Make type checking mypy more straightforward for new contributors
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- Python
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Description
There are a couple pitfalls relating to type checking mypy itself that don't seem to be documented anywhere:
- Specifying files: Running
mypy .andmypy mypy mypycboth result in duplicate module errors that prevent further type checking. The correct way to run mypy ismypy -p mypy -p mypyc, which doesn't appear to be documented anywhere (I only found this by looking at the tox.ini config file). - Specifying the config file: Failing to specify mypy_self_check.ini as the config file results in an error in mypy/bogus_type.py and means that people aren't using mypy's stricter type checking options.
I think the solution to 2 would be to rename mypy_self_check.ini to mypy.ini, because self checking mypy is significantly more common than compiling mypy with mypyc, so making mypy_self_check.ini the default config file seems reasonable.
For 1, we should at the very least document the command to run mypy in CONTRIBUTING.md. I think the ideal solution would involve changing the configuration file so that either mypy . or mypy mypy mypyc just works correctly, the latter of which seems to be possible from my experiments by turning on namespace_packages and excluding mypyc/test-data.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with CONTRIBUTING.md and tox.ini to compare the documented and configured mypy commands. Inspect mypy_self_check.ini and mypy/bogus_type.py, then verify whether the proposed config naming or namespace-package changes avoid duplicate-module errors while retaining strict self-checking. Done means the contributor workflow documents a reliable command and configuration.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- build-system, developer-experience, documentation
- Issue type
- Documentation
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 52/100