realm / realm/SwiftLint

[Rule Request]: singleton_private_init

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#4,774 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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discussion rule-request
Dominant language
Swift
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Description

New Issue Checklist
New rule request

To create a singleton, you would write something like this:

final class Foo {
	static let shared = Foo()

	init() {
		// …
	}
}

The problem is that it's easy to forget to make the init() private, which means you (or someone on your team) could accidentally create instances of it. That happened to me a few times.

In cases it's desired to have both a singleton and instances, the rule can simply be disabled for such cases. I don't think that's common though.

  1. Why should this rule be added? Share links to existing discussion about what
    the community thinks about this.

It prevents real-world mistakes.

  1. Provide several examples of what would and wouldn't trigger violations.

Would trigger

final class Foo {
	static let shared = Foo()

	init() {
		// …
	}
}

Would not trigger

final class Foo {
	static let shared = Foo()

	private init() {
		// …
	}
}
  1. Should the rule be configurable, if so what parameters should be configurable?

No

  1. Should the rule be opt-in or enabled by default? Why?
    See README.md for guidelines on when to mark a rule as opt-in.

I guess opt-in.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with README.md, especially its opt-in rules guidance, then locate comparable SwiftLint rules and their tests. Use the supplied singleton examples to define the triggering and non-triggering cases; done means the new opt-in rule reliably flags a non-private singleton initializer while allowing a private one.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
swift
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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