Add option to allow linting over all files

ChangeLog

@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ Release date: TBA
 ..
   Put new features here
 
+* Add option to allow linting for all files in and under a directory
+
 * Introduce logic for checking deprecated attributes in DeprecationMixin.
 
 

doc/whatsnew/2.8.rst

@@ -16,3 +16,9 @@ New checkers
 
 Other Changes
 =============
+
+* Add option to allow linting for all files in and under a directory.
+
+  To expand linting beyond traditional and namespace packages, ``--lint-all`` was added
+  as a new flag to enable linting over all files in and under a directory. Unless activated,
+  it will not alter pylint current behavior to process only traditional and namespace packages.

pylint/lint/pylinter.py

@@ -414,6 +414,15 @@ def make_options():
                     ),
                 },
             ),
+            (
+                "lint-all",
+                {
+                    "type": "yn",
+                    "metavar": "<yn>",
+                    "default": False,
+                    "help": ("Allow linting for all files in and under a directory."),
+                },
+            ),
         )
 
     option_groups = (
@@ -957,7 +966,10 @@ def _iterate_file_descrs(self, files_or_modules):
     def _expand_files(self, modules):
         """get modules and errors from a list of modules and handle errors"""
         result, errors = utils.expand_modules(
-            modules, self.config.black_list, self.config.black_list_re
+            modules,
+            self.config.black_list,
+            self.config.black_list_re,
+            self.config.lint_all,
         )
         for error in errors:
             message = modname = error["mod"]

pylint/utils/utils.py

@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ def get_python_path(filepath):
     return None
 
 
-def expand_modules(files_or_modules, black_list, black_list_re):
+def expand_modules(files_or_modules, black_list, black_list_re, lint_all):
     """take a list of files/modules/packages and return the list of tuple
     (file, module name) which have to be actually checked
     """
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ def expand_modules(files_or_modules, black_list, black_list_re):
             is_namespace = modutils.is_namespace(spec)
             is_directory = modutils.is_directory(spec)
 
-        if not is_namespace:
+        if not is_namespace and (os.path.isfile(filepath) or not lint_all):
             result.append(
                 {
                     "path": filepath,
@@ -211,7 +211,9 @@ def expand_modules(files_or_modules, black_list, black_list_re):
         )
         if has_init or is_namespace or is_directory:
             for subfilepath in modutils.get_module_files(
-                os.path.dirname(filepath), black_list, list_all=is_namespace
+                os.path.dirname(filepath),
+                black_list,
+                is_namespace or lint_all,
             ):
                 if filepath == subfilepath:
                     continue
@@ -221,7 +223,7 @@ def expand_modules(files_or_modules, black_list, black_list_re):
                     continue
 
                 modpath = _modpath_from_file(
-                    subfilepath, is_namespace, path=additional_search_path
+                    subfilepath, is_namespace or lint_all, path=additional_search_path
                 )
                 submodname = ".".join(modpath)
                 result.append(

tests/test_self.py

@@ -918,3 +918,15 @@ def test_regression_parallel_mode_without_filepath(self):
             HERE, "regrtest_data", "regression_missing_init_3564", "subdirectory/"
         )
         self._test_output([path, "-j2"], expected_output="No such file or directory")
+
+    def test_regression_lint_all(self):
+        self._test_output(
+            [join(HERE, "regrtest_data", "directory", "subdirectory"), "--lint-all=n"],
+            expected_output="No such file or directory",
+        )
+
+    def test_lint_all(self):
+        self._runtest(
+            [join(HERE, "regrtest_data", "directory", "subdirectory"), "--lint-all=y"],
+            code=0,
+        )