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lint-tree

Since: 1.11.0-alpha

Answers one question lint-all cannot: does an interface edit to this unit reach any dependent?

How to run it

Full flag list: lint-tree in the CLI reference.

Flags

Pitfalls

• does an interface edit to <B.pas> reach any dependent? Exits 0 whether or not it found anything; 2 means it could NOT run. --baseline pins the OLD side to an edit-episode capture -- without it the OLD side is the live index, which is CLI/manual use only.

Details

Answers one question lint-all cannot: **does an interface edit to this unit reach any dependent?** It fingerprints the unit's interface section, diffs it against the OLD side, and reports every reference across the dependent closure that no longer resolves or whose target changed. Reach for it before you save (or commit) an edit to a unit other units use.

Why it exists: removing an interface symbol that dependents still use produces ZERO lint-all findings -- the count actually goes DOWN, because the removed code no longer exists to be linted (measured 2026-09-10).

Running it from the CLI

drag-lint lint-tree --unit <B.pas> --db <file.sqlite> [--buffer <buf>] [--project <.dproj>]
                    [--baseline <f.json>] [--write-baseline <f.json>] [--platform win32|win64]
                    [--with-rules] [--compile] [--format json|text]

• --write-baseline <f.json> captures the OLD side once per edit episode; --baseline <f.json> diffs against it. Without a baseline the OLD side is the live index, which is right for CLI/manual use only.
• --buffer <f> reads an UNSAVED editor buffer as the NEW side.
• --compile also compiles the dependents in a shadow directory.
• --with-rules runs the ordinary lint rules over the affected dependents too.
• Exit 0 whether or not anything was found; exit 2 means it could NOT run.

What it reports

stale-interface-reference, at every BOUND reference to a changed or removed declaration. The kinds it can report are the ones the resolver binds by id: routines, properties, fields and -- since resolver 1.6.0-alpha -- **enum members**. Anything else is listed under not_reportable in the JSON report rather than silently counted as handled.

The wording depends on what happened, because the consequence differs:

• Removed declaration -- "this reference will not compile until it is updated".
• Changed declaration on a routine, property or field -- a signature change, same wording.
• Changed declaration on an ENUM MEMBER -- dropping an earlier member shifts every later member's ordinal, so if C = cmdDelta then keeps compiling. The finding says so: "this reference still compiles, but the member ordinal has moved -- any ordinal already persisted or transmitted now means a different member".

What it needs

An index, resolved at DRAGLINT_RESOLVER_VERSION 1.6.0-alpha or later for the enum-member findings (index --all --resolve-only on an older one). On an older index enum reads are unbound and lint-tree reports nothing for them -- exactly as before.

Reaching it in the IDE

The IDE plugin runs it for an edit episode on the active unit, capturing the baseline when the episode starts. From the CLI, capture the baseline yourself before editing.

Example

Illustrative:

drag-lint lint-tree --unit C:\Projects\MyApp\Protocol.pas --db C:\Projects\MyApp\_D-RAG\MyApp.sqlite --write-baseline C:\TEMP\protocol.json
(edit Protocol.pas)
drag-lint lint-tree --unit C:\Projects\MyApp\Protocol.pas --db C:\Projects\MyApp\_D-RAG\MyApp.sqlite --baseline C:\TEMP\protocol.json --format text

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