ancestor not in project

Ancestor not in project (ancestor-not-in-project)

A project-wide lint rule, severity error: a form, frame or data module whose ancestor class is declared in no unit of the project and not in the platform library.

Delphi finds a unit through the .dproj / .dpr OR through the search path. A form that inherits from TBaseForm compiles on your machine because uBaseForm.pas happens to be on your search path; on a machine where it is not, the project stops compiling. The project index is the compile closure of the .dproj / .dpr, so an ancestor that is in neither the project index nor the library index is an ancestor whose unit is not a project member. Add that unit to the project and the finding goes away (and the unit gets indexed).

This is the class-side sibling of unit-not-in-dpr (which compares the .dproj and .dpr lists). The converter blocks a conversion on the same condition; this rule reports it before anyone converts.

Running it from the CLI

drag-lint lint-all --db <project.sqlite>                                 (ON by default)
drag-lint lint-all --db <project.sqlite> --rule ancestor-not-in-project  (only this rule)
drag-lint lint-all --db <project.sqlite> --disable ancestor-not-in-project

What it reports

• One error per class, at its declaration line, naming the class, the ancestor and the unit to add: the qualifying unit of a dotted ancestor (class(uBase.TBaseForm)), otherwise the used units of the file that resolve in neither index.
• A class counts as a form / frame / data module when it is the ROOT class of the text .dfm / .fmx beside its unit (object / inherited / inline Name: TClass on the first line). A binary .dfm is skipped.

What it does not report

• Platform-library ancestors (TForm, TFrame, TDataModule, vendor bases): exempt when the library index declares them.
• Without a library index the rule stays SILENT -- it cannot tell a VCL base from a missing project base.
• Classes without a form file, and non-root classes in a form unit.

Guard: tests\autotest\run_ancestor_not_in_project.ps1 (fixture tests\lint-project\ancestor-not-in-project).