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+# User Defined Rules
+_Introduced in gitlint v0.8.0_
+
+Gitlint supports the concept of **user-defined** rules: the ability for users to write their own custom rules in python.
+
+In a nutshell, use `--extra-path /home/joe/myextensions` to point gitlint to a `myextensions` directory where it will search
+for python files containing gitlint rule classes. You can also specify a single python module, ie
+`--extra-path /home/joe/my_rules.py`.
+
+```sh
+cat examples/commit-message-1 | gitlint --extra-path examples/
+# Example output of a user-defined Signed-off-by rule
+1: UC2 Body does not contain a 'Signed-off-by Line'
+# other violations were removed for brevity
+```
+
+The `SignedOffBy` user-defined `CommitRule` was discovered by gitlint when it scanned
+[examples/gitlint/my_commit_rules.py](https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint/blob/main/examples/my_commit_rules.py),
+which is part of the examples directory that was passed via `--extra-path`:
+
+```python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+from gitlint.rules import CommitRule, RuleViolation
+
+class SignedOffBy(CommitRule):
+ """ This rule will enforce that each commit contains a "Signed-off-by" line.
+ We keep things simple here and just check whether the commit body contains a
+ line that starts with "Signed-off-by".
+ """
+
+ # A rule MUST have a human friendly name
+ name = "body-requires-signed-off-by"
+
+ # A rule MUST have a *unique* id, we recommend starting with UC
+ # (for User-defined Commit-rule).
+ id = "UC2"
+
+ def validate(self, commit):
+ self.log.debug("SignedOffBy: This will be visible when running `gitlint --debug`")
+
+ for line in commit.message.body:
+ if line.startswith("Signed-off-by"):
+ return
+
+ msg = "Body does not contain a 'Signed-off-by' line"
+ return [RuleViolation(self.id, msg, line_nr=1)]
+```
+
+As always, `--extra-path` can also be set by adding it under the `[general]` section in your `.gitlint` file or using
+[one of the other ways to configure gitlint](configuration.md).
+
+If you want to check whether your rules are properly discovered by gitlint, you can use the `--debug` flag:
+
+```sh
+$ gitlint --debug --extra-path examples/
+# [output cut for brevity]
+ UC1: body-max-line-count
+ body-max-line-count=3
+ UC2: body-requires-signed-off-by
+ UL1: title-no-special-chars
+ special-chars=['$', '^', '%', '@', '!', '*', '(', ')']
+```
+
+!!! Note
+ In most cases it's really the easiest to just copy an example from the
+ [examples](https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint/tree/main/examples) directory and modify it to your needs.
+ The remainder of this page contains the technical details, mostly for reference.
+
+## Line and Commit Rules
+The `SignedOffBy` class above was an example of a user-defined `CommitRule`. Commit rules are gitlint rules that
+act on the entire commit at once. Once the rules are discovered, gitlint will automatically take care of applying them
+to the entire commit. This happens exactly once per commit.
+
+A `CommitRule` contrasts with a `LineRule`
+(see e.g.: [examples/my_line_rules.py](https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint/blob/main/examples/my_line_rules.py))
+in that a `CommitRule` is only applied once on an entire commit while a `LineRule` is applied for every line in the commit
+(you can also apply it once to the title using a `target` - see the examples section below).
+
+The benefit of a commit rule is that it allows commit rules to implement more complex checks that span multiple lines and/or checks
+that should only be done once per commit.
+
+While every `LineRule` can be implemented as a `CommitRule`, it's usually easier and more concise to go with a `LineRule` if
+that fits your needs.
+
+### Examples
+
+In terms of code, writing your own `CommitRule` or `LineRule` is very similar.
+The only 2 differences between a `CommitRule` and a `LineRule` are the parameters of the `validate(...)` method and the extra
+`target` attribute that `LineRule` requires.
+
+Consider the following `CommitRule` that can be found in [examples/my_commit_rules.py](https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint/blob/main/examples/my_commit_rules.py):
+
+```python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+from gitlint.rules import CommitRule, RuleViolation
+
+class SignedOffBy(CommitRule):
+ """ This rule will enforce that each commit contains a "Signed-off-by" line.
+ We keep things simple here and just check whether the commit body contains a
+ line that starts with "Signed-off-by".
+ """
+
+ # A rule MUST have a human friendly name
+ name = "body-requires-signed-off-by"
+
+ # A rule MUST have a *unique* id, we recommend starting with UC
+ # (for User-defined Commit-rule).
+ id = "UC2"
+
+ def validate(self, commit):
+ self.log.debug("SignedOffBy: This will be visible when running `gitlint --debug`")
+
+ for line in commit.message.body:
+ if line.startswith("Signed-off-by"):
+ return
+
+ msg = "Body does not contain a 'Signed-off-by' line"
+ return [RuleViolation(self.id, msg, line_nr=1)]
+```
+Note the use of the `name` and `id` class attributes and the `validate(...)` method taking a single `commit` parameter.
