Usage

Configuration file location

Before running the linter, you need to supply configuration in a file, in INI format. Import Linter will look in the current directory for one of the following files:

  • setup.cfg
  • .importlinter

(Different filenames / locations can be specified as a command line argument, see below.)

Top level configuration

Your file must contain an importlinter section providing top-level (i.e. non-contract based) configuration:

[importlinter]
# Required:
root_package = mypackage
# Optional:
include_external_packages = True

Options:

  • root_package: The name of the top-level Python package to validate. This package must be importable: usually this means it is has been installed using pip, or it’s in the current directory. (Required.)
  • include_external_packages: Whether to include external packages when building the import graph (see the Grimp build_graph documentation for more details). Not every contract type uses this. (Optional.)

Contracts

Additionally, you will want to include one or more contract configurations. These take the following form:

[importlinter:contract:1]
name = Contract One
type = some_contract_type
(additional options)

[importlinter:contract:2]
name = Contract Two
type = another_contract_type
(additional options)

Notice each contract has its own INI section, which begins importlinter:contract: and ends in an arbitrary, unique code (in this example, the codes are 1 and 2). These codes are purely to adhere to the INI format, which does not allow duplicate section names.

Every contract will always have the following key/value pairs:

  • name: A human-readable name for the contract.
  • type: The type of contract to use (see Contract types.)

Each contract type defines additional options that you supply here.

Running the linter

Import Linter provides a single command: lint-imports.

Running this will check that your project adheres to the contracts you’ve defined.

Arguments:

  • --config: The configuration file to use. If not supplied, Import Linter will look for setup.cfg or .importlinter in the current directory. (Optional.)

Default usage:

lint-imports

Using a different filename or location:

lint-imports --config path/to/alternative-config.ini