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Perform Validation checks on Internet-Drafts

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ietf-tools/rfclint

RFCLINT

Release License PyPI - Version PyPI - Status PyPI - Format

Perform Validation checks on Internet-Drafts

There are a number of tasks that need to be performed when an Internet-Draft is begin process to create an RFC. This tool performs a subset of those actions.

The actions performed are:

  • Validate the file is well formed XML and that it conforms to the XML2RFC Version 3 schema as defined in RFC 7991.
  • Verify that embedded XML stanzas are well formed.
  • Verify that embedded ABNF is complete and well formed.
  • Identify misspelled words.
  • Detect duplicate words.

The tool can be used either in an interactive mode or in batch mode.

Usage

rfclint accepts a single XML document as input and optionally outputs a modified version of the document.

Basic Usage

rfclint [options] SOURCE

General Options

Short Long Description
-C --clear-cache purge the cache and exit
-N --no-network don't use the network to resolve references
-n --no-rng don't check against the RNG schema
-q --quiet don't print anything
. --save-config save configuration back to config file
-v --verbose print extra information
-V --version display the version number and exit
-X --no-xinclude don't resolve xi:include elements
. --no-xml don't check xml examples for well-formness
. --bcp14 do checking for bcp14 keywords
. --no-svgcheck skip check svg for limited vocabulary
-c DIRECTORY --cache=DIRECTORY specify the primary cache directory to write to
. --configfile=FILENAME specify the configuration file to use
-o FILENAME --out=FILENAME specify an output filename
-r RNG --rng=RNG specify an alternate RNG file
. --extract=TYPE extract all source code for the given type

Spelling Options

The following options affect how the spell checking is performed.

Short Long Description
. --no-dup-detection don't perform duplicate detection
. --no-spell don't perform spell checking on the source
. --no-suggest don't provide suggestions for misspelled words
. --skip-code skip code elements when checking
. --skip-artwork skip artwork elements check checking
. --no-curses don't do window based
. --color=TEXT specify the color to use for word highlighting
. --dictionary=FILENAME specify an additional dictionary to use
. --personal=FILENAME specify the personal dictionary to use
. --spell-program=FILENAME program to use for spell checking
. --spell-window=NUM how many words to display as part of the context

It is assumed that the spell checking program is aspell and that aspell is on the path.
For Windows systems, it additionally look in C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspell\bin for the program.
If a different program is given, then it should be either an absolute path or on the path so that it can be located.

When a misspelled word is located, a certain amount of context will be provided along with the file and line number of the word. The spell-window parameter controls how many words are displayed with up to that number of words being displayed before and after the misspelled word. The context window is also restricted to the current paragraph.

The color option allows for the misspelled word to be highlighted, but it requires VT100 terminal emulation and thus may not always work well on Windows systems. The color defaults to bright on non-Windows systems and none on Windows systems.

If the value of spell-window is 0, then no context will be displayed.

ABNF Checking Options

Short Long Description
. --no-abnf don't perform abnf checking on the source
. --abnf-add-rules ABNF file to include when checking
. --abnf-program=FILENAME specify program to use for ABNF checking

Configuration File

rfclint keeps configuration information in a configuration file. By default the file is stored at

  • On Windows: C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\rfclint\IETF\rfclint.cfg
  • Otherwise: /home/USER/.local/share/rfclint/rfclint.cfg

The format of the configuration file is the standard INI file format.

Spell Configuration

  • program - name of the spelling program to use - defaults to aspell
  • window - number of words to display on each side of a misspelled word
  • color - color to use to highlight the misspelled word
  • suggest - Should suggested values be displayed? value is 0 or 1
  • dictionaries - a comma separated list of dictionaries to include

ABNF Configuration

  • program - name of the ABNF program to use - defaults to bap provided w/ rfclint (bap is only installed for systems identified as nt, darwin or linux*)
  • addRules - name of file to be processed along with rules in the source

Windows and Curses

The version of python that ships on windows does not include a copy of the curses module as part of it. If interactive spell checking or duplicate detection is desired on a windows system then a curses module will need to be installed independent of this package. One place to locate a curses Python extension an be found at https://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/. If no curses library is detected, rfclint will automatically turn on the --no-curses option.

Dependencies

rfclint depends on the following packages: