path. Some examples :

  "pylint mymodule.py" should always works 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 if "directory" is in the
  python path.

  "pylint /whatever/directory/mymodule.py" will work if either:

    - "/whatever/directory" is in the python path

    - your cwd is "/whatever/directory"

    - "directory" is a python package and "/whatever" is in the python
      path

    - "directory" is a python package and your cwd is "/whatever"
      and so on...



Question:
  I'm using psyobj from psyco_ and get a lot of spurious "unused variables
  messages". Is it normal ?

Answer: 
  Yes. That's actually due to a bug in psyco, making the locals()
  function for objects inheriting from *psyobj* returning an empty
  dictionary. For the moment, the only way to fix this is to use the
  PYLINT_IMPORT environment variable to not use psyco during pylint
  checking. Sample code ::

    import os
    try:
        if os.environ.has_key('PYLINT_IMPORT'):
            raise ImportError()
	from psyco.classes import psyobj
    except ImportError:
	    class psyobj:
	        pass

  NOTICE: this problem should not occurs with pylint >= 0.5 since from
  this version pylint is not looking anymore for information in living
  objects (i.e. it doesn't anymore import analysed modules)



Question:
  I've a function / method which is a callback where I do not have any
  control on received argument, and pylint is complaining about unused
  arguments. What can I do to avoid those warnings ?

Answer:
  prefix (ui) the callback's name by `cb_`, as in cb_onclick(...). By
  doing so arguments usage won't be checked. Another solution is to
  use one of the name defined in the "dummy-variables" configuration
  variable for unused argument ("_" and "dummy" by default).



Question:
  When is pylint considering a class as an interface ?

Answer:
  A class is considered as an interface if there is a class named
  "Interface" somewhere in it ancestor's tree.



Question:
  When is pylint considering that a class is implementing a given
  interface ?

Answer:
  Pylint is using the Zope 2 interfaces conventions, and so is
  considering that a class is implementing interfaces listed in its
  __implements__ attribute.



Question:
  When is pylint considering a class as an abstract class ?

Answer:
  A class is considered as an abstract class if at least one of its
  methods is doing nothing but raising NotImplementedError



Question:
  Is there some way to disable some message for a particular module
  only ?

Answer:
  Yes, you can disable or enable (globally disabled) message at the
  module level by adding the corresponding option in a comment at the
  top of the file: ::

    # pylint: disable-msg=W0401, E0202
    # pylint: enable-msg=C0302



Question:
  I have a mixin class relying on attributes of the mixed class, and I
  would like to not have the "access to undefined member" message on
  this class. Is it possible ?

Answer:
  Yes :o) To do so you have to set the ignore-mixin-members option to
  "yes" (this is the default value) and to name your mixin class with
  a name which ends with "mixin" (whatever case)



Question:
  Is it possible to locally disable a particular message for a block
  of code or for a single line of code ?
  
Answer:
  Yes, this feature has been added in pylint 0.11. This may be done by
  adding "#pylint: disable-msg=W0123,E4567" at the desired block level
  or at the end of the desired line of code



Question:
  Where is the persistent data stored to make comparison between
   two successive runs ?

Answer:
  Analysis data are stored as pickle file in a directory which is 
  localized using the following rules:

  * value of the PYLINTHOME environment variable if set

  * ".pylint.d" subdirectory of the user's home directory if it is found
    (not always findable on Windows platforms)

  * ".pylint.d" directory in the current directory



Question:
  How can I know the option name (for pylintrc) corresponding to a
  specific command line option ?

Answer:
  You can always generate a sample pylintrc file with --generate-rcfile
  Every option present on the command line before this will be included in
  the rc file
  
  For example::

    pylint --disable-msg=W0702,C0103 --class-rgx='[A-Z][a-z]+' --generate-rcfile



Question:
  pychecker_ has no problem finding the imports and reporting on problems with 
  them, while pylint seems unable to deal with the same imports. Why ?

Answer:
  pychecker and pylint use different approaches.  pychecker
  imports the modules and rummages around in the result, hence it sees my
  mangled sys.path.  pylint doesn't import any of the candidate modules and
  thus doesn't include any of import's side effects (good and bad).  It
  traverses an AST representation of the code.




.. _psyco: http://psyco.sf.net
.. _pychecker: http://pychecker.sf.net