xlint

Powerful CLI for any lint solution

• Built-in support for JSLint and JSHint linters
• Picks all .js and executable Node.js files from all directories recursively (nest level is configurable)
• Provides simple external configuration file standard that allows to keep options out of program files
• If needed understands .gitignore rules
• Additional ignore rules can be defined in .lintignore files
• Optional caching mechanism (no re-evaluation with same options on not modified files)
• Provides live console, that updates when code or configuration files are updated
• Covered by over 150 unit tests

Usage

$ xlint [options] [<paths>]

for example:

$ xlint --linter=path/to/jslint-module.js project/path

Interested in live console?

$ xlint --watch --linter=path/to/jslint-module.js project/path

Installation

$ npm install -g xlint

Options

• linter path - Path to linter module. It must be CJS module, see e.g. xlint-jslint for JSLint provided as one
• cache bool - Whether to cache generated reports. Very useful if we rerun the script on large projects. Cached reports are saved into .lintcache file in your project main directory [default: true]
• color bool - Colorize console output [default: true]
• depth number - How deeply to recurse into subdirectories [default: Infinity]
• ignoreRules string - Whether to obey rules found in ignore files (Currently just git for .giitignore rules is supported). It's backed by fs2.isIgnored [default: git]
• stream bool - Whether to generate reports on the go (as soon as first filenames are obtained) [default: true]
• watch bool - Output reports in live console which updates after code or configuration files are updated [default: false]

Ignoring specific files and directories

Apart of support for .gitignore rules, XLint also looks for rules in .lintignore files. Syntax rules for those files is same as for .gitignore files.

Configuration files

XLint supports external .lint configuration files, through which we may setup options that are passed to linter. There can be many_.lint_ files placed in any directory within project

File format is similar to conf files as we know them from *nix systems:

# This is a comment, any of this are ignored by the parser

@root                     # Root of a project, means that any rules found in upper directories won't have effect

plusplus                  # Regular boolean option
indent 2                  # Numeric option
predef console, window    # Array of strings

./foo.js                  # Options that would only address foo.js file
!plusplus                 # Overridden boolean option (set to false)
predef+ XMLHttpRequest    # Add token to array option
predef- console           # Remove token from array option

./some-dir                # Options that address only files within given directory
predef foo, bar           # Override array option
otherarr one,             # Other array option, if we set just one token, we need to post-fix it with comma

JSHint case

XLint doesn't support options defined in jshintrc files.
JSHint separates global variable settings from other options, but in XLint configuration files, global should be defined same as other options (as e.g. predef for JSLint), it will be passed to JSHint as expected.

Tests

$ npm test