+
+Contrast this with the following `LineRule` that can be found in [examples/my_line_rules.py](https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint/blob/main/examples/my_line_rules.py):
+
+```python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+from gitlint.rules import LineRule, RuleViolation, CommitMessageTitle
+from gitlint.options import ListOption
+
+class SpecialChars(LineRule):
+ """ This rule will enforce that the commit message title does not contai
+ any of the following characters:
+ $^%@!*() """
+
+ # A rule MUST have a human friendly name
+ name = "title-no-special-chars"
+
+ # A rule MUST have a *unique* id, we recommend starting with UL
+ # for User-defined Line-rule), but this can really be anything.
+ id = "UL1"
+
+ # A line-rule MUST have a target (not required for CommitRules).
+ target = CommitMessageTitle
+
+ # A rule MAY have an option_spec if its behavior should be configurable.
+ options_spec = [ListOption('special-chars', ['$', '^', '%', '@', '!', '*', '(', ')'],
+ "Comma separated list of characters that should not occur in the title")]
+
+ def validate(self, line, _commit):
+ self.log.debug("SpecialChars: This will be visible when running `gitlint --debug`")
+
+ violations = []
+ # options can be accessed by looking them up by their name in self.options
+ for char in self.options['special-chars'].value:
+ if char in line:
+ msg = f"Title contains the special character '{char}'"
+ violation = RuleViolation(self.id, msg, line)
+ violations.append(violation)
+
+ return violations
+
+```
+
+Note the following 2 differences:
+
+- **extra `target` class attribute**: in this example set to `CommitMessageTitle` indicating that this `LineRule`
+should only be applied once to the commit message title. The alternative value for `target` is `CommitMessageBody`,
+ in which case gitlint will apply
+your rule to **every** line in the commit message body.
+- **`validate(...)` takes 2 parameters**: Line rules get the `line` against which they are applied as the first parameter and
+the `commit` object of which the line is part of as second.
+
+In addition, you probably also noticed the extra `options_spec` class attribute which allows you to make your rules configurable.
+Options are not unique to `LineRule`s, they can also be used by `CommitRule`s and are further explained in the
+[Options](user_defined_rules.md#options) section below.
+
+
+## The commit object
+Both `CommitRule`s and `LineRule`s take a `commit` object in their `validate(...)` methods.
+The table below outlines the various attributes of that commit object that can be used during validation.
+
+
+| Property | Type | Description |
+| -------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
+| commit | `GitCommit` | Python object representing the commit |
+| commit.message | `GitCommitMessage` | Python object representing the commit message |
+| commit.message.original | `str` | Original commit message as returned by git |
+| commit.message.full | `str` | Full commit message, with comments (lines starting with #) removed. |
+| commit.message.title | `str` | Title/subject of the commit message: the first line |
+| commit.message.body | `str[]` | List of lines in the body of the commit message (i.e. starting from the second line) |
+| commit.author_name | `str` | Name of the author, result of `git log --pretty=%aN` |
+| commit.author_email | `str` | Email of the author, result of `git log --pretty=%aE` |
+| commit.date | `datetime.datetime` | Python `datetime` object representing the time of commit |
+| commit.is_merge_commit | `bool` | Boolean indicating whether the commit is a merge commit or not. |
+| commit.is_revert_commit | `bool` | Boolean indicating whether the commit is a revert commit or not. |
+| commit.is_fixup_commit | `bool` | Boolean indicating whether the commit is a fixup commit or not. |
+| commit.is_fixup_amend_commit | `bool` | Boolean indicating whether the commit is a (fixup) amend commit or not. |
+| commit.is_squash_commit | `bool` | Boolean indicating whether the commit is a squash commit or not. |
+| commit.parents | `str[]` | List of parent commit `sha`s (only for merge commits). |
+| commit.changed_files | `str[]` | List of files changed in the commit (relative paths). |
+| commit.changed_files_stats | `dict[str, GitChangedFilesStats]` | Dictionary mapping the changed files to a `GitChangedFilesStats` objects |
+| commit.changed_files_stats["path"].filepath | `pathlib.Path` | Relative path (compared to repo root) of the file that was changed. |
+| commit.changed_files_stats["path"].additions | `int` | Number of additions in the file. |
+| commit.changed_files_stats["path"].deletions | `int` | Number of deletions in the file. |
+| commit.branches | `str[]` | List of branch names the commit is part of |
+| commit.context | `GitContext` | Object pointing to the bigger git context that the commit is part of |
+| commit.context.current_branch | `str` | Name of the currently active branch (of local repo) |
+| commit.context.repository_path | `str` | Absolute path pointing to the git repository being linted |
+| commit.context.commits | `GitCommit[]` | List of commits gitlint is acting on, NOT all commits in the repo. |
+
+## Violations
+In order to let gitlint know that there is a violation in the commit being linted, users should have the `validate(...)`
+method in their rules return a list of `RuleViolation`s.
