Pylint Power-Up: Automated Code Quality Checks for GitHub Projects

- 3 minutes read - 445 words

Pylint is a powerful tool for analyzing Python code to ensure it follows coding standards and best practices. Integrating Pylint into your GitHub repository as part of your CI/CD pipeline helps maintain clean, readable, and error-free code. Here’s a quick guide on how to configure Pylint in GitHub using GitHub Actions.

Set Up a GitHub Action for Pylint

Create a .github/workflows directory in the root of your repository if it doesn’t exist.

mkdir -p .github/workflows

Create a YAML file for the Pylint action, e.g., pylint.yml:

name: Pylint Linting

on:
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  lint:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v2
      with:
        python-version: '3.x'

    - name: Install dependencies
      run: |
        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
        pip install pylint        

    - name: Run Pylint
      run: pylint **/*.py

Step 2: Commit and Push

Once you’ve created the YAML file, commit and push it to your repository:

git add .github/workflows/pylint.yml
git commit -m "Add Pylint GitHub Action"
git push origin main

Step 3: Monitor the Workflow

Now, every time you push or open a pull request, GitHub Actions will automatically run Pylint. You can view the results under the “Actions” tab in your GitHub repository.

pyLint running

Image Source: d0uble3l. GitHub

DEMO

Here’s a simple Python script with a few intentional Pylint warnings and style issues that you can use to test your Pylint configuration:

# test_script.py

def add_numbers(a, b):
    # Variable name 'sum' is a built-in function, better to avoid
    sum = a + b
    return sum

def greet(name):
    # Missing function docstring (Pylint warning)
    print(f"Hello {name}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    result = add_numbers(5, 3)
    greet("Michael")
    print(result)  # This will print the sum

Issues in the Script

  • Variable naming: Using sum as a variable name will trigger a Pylint warning because sum is a built-in Python function.

  • Missing docstring: The greet function is missing a docstring, which will trigger a warning for code documentation.

  • Formatting: Depending on your Pylint settings, the script may raise warnings about code formatting (line lengths, spacing, etc.).

You can run Pylint on this file using:

pylint test_script.py

This will give you a summary of code quality issues and suggestions on how to improve the script.

pyLint findings

Image Source: d0uble3l. GitHub

Conclusion

By setting up Pylint in your GitHub repository, you automate the process of enforcing code quality. This helps catch bugs early and maintain a clean, professional codebase!

Thanks for reading,

Michael

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