superlint/docs/add-new-linter.md
Marco Ferrari d9592327c6
chore: extract language array definition (#5945)
Move LANGUAGE_ARRAY definition and initialization to a dedicated file
(globals/languages.sh) so we can source it in different places without
having to source the whole linter.sh
2024-07-31 17:00:41 +02:00

4 KiB

How to add support for a new tool to super-linter

If you want to propose a Pull Request to add new language support or a new tool, it should include:

  • Update documentation:

    • README.md
  • Provide test cases:

    1. Create the test/linters/<LANGUGAGE> directory.
    2. Provide at least one test case with a file that is supposed to pass validation: test/linters/<LANGUAGE>/<name-of-tool>-good
    3. Provide at least one test case with a file that is supposed to fail validation: test/linters/<LANGUAGE>/<name-of-tool>-bad
  • Update the test suite to check for installed packages, the commands that your new tool needs in the PATH, and the expected version command:

    • test/inspec/super-linter/controls/super_linter.rb
  • Install the tool by pointing to specific package or container image versions:

    • If there are PyPi packages, create a text file named dependencies/python/<name-of-tool>.txt and list the packages there.

    • If there are npm packages, update dependencies/package.json and dependencies/package-lock.json. by adding the new packages.

    • If there are Ruby Gems, update dependencies/Gemfile and dependencies/Gemfile.lock

    • If there are Maven or Java packages:

      1. Create a directory named dependencies/<name-of-tool>.

      2. Create a dependencies/<name-of-tool>/build.gradle file with the following contents:

        repositories {
          mavenLocal()
          mavenCentral()
        }
        
        // Hold this dependency here so we can get automated updates using DependaBot
        dependencies {
          implementation 'your:dependency-here:version'
        }
        
        group 'com.github.super-linter'
        version '1.0.0-SNAPSHOT'
        
      3. Update the dependencies section in dependencies/<name-of-tool>/build.gradle to install your dependencies.

      4. Add the following content to the Dockerfile:

        COPY scripts/install-<name-of-tool>.sh /
        RUN --mount=type=secret,id=GITHUB_TOKEN /<name-of-tool>.sh && rm -rf /<name-of-tool>.sh
        
      5. Create scripts/install-<name-of-tool>.sh, and implement the logic to install your tool. You get the version of a dependency from build.gradle. Example:

        GOOGLE_JAVA_FORMAT_VERSION="$(grep <"google-java-format/build.gradle" "google-java-format" | awk -F ':' '{print $3}' | tr -d "'")"
        
      6. Add the new to DependaBot configuration:

          - package-ecosystem: "gradle"
            directory: "/dependencies/<name-of-tool>"
            schedule:
              interval: "weekly"
            open-pull-requests-limit: 10
        
    • If there is a container (Docker) image:

      1. Add a new build stage to get the image:

        FROM your/image:version as <name-of-tool>
        
      2. Copy the necessary binaries and libraries to the relevant locations. Example:

        COPY --from=<name-of-tool> /usr/local/bin/<name-of-command> /usr/bin/
        
  • Configure the new tool:

    • Provide a default configuration file only if the tool cannot function without one: TEMPLATES/<template file for language>
    • Provide a configuration file for the new linter only if the default configuration is unsuitable for the super-linter repository: .github/linters/.<lintrc>
  • Update the orchestration scripts to run the new tool:

    • lib/linter.sh

    • globals/languages.sh

    • lib/functions/linterCommands.sh

    • Provide the logic to populate the list of files or directories to examine: lib/buildFileList.sh

    • If necessary, provide elaborate logic to detect if the tool should examine a file or a directory: lib/detectFiles.sh

    • If the tool needs to take into account special cases:

      • Provide new runtime validation checks in lib/validation.sh.
      • Customize the logic to get the installed version of the tool: scripts/linterVersions.sh
      • Provide custom logic to load configuration files: lib/linterRules.sh
      • Provide custom logic for test cases and to run the tool: lib/worker.sh