+
+!!! important
+ The `validate(...)` method doesn't always need to return a list, you can just skip the return statement in case there are no violations.
+ However, in case of a single violation, validate should return a **list** with a single item.
+
+The `RuleViolation` class has the following generic signature:
+
+```python
+RuleViolation(rule_id, message, content=None, line_nr=None):
+```
+With the parameters meaning the following:
+
+| Parameter | Type | Description |
+| --------- | ----- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| rule_id | `str` | Rule's unique string id |
+| message | `str` | Short description of the violation |
+| content | `str` | (optional) the violating part of commit or line |
+| line_nr | `int` | (optional) line number in the commit message where the violation occurs. **Automatically set to the correct line number for `LineRule`s if not set explicitly.** |
+
+A typical `validate(...)` implementation for a `CommitRule` would then be as follows:
+```python
+def validate(self, commit)
+ for line_nr, line in commit.message.body:
+ if "Jon Snow" in line:
+ # we add 1 to the line_nr because we offset the title which is on the first line
+ return [RuleViolation(self.id, "Commit message has the words 'Jon Snow' in it", line, line_nr + 1)]
+ return []
+```
+
+The parameters of this `RuleViolation` can be directly mapped onto gitlint's output as follows:
+
+![How Rule violations map to gitlint output](images/RuleViolation.png)
+
+## Options
+
+In order to make your own rules configurable, you can add an optional `options_spec` attribute to your rule class
+(supported for both `LineRule` and `CommitRule`).
+
+```python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+from gitlint.rules import CommitRule, RuleViolation
+from gitlint.options import IntOption
+
+class BodyMaxLineCount(CommitRule):
+ # A rule MUST have a human friendly name
+ name = "body-max-line-count"
+
+ # A rule MUST have a *unique* id, we recommend starting with UC (for
+ # User-defined Commit-rule).
+ id = "UC1"
+
+ # A rule MAY have an option_spec if its behavior should be configurable.
+ options_spec = [IntOption('max-line-count', 3, "Maximum body line count")]
+
+ def validate(self, commit):
+ line_count = len(commit.message.body)
+ max_line_count = self.options['max-line-count'].value
+ if line_count > max_line_count:
+ message = f"Body contains too many lines ({line_count} > {max_line_count})"
+ return [RuleViolation(self.id, message, line_nr=1)]
+```
+
+
+By using `options_spec`, you make your option available to be configured through a `.gitlint` file
+or one of the [other ways to configure gitlint](configuration.md). Gitlint automatically takes care of the parsing and input validation.
+
+For example, to change the value of the `max-line-count` option, add the following to your `.gitlint` file:
+```ini
+[body-max-line-count]
+body-max-line-count=1
+```
+
+As `options_spec` is a list, you can obviously have multiple options per rule. The general signature of an option is:
+`Option(name, default_value, description)`.
+
+Gitlint supports a variety of different option types, all can be imported from `gitlint.options`:
+
+| Option Class | Use for |
+| ------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `StrOption ` | Strings |
+| `IntOption` | Integers. `IntOption` takes an optional `allow_negative` parameter if you want to allow negative integers. |
+| `BoolOption` | Booleans. Valid values: `true`, `false`. Case-insensitive. |
+| `ListOption` | List of strings. Comma separated. |
+| `PathOption` | Directory or file path. Takes an optional `type` parameter for specifying path type (`file`, `dir` (=default) or `both`). |
+| `RegexOption` | String representing a [Python-style regex](https://docs.python.org/library/re.html) - compiled and validated before rules are applied. |
+
+!!! note
+ Gitlint currently does not support options for all possible types (e.g. float, list of int, etc).
+ [We could use a hand getting those implemented](contributing.md)!
+
+
+## Configuration Rules
+
+_Introduced in gitlint v0.14.0_
+
+Configuration rules are special rules that are applied once per commit and *BEFORE* any other rules are run.
+Configuration rules are meant to dynamically change gitlint's configuration and/or the commit that is about to be
+linted.
+A typically use-case for this is when you want to modifying gitlint's behavior for all rules against a commit matching
+specific circumstances.
+
+!!! warning
+ Configuration rules can drastically change the way gitlint behaves and are typically only needed for more advanced
+ use-cases. We recommend you double check:
+
+ 1. Whether gitlint already supports your use-case out-of-the-box (special call-out for [ignore rules](rules.md#i1-ignore-by-title) which allow you to ignore (parts) of your commit message).
+ 2. Whether there's a [Contrib Rule](contrib_rules.md) that implements your use-case.
