acpplinter

A fast, configurable C++ linter written in Rust that scans source files for code style violations using regex-based rules.

Features

• Regex-based rules: Define custom lint rules using regular expressions
• Configurable via JSON: Easy-to-edit configuration file for rules and paths

Installation

cargo build --release

The binary will be at target/release/acpplinter.

Usage

acpplinter <config.json> [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Description
-r, --root_path <path>	Root folder for source files (defaults to config file's directory)
-o, --output <file>	Output file path (defaults to stdout)
--ignore-safe	Ignore /*safe*/ tags and show all warnings
--vs-log	Use Visual Studio-compatible log format
--json-log <file>	Output warnings as structured JSON to the specified file
--replace-original-with-preprocessed	Debug option to see preprocessed files

Example

acpplinter example.json -r ./src

Configuration

The configuration is a JSON file with the following structure:

{
  "roots": ["src", "include"],
  "includes": [".cpp$", ".h$"],
  "excludes": ["third_party"],
  "removeStrings": true,
  "removeComments": true,
  "safeTag": "safe",
  "tests": [...]
}

Top-level Options

Field	Type	Description
roots	string[]	Directories to scan
includes	string[]	Regex patterns for files to include
excludes	string[]	Regex patterns for files to exclude
removeStrings	bool	Strip string literals before linting (default: true)
removeComments	bool	Strip comments before linting (default: true)
safeTag	string	Tag to mark code as safe (default: "safe")
tests	object[]	Array of lint rules

Test Rules

Each test rule supports:

Field	Type	Description
fail	string[]	Regex patterns that trigger a warning
allow	string[]	Regex patterns that suppress the warning
error	string	Error message to display
classOnly	bool	Only apply inside class definitions
headerOnly	bool	Only apply to header files
include_paths	string[]	Only check files matching these patterns
exclude_paths	string[]	Skip files matching these patterns
expected_fails	object	Expected number of matches (e.g., {"exactly": 1})

Example Rule

{
  "fail": ["[^A-Za-z0-9_]+new\\s+"],
  "allow": ["ref new\\s+"],
  "error": "Don't use new, use an owning pointer or container instead"
}

Exit Codes

• 0: No issues found
• 1: Issues found or error occurred

Releases

This project uses semantic-release for automated versioning and GitHub releases.

How It Works

1. Push commits to the master branch
2. semantic-release analyzes commit messages to determine the next version
3. A Windows build is created and packaged as acpplinter.zip
4. A GitHub release is published with the zip artifact

Commit Message Format

Commits must follow Conventional Commits:

Commit Type	Version Bump	Example
fix:	Patch (0.0.x)	fix: handle empty config file
feat:	Minor (0.x.0)	feat: add JSON output format
feat!: or BREAKING CHANGE:	Major (x.0.0)	feat!: change config schema

Other prefixes like docs:, chore:, ci:, refactor:, test: do not trigger a release.

Downloading

Pre-built Windows binaries are available on the Releases page. Download acpplinter.zip and extract acpplinter.exe.

License

MIT