feat: add run-linters script for native linting without super-linter by zeitlinger · Pull Request #136 · grafana/flint

zeitlinger · 2026-03-31T14:29:50Z

Will likely close in favor of #139

Summary

New tasks/lint/run-linters.sh: a lightweight alternative to the super-linter native mode that runs native linters with changed-file detection, without requiring the super-linter env file or VALIDATE_* flag machinery
Callers pass tool names from a built-in registry: run-linters prettier markdownlint shfmt
RUN_LINTERS_TOOLS env var as an alternative to positional args (needed for mise file = tasks called from a depends list)
RUN_LINTERS_EXTRA_REGISTRY env var for injecting additional registry entries (used by tests)
--autofix always uses the fix command when one is defined (no per-linter FIX_* opt-in)
--full to lint all files instead of only changed files
{MERGE_BASE} placeholder support, replacing the hardcoded golangci-lint special case in both scripts
Existence filter on the cached file list — skips files that appear in the PR diff but no longer exist on disk (uncommitted deletions/renames); applied to both run-linters.sh and super-linter.sh
Bats test suite covering: changed-file detection, --full, --autofix, linter failure propagation, unknown linter, missing tool binary, no matching files

Changes to `super-linter.sh`

Generalize golangci-lint --new-from-rev handling via {MERGE_BASE} placeholder (works for any future tool too)
Add existence filter to _CACHED_FILES (same fix as run-linters.sh)

Test plan

mise run test passes
Tested in grafana/mox#40 against a real repo

- New tasks/lint/run-linters.sh: runs native linters with changed-file detection (merge base + staged + unstaged), --autofix, --full flags, and a built-in tool registry. Callers pass tool names as args: run-linters prettier markdownlint shfmt - RUN_LINTERS_EXTRA_REGISTRY env var for extending the registry - Generalize golangci-lint {MERGE_BASE} handling in super-linter.sh - Add bats tests and mise test task

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds a new lightweight native-lint runner script (as an alternative to Super-Linter native mode) with changed-file detection, plus a Bats test suite and mise wiring to run those tests. Also updates super-linter.sh to generalize merge-base placeholder handling and filter out deleted files from cached file lists.

Changes:

Add tasks/lint/run-linters.sh with a built-in linter registry, changed-file detection, --autofix, --full, and {MERGE_BASE} placeholder support.
Update tasks/lint/super-linter.sh native mode to use {MERGE_BASE} placeholder substitution and filter cached files by existence.
Add Bats tests and mise task/tool entries to run them.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`tasks/lint/run-linters.sh`	New script to run selected native linters using changed-file detection and a registry-based configuration model.
`tasks/lint/super-linter.sh`	Refactors merge-base handling into a generalized `{MERGE_BASE}` placeholder and filters deleted files out of cached lists.
`tests/run-linters.bats`	Adds Bats coverage for changed-file detection, `--full`, `--autofix`, failures, missing tools, and no-match behavior.
`mise.toml`	Adds `bats` tool + `tasks.test` to run the new suite.
`.github/renovate-tracked-deps.json`	Tracks the new mise-managed tools for Renovate.

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Copilot · 2026-03-31T14:59:55Z

 		"VALIDATE_GITHUB_ACTIONS|actionlint|actionlint {FILE}||.github/workflows/*.yml .github/workflows/*.yaml"
 		"VALIDATE_DOCKERFILE_HADOLINT|hadolint|hadolint {FILE}||Dockerfile Dockerfile.* *.dockerfile"
-		"VALIDATE_GO_GOLANGCI_LINT|golangci-lint|golangci-lint run||SELF"
+		"VALIDATE_GO_GOLANGCI_LINT|golangci-lint|golangci-lint run --new-from-rev={MERGE_BASE}||SELF"


--full is intended to lint the entire codebase, but golangci-lint is now always invoked with --new-from-rev={MERGE_BASE} when a merge base exists. That keeps golangci-lint in diff-only mode even when LINT_ALL=true.

Suggestion: only include/expand the {MERGE_BASE} flag when LINT_ALL != true (or strip --*={MERGE_BASE} when LINT_ALL=true).

Suggested change

"VALIDATE_GO_GOLANGCI_LINT|golangci-lint|golangci-lint run --new-from-rev={MERGE_BASE}||SELF"

"VALIDATE_GO_GOLANGCI_LINT|golangci-lint|golangci-lint run \$( [ \"\${LINT_ALL}\" != \"true\" ] && printf '%s' '--new-from-rev={MERGE_BASE}' )||SELF"

Copilot · 2026-03-31T14:59:56Z

+	# Substitute {MERGE_BASE}; strip --flag={MERGE_BASE} entirely when no merge base available
+	if [ -n "$_MERGE_BASE" ]; then
+		cmd_template="${cmd_template//\{MERGE_BASE\}/$_MERGE_BASE}"
+	else
+		cmd_template=$(printf '%s' "$cmd_template" | sed 's/ \?--[a-zA-Z_-]*={MERGE_BASE}//g')
+	fi


The {MERGE_BASE} substitution logic doesn’t consider LINT_ALL. With --full, _MERGE_BASE will typically be non-empty, so commands like golangci-lint run --new-from-rev={MERGE_BASE} will still run in diff-only mode, contradicting --full semantics.

Suggestion: when LINT_ALL=true, skip {MERGE_BASE} substitution and remove any --*={MERGE_BASE} flags (even if _MERGE_BASE is set).

Copilot · 2026-03-31T14:59:56Z

+trap _on_exit EXIT
+
+_LINTER_RAN=true
+_failed=()
+_skipped=()
+


_LINTER_RAN is set to true before any linter command is actually executed. This causes the EXIT trap to print the “Try mise run fix…” hint even for failures like an unknown linter name or other early exits.

