JSLint Utils

This is a set of utility files that wraps JSLint within either Node or Rhino, enabling easy linting on the command line, and automated reporting of linting errors via a continuous integration system like Hudson.

Do note that a prerequisite of invoking run-jslint.sh is to have either Node or Java installed and its executable included in your $PATH environment variable. The script will detect whether the node executable is available, and if not, will then fall back to using the Rhino Jar file packaged with the source code. The Node interpreter is much faster than Rhino, so it is suggested.

Installation

• Clone the repository from Github.com via

git clone git://github.com/dylon/jslint-utils.git

• The script must be invoked with the exact path to it, so create a simple shell script like the following in some directory contained in your $PATH and make it executable; I shall use /usr/local/bin/jslint for reference:

#!/bin/bash
#
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# File: /usr/local/bin/jslint
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

sh "/path/to/jslint-utils/scripts/run-jslint.sh" "$@"

Basic Usage

Invoke the linter via

jslint "/path/to/javascript/file.js"

It will output any errors and warnings found.

JSLint Options

JSLint is well documented on JSLint.com. Should the default options be insufficient for your needs, they may be overridden in your JavaScript file by placing the following special block comment before the location at which it is needed, preferably at the top of the file just below any licensing or copyright notices:

/*jslint
  option1: value1,
  option2: value2
*/

Do note thate there is NO space between the opening of the block comment (/*) and the word, jslint.

Likewise, you may specify global functions and objects that are not found in your source file via a comma-separated list as follows:

/*global jQuery, YUI */

or

/*globals jQuery, YUI */

The two comment types, /*global */ and /*globals */, are synomymous and may be interchanged at will.

It is helpful to know that the JSLint comments are scoped. Thus, if you have a function that requires a particular linting configuration that you do not wish to enable throughout the entire script, you may add the configuration just inside the function block within a /*jslint */ comment.

/*jslint
  browser: true
*/

/*globals jQuery */

jQuery(function ($) {
    function one() {
        return 1;
    }

    function two(string) {
      /*jslint evil: true */

      // The use of eval is strongly discouraged, but this is an example
      // showing how to configure JSLint to tolerate it in just this one
      // function, rather than throughout the entire script.
      return eval(string);
    }
});

Additional Usage Options

If you prefer the use of a Makefile, you may modify the one included to point to the proper source and report directories and run:

• make to check everything with a .js or .css extension in the source directory, outputting errors to the command line.

• make jslint or make csslint to lint JS or CSS, respectively, outputting errors to the command line

• make hudson to lint JS and CSS, outputting errors in an XML format that Hudson can understand to the report directory

• make jsxml or make cssxml to lint JS or CSS, respectively, outputting errors in XML format to the report directory

To output the reported errors and warnings to XML --- as above --- create a simple shell script in some directory contained in your $PATH like the following, and make it executable:

#!/bin/bash
#
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# File: /usr/local/bin/jslint-to-xml
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

sh "/path/to/jslint-utils/scripts/jslint-to-xml.sh" "$@"

Then, invoke it as follows:

jslint-to-xml "/path/to/javascript/file.js" "/path/to/output/directory/"

Keeping JSLint Up-to-Date

You may update the version of JSLint included by cding into the jslint-utils/lib/vendor/ directory and typing make. The newest JSLint file will be downloaded with curl from JSLint.com. Douglas Crockford updates the file silently all the time.

Final Note

Enjoy! Report bugs!