/usr/share/doc/lintian/lintian.html/section-3.3.html

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><DIV
CLASS="sect1"
><H1
CLASS="sect1"
><A
NAME="section-3.3"
>3.3. Writing your own Lintian checks</A
></H1
><P
>&#13;        This section describes how to write and deploy your own
        Lintian checks.  Lintian will load checks from the following
        directories (in order):
      </P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
>&#13;            <TT
CLASS="filename"
>$LINTIAN_ROOT/checks</TT
>
          </P
></LI
></UL
><P
>&#13;        Existing checks can be shadowed by placing a check with the
        same name in an directory appearing earlier in the list.  This
        also holds for the checks provided by Lintian itself.
      </P
><P
>&#13;        Checks in Lintian consist of a description file (.desc) and a
        Perl module implementing the actual check (.pm).  The
        names of these checks must consist entirely of the lower case
        characters ([a-z]), digits ([0-9]), underscore (_), dash (-),
        period (.) and forward slashes (/).
      </P
><P
>&#13;        The check name must be a valid Perl unique module name after
        the following transformations.  All periods and dashes are
        replaced with underscores.  All forward slashes are replaced
        with two colons (::).
      </P
><P
>&#13;        Check names without a forward slash (e.g. "fields") and names
        starting with either "lintian/" or "coll/" are reserved for
        the Lintian core.  Vendors are recommended to use their vendor
        name before the first slash (e.g. "ubuntu/fields").
      </P
><DIV
CLASS="sect2"
><H2
CLASS="sect2"
><A
NAME="section-3.3.1"
>3.3.1. Check description file</A
></H2
><P
>&#13;          The check description file is written in the same syntax as
          Debian control files as described in the
          <A
HREF="https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields.html#s-controlsyntax"
TARGET="_top"
>&#13;          Debian Policy Manual §5.1</A
>.  Check description files
          allow comments as described in the Policy Manual.
        </P
><P
>&#13;          The check description file has two paragraph types.  The
          first is the check description itself and must be the first
          paragraph.  The rest of the descriptions describe tags, one
          tag per paragraph.
        </P
><DIV
CLASS="sect3"
><H3
CLASS="sect3"
><A
NAME="section-3.3.1.1"
>3.3.1.1. Check description paragraph</A
></H3
><P
>&#13;            The fields in the check description paragraph are:
          </P
><P
></P
><DIV
CLASS="variablelist"
><DL
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Check-Script</I
></SPAN
> (simple, mandatory)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  Name of the check.  This is used to determine the
                  package name of the Perl module implementing the
                  check.
                </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Type</I
></SPAN
> (simple, mandatory)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  Comma separated list of package types for which this
                  check should be run.  Allowed values in the list are
                  "binary" (.deb files), "changes" (.changes files),
                  "source" (.dsc files) and "udeb" (.udeb files).
                </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Needs-Info</I
></SPAN
> (simple, optional)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  Comma separated list of collections required for the
                  check to be run.  Common values here include "unpacked",
                  "index" and "file-info".
                </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Info</I
></SPAN
> (multiline, optional)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  A short description of what the check is for.
                </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Author</I
></SPAN
> (simple, optional)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  Name and email of the person, who created (or
                  implemented etc.) the check.
                </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Abbrev</I
></SPAN
> (simple, optional)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  Alternative or abbreviated name of the check.  These
                  can be used with certain command line options as an
                  alternative name for the check.
                </P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="sect3"
><H3
CLASS="sect3"
><A
NAME="section-3.3.1.2"
>3.3.1.2. Tag description paragraph</A
></H3
><P
>&#13;            The fields in the tag description paragraph are:
          </P
><P
></P
><DIV
CLASS="variablelist"
><DL
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Tag</I
></SPAN
> (simple, mandatory)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  Name of the tag.  It must consist entirely of the
                  lower or/and upper case characters ([a-zA-Z]),
                  digits ([0-9]), underscore (_), dash (-) and period (.).
                  The tag name should be at most 68 characters long.
                </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Severity</I
></SPAN
> (simple, mandatory)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  Determines the default value for how "severe" the
                  tag is.  The value must be one of "serious",
                  "important", "normal", "minor", "wishlist" and
                  "pedantic".  The effective severity and the value of
                  the Certainty field of a tag determine the
                  "one-letter" code (of non-experimental tags).
                </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Certainty</I
></SPAN
> (simple, mandatory)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  How accurate the tag is (believed to be).  The value
                  must be one of "certain", "possible", "wild-guess".
                  The effective severity and the value of the
                  Certainty field of a tag determine the "one-letter"
                  code (of non-experimental tags).
                </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Info</I
></SPAN
> (multiline, mandatory)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  The description of the tag, which can be seen by
                  using lintian-info (etc.).  The HTML tags
                  "&#60;tt&#62;" and "&#60;i&#62;" may be used in the
                  description.
