flake8-rst-docstrings 0.0.1

Python docstring reStructuredText (RST) validator

Introduction

This is an MIT licensed flake8 plugin for validating Python docstrings markup as reStructuredText (RST) using the Python library docutils.

This is based heavily off pydocstyle (which is also MIT licensed), which has a flake8 plugin called flake8-docstrings, see:

• https://github.com/PyCQA/pydocstyle

• https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8-docstrings

The reStructuredText (RST) validation is done by calling docutils via Todd Wolfson’s restructuredtext-lint code:

• http://docutils.sourceforge.net/

• https://github.com/twolfson/restructuredtext-lint

Validation codes

Early versions of flake8 assumed a single character prefix for the validation codes, which became problematic with collisions in the plugin ecosystem. Since v3.0, flake8 has supported longer prefixes therefore this plugin uses RST as its prefix.

Internally we use docutils for RST validation, which has this to say in PEP258:

• Level-0, “DEBUG”: an internal reporting issue. There is no effect on the processing. Level-0 system messages are handled separately from the others.

• Level-1, “INFO”: a minor issue that can be ignored. There is little or no effect on the processing. Typically level-1 system messages are not reported.

• Level-2, “WARNING”: an issue that should be addressed. If ignored, there may be minor problems with the output. Typically level-2 system messages are reported but do not halt processing

• Level-3, “ERROR”: a major issue that should be addressed. If ignored, the output will contain unpredictable errors. Typically level-3 system messages are reported but do not halt processing

• Level-4, “SEVERE”: a critical error that must be addressed. Typically level-4 system messages are turned into exceptions which halt processing. If ignored, the output will contain severe errors.

The docutils “DEBUG” level messages are not reported. Apart from that, within each category, the individual messages are mapped to flake8 codes using one hundred times the level. i.e. Validation codes RST4## are severe or critical errors in RST validation, RST3## are major errors, RST2## are warnings, while RST1## are information only.

Codes ending 99, for example RST499, indicate a previously unseen validation error for which we have yet to assign a unique validation code in the assocated range, which would be``RST4##`` in this example.

Codes starting RST9## indicate there was a problem parsing the Python file in order to extract the docstrings.

TODO: Silence the RST1## information level codes by default?