validate_plist_xml

This python module will validate Apple XML Plist files.

This is pure python and runs on any operating system, tested on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Currently targets Python 3 only but would like to add Python 2 support.

By default configured to check files with the following extensions: ('.recipe', '.plist', '.profile')

By default, runs in the current working directory against all files in that directory and all subdirectories.

This module depends upon the lxml module. (which is handled by pip automatically)

The code is found within src/validate_plist_xml/validate_plist_xml.py within the git repo.

This module checks that the plist is valid XML and meets the Apple Plist DTD here: https://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd

Install with pip:

pip install validate-plist-xml

This will install lxml if not already installed.

Usage Examples:

Run as Python Script:

The python script can be called directly:

$ python3 src/validate_plist_xml/validate_plist_xml.py 
XML Syntax Error in: ./tests/bad/example-bad-xml-tags.recipe
Opening and ending tag mismatch: BAD_TAG line 4 and dict, line 15, column 8 (example-bad-xml-tags.recipe, line 15)
Failed DTD Validation: ./tests/bad/example-bad-dtd.recipe
Element dict content does not follow the DTD, expecting (key , (array | data | date | dict | real | integer | string | true | false))*, got (key astring key string key dict key string key array ), line 4
2 errors found in 3 plist xml files

Run as module:

If installed through pip as a module, then it can be run like this:

$ python3 -m validate_plist_xml
XML Syntax Error in: ./tests/bad/example-bad-xml-tags.recipe
Opening and ending tag mismatch: BAD_TAG line 4 and dict, line 15, column 8 (example-bad-xml-tags.recipe, line 15)
Failed DTD Validation: ./tests/bad/example-bad-dtd.recipe
Element dict content does not follow the DTD, expecting (key , (array | data | date | dict | real | integer | string | true | false))*, got (key astring key string key dict key string key array ), line 4
2 errors found in 3 plist xml files

Use as GitHub Action:

• https://github.com/jgstew/jgstew-recipes/blob/main/.github/workflows/plistlint.yaml

---
name: plistlint

on:
  push:
    paths:
      - "**.plist"
      - "**.recipe"
      - ".github/workflows/plistlint.yaml"
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - "**.plist"
      - "**.recipe"
      - ".github/workflows/plistlint.yaml"

jobs:
  plistlint:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
        with:
          python-version: 3.8

      - name: Install validate-plist-xml
        run: pip install validate-plist-xml

      - name: Lint Plist files
        run: python3 -m validate_plist_xml

Use in another Python script:

import validate_plist_xml

# The default folder is `.` but could be any folder
validate_plist_xml.validate_plist_xml.main('.')

Use as Python command:

python3 -c "import validate_plist_xml; validate_plist_xml.validate_plist_xml.main('.')"