                </P
><P
>&#13;                  The symbols &#38;, &#60; and &#62; must be escaped as
                  &#38;amp;, &#38;lt; and &#38;gt; (respectively).
                </P
><P
>&#13;                  Indented lines are considered "pre-formatted" and
                  will not be line wrapped.  These lines are still
                  subject to the allowed HTML tags and above mentioned
                  escape sequences.
                </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Ref</I
></SPAN
> (simple, optional)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  A comma separated list of references.  It can be used
                  to refer to extra documentation.  It is primarily
                  used for manual references, HTTP links or Debian bug
                  references.
                </P
><P
>&#13;                  If a reference contains a space, it is taken as a
                  manual reference (e.g. "policy 4.14").  These
                  references are recorded in the
                  "output/manual-references" data file.
                </P
><P
>&#13;                  Other references include manpages ("lintian(1)"),
                  ftp or http(s) links ("https://lintian.debian.org"),
                  file references ("/usr/share/doc/lintian/changelog.gz")
                  or Debian bug numbers prefixed with a hash ("#651816").
                </P
><P
>&#13;                  Unknown references are (silently) ignored.
                </P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="emphasis"
>Experimental</I
></SPAN
> (simple, optional)</DT
><DD
><P
>&#13;                  Whether or not the tag is considered "experimental".
                  Recognised values are "no" (default) and "yes".
                  Experimental tags always use "X" as their
                  "one-letter" code.
                </P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
></DIV
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="sect2"
><H2
CLASS="sect2"
><A
NAME="section-3.3.2"
>3.3.2. Check Perl module file</A
></H2
><P
>&#13;          This section describes the requirements for the Perl module
          implementing a given check.
        </P
><P
>&#13;          The Perl package name of the check must be identical to
          the check name (as defined by the "Check-Script" field in
          the description file) with the following transformations:
        </P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
>All periods and dashes are replaced with underscores.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>All forward slashes are replaced by two colons (::).</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>The resulting value is prefixed with "Lintian::".</P
></LI
></UL
><P
>&#13;          As an example, the check name <TT
CLASS="literal"
>contrib/hallo-world</TT
>
          will result in the Perl package name
          <TT
CLASS="literal"
>Lintian::contrib::hallo_world</TT
>.
        </P
><DIV
CLASS="sect3"
><H3
CLASS="sect3"
><A
NAME="section-3.3.2.1"
>3.3.2.1. API of the "run" sub</A
></H3
><P
>&#13;            The Perl module must implement the sub called <TT
CLASS="literal"
>run</TT
> in
            that Perl package.  This sub will be run once for each package to be
            checked with 5 arguments.  These are (in order):
          </P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
>The package name.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>&#13;                The package type being checked in this run.  This string
                is one of "binary" (.deb), "changes" (.changes), "source"
                (.dsc) or "udeb" (.udeb).
              </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>&#13;                An instance of API Lintian::Collect.  Its exact type depends
                on the type being processed and is one of
                Lintian::Collect::Binary (.deb or .udeb),
                Lintian::Collect::Changes (.changes) or
                Lintian::Collect::Source (.dsc).
              </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>&#13;                An instance of Lintian::Processable that represents the
                package being processed.
              </P
></LI
><LI
><P
>&#13;                An instance of Lintian::ProcessableGroup that represents
                the other processables in the given group.  An instance
                of the Lintian::Collect::Group is available via its
                "info" method.
              </P
></LI
></UL
><P
>&#13;            Further arguments may be added in the future after the above
            mentioned ones.  Implementations should therefore ignore
            extra arguments beyond the ones they know of.
          </P
><P
>&#13;            If the run sub returns "normally", the check was run
            successfully.  Implementations should ensure the return
            value is undefined.
          </P
><P
>&#13;            If the run sub invokes a trappable error (e.g. "die"), no
            further checks are done on the package and Lintian will
            (eventually) exit with 2 to its caller.  The check may
            still be run on other packages.
          </P
><P
>&#13;            The run sub may emit tags by invoking the sub "tag" from
            Lintian::Tags (it can be imported).  The first argument is
            the name of the tag to emit.  Any extra arguments will be
            used as the "tag extra" (or diagnostics).  Example:
          </P
><PRE
CLASS="programlisting"
>&#13;use Lintian::Tags qw(tag);
sub run {
    tag 'my-tag', 'hallo world';
}
</PRE
><P
>&#13;            would emit the tag "my-tag" with the extra note "hallo
            world" like this:
          </P
><PRE
CLASS="screen"
>&#13;I: package: my-tag hallo world
</PRE
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lintian 2.5.43 / usr / share / doc / lintian / lintian.html / section-3.3.html