+ 3. Whether you can implement your use-case using a regular Commit or Line user-defined rule (see above).
+
+
+As with other user-defined rules, the easiest way to get started is by copying [`my_configuration.py` from the examples directory](https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint/tree/main/examples/my_configuration_rules.py) and modifying it to fit your need.
+
+```python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+from gitlint.rules import ConfigurationRule
+from gitlint.options import IntOption
+
+class ReleaseConfigurationRule(ConfigurationRule):
+ """
+ This rule will modify gitlint's behavior for Release Commits.
+
+ This example might not be the most realistic for a real-world scenario,
+ but is meant to give an overview of what's possible.
+ """
+
+ # A rule MUST have a human friendly name
+ name = "release-configuration-rule"
+
+ # A rule MUST have a *unique* id, we recommend starting with UCR
+ # (for User-defined Configuration-Rule), but this can really be anything.
+ id = "UCR1"
+
+ # A rule MAY have an option_spec if its behavior should be configurable.
+ options_spec = [IntOption('custom-verbosity', 2, "Gitlint verbosity for release commits")]
+
+ def apply(self, config, commit):
+ self.log.debug("ReleaseConfigurationRule: This will be visible when running `gitlint --debug`")
+
+ # If the commit title starts with 'Release', we want to modify
+ # how all subsequent rules interpret that commit
+ if commit.message.title.startswith("Release"):
+
+ # If your Release commit messages are auto-generated, the
+ # body might contain trailing whitespace. Let's ignore that
+ config.ignore.append("body-trailing-whitespace")
+
+ # Similarly, the body lines might exceed 80 chars,
+ # let's set gitlint's limit to 200
+ # To set rule options use:
+ # config.set_rule_option(<rule-name>, <rule-option>, <value>)
+ config.set_rule_option("body-max-line-length", "line-length", 200)
+
+ # For kicks, let's set gitlint's verbosity to 2
+ # To set general options use
+ # config.set_general_option(<general-option>, <value>)
+ config.set_general_option("verbosity", 2)
+ # We can also use custom options to make this configurable
+ config.set_general_option("verbosity", self.options['custom-verbosity'].value)
+
+ # Strip any lines starting with $ from the commit message
+ # (this only affects how gitlint sees your commit message, it does
+ # NOT modify your actual commit in git)
+ commit.message.body = [line for line in commit.message.body if not line.startswith("$")]
+
+ # You can add any extra properties you want to the commit object,
+ # these will be available later on in all rules.
+ commit.my_property = "This is my property"
+```
+
+For all available properties and methods on the `config` object, have a look at the
+[LintConfig class](https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint/blob/main/gitlint-core/gitlint/config.py). Please do not use any
+properties or methods starting with an underscore, as those are subject to change.
+
+
+## Rule requirements
+
+As long as you stick with simple rules that are similar to the sample user-defined rules (see the
+[examples](https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint/blob/main/examples/my_commit_rules.py) directory), gitlint
+should be able to discover and execute them. While clearly you can run any python code you want in your rules,
+you might run into some issues if you don't follow the conventions that gitlint requires.
+
+While the [rule finding source-code](https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint/blob/main/gitlint-core/gitlint/rule_finder.py) is the
+ultimate source of truth, here are some of the requirements that gitlint enforces.
+
+### Rule class requirements
+
+- Rules **must** extend from `LineRule`, `CommitRule` or `ConfigurationRule`
+- Rule classes **must** have `id` and `name` string attributes. The `options_spec` is optional,
+ but if set, it **must** be a list of gitlint Options.
+- `CommitRule` and `LineRule` classes **must** have a `validate` method.
+- In case of a `CommitRule`, `validate` **must** take a single `commit` parameter.
+- In case of `LineRule`, `validate` **must** take `line` and `commit` as first and second parameters.
+- `ConfigurationRule` classes **must** have an `apply` method that take `config` and `commit` as first and second parameters.
+- LineRule classes **must** have a `target` class attributes that is set to either `CommitMessageTitle` or `CommitMessageBody`.
+- User Rule id's **cannot** start with `R`, `T`, `B`, `M` or `I` as these rule ids are reserved for gitlint itself.
+- Rules **should** have a case-insensitive unique id as only one rule can exist with a given id. While gitlint does not
+ enforce this, having multiple rules with the same id might lead to unexpected or undeterministic behavior.
+
+### extra-path requirements
+- If `extra-path` is a directory, it does **not** need to be a proper python package, i.e. it doesn't require an `__init__.py` file.
+- Python files containing user-defined rules must have a `.py` extension. Files with a different extension will be ignored.
+- The `extra-path` will be searched non-recursively, i.e. all rule classes must be present at the top level `extra-path` directory.
+- User rule classes must be defined in the modules that are part of `extra-path`, rules that are imported from outside the `extra-path` will be ignored.