Suggestion: only set _LINTER_RAN=true immediately before running the first linter command (or gate the hint on a separate flag indicating a linter command was invoked).

Copilot · 2026-03-31T14:59:56Z

+_register actionlint "actionlint {FILE}" "" ".github/workflows/*.yml .github/workflows/*.yaml"
+_register hadolint "hadolint {FILE}" "" "Dockerfile Dockerfile.* *.dockerfile"
+_register codespell "codespell {FILES}" "codespell --write-changes {FILES}" "*"
+_register ec "ec {FILES}" "" "*"


The editorconfig checker is registered as ec and invoked as ec {FILES}, but the rest of the repo (e.g. tasks/lint/super-linter.sh) uses the editorconfig-checker binary. If ec isn’t available on PATH, this entry will always be reported as a missing tool.

Suggestion: switch the command to editorconfig-checker {FILES} (and optionally keep ec as an alias tool name if you want the shorter invocation).

Suggested change

_register ec "ec {FILES}" "" "*"

_register ec "editorconfig-checker {FILES}" "" "*"

Copilot · 2026-03-31T14:59:56Z

+	git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" add baseline.txt changing.txt
+	git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" commit -m "initial" -q
+	git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" branch -M main
+	git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" push origin main -q


After git push origin main, the local repo typically won’t have a refs/remotes/origin/main remote-tracking ref until a git fetch is run. Since run-linters.sh computes the merge base against origin/main, these tests may fall back to git ls-files (linting everything) and become flaky.

Suggestion: add a git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" fetch -q origin main (or equivalent) after the push so origin/main exists locally.

Suggested change

git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" push origin main -q

git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" push origin main -q

git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" fetch -q origin main

Copilot · 2026-03-31T14:59:57Z

+	grep -q "check:changing.txt" "$MOCK_LOG"
+	grep -q "check:new.txt" "$MOCK_LOG"
+	run ! grep -q "check:baseline.txt" "$MOCK_LOG"
+}


run ! grep ... doesn’t do shell negation in Bats; run executes the first argument as a command, so this will try to execute a program named ! (status 127) rather than asserting that grep fails.

Suggestion: use run grep -q ... and then assert [ "$status" -ne 0 ] (or just use ! grep -q ... without run).

Copilot · 2026-03-31T14:59:57Z

+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+	grep -q "fix:changing.txt" "$MOCK_LOG"
+	run ! grep -q "check:" "$MOCK_LOG"
+}


Same issue as above: run ! grep ... will try to execute ! as a command rather than negating grep’s exit status.

Suggestion: run grep -q "check:" "$MOCK_LOG" followed by [ "$status" -ne 0 ] (or ! grep -q ... without run).

zeitlinger · 2026-04-01T07:40:45Z

I have to think about if this is the right way to go forward (I do like to get rid of the big super linter docker image though):

maybe have a flint.toml with config
maybe use python or rust to execute the linters instead of bash
mega linter uses python - see how that compares - maybe mega linter can be used

Bats test files use bash syntax and benefit from shellcheck.

## Summary - Add `*.bats` to the shellcheck file pattern in `super-linter.sh` native mode ## Why Bats test files use bash syntax and shellcheck catches real issues in them (SC2034 unused variables, SC2314 bats-specific `!` usage, etc.). Docker super-linter already lints `.bats` files; native mode was missing the glob pattern, creating a gap where CI catches issues that local `native-lint` misses. Discovered while fixing shellcheck errors in [grafana/docker-otel-lgtm#1156](grafana/docker-otel-lgtm#1156). The same fix is applied to `run-linters.sh` in #136. ## Test plan - [ ] `mise run test` passes

zeitlinger · 2026-04-08T15:28:51Z

close in favor of #139

zeitlinger force-pushed the feat/run-linters branch from 3346abc to aa5183f Compare March 31, 2026 14:38

zeitlinger force-pushed the feat/run-linters branch from aa5183f to 298876e Compare March 31, 2026 14:51

zeitlinger marked this pull request as ready for review March 31, 2026 14:53

zeitlinger requested a review from a team as a code owner March 31, 2026 14:53

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 31, 2026 14:54

Merge branch 'main' into feat/run-linters

09736b0

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of zeitlinger March 31, 2026 14:54 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 31, 2026

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zeitlinger marked this pull request as draft April 1, 2026 07:40

fix: run shellcheck on .bats files

b45396d

Bats test files use bash syntax and benefit from shellcheck.

zeitlinger mentioned this pull request Apr 1, 2026

fix: run shellcheck on .bats files in native mode #137

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zeitlinger closed this Apr 8, 2026

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feat: add run-linters script for native linting without super-linter#136

feat: add run-linters script for native linting without super-linter#136
zeitlinger wants to merge 3 commits intomainfrom
feat/run-linters

zeitlinger commented Mar 31, 2026 •

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	"VALIDATE_GO_GOLANGCI_LINT\|golangci-lint\|golangci-lint run --new-from-rev={MERGE_BASE}\|\|SELF"
	"VALIDATE_GO_GOLANGCI_LINT\|golangci-lint\|golangci-lint run \$( [ \"\${LINT_ALL}\" != \"true\" ] && printf '%s' '--new-from-rev={MERGE_BASE}' )\|\|SELF"

	_register ec "ec {FILES}" "" "*"
	_register ec "editorconfig-checker {FILES}" "" "*"

	git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" push origin main -q
	git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" push origin main -q
	git -C "$TMPDIR/repo" fetch -q origin main

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zeitlinger commented Mar 31, 2026 •

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Changes to `super-linter.sh`