Avoid creating .cache directory in cwd (#1419)

* Avoid creating .cache directory in cwd

Instead of always using cwd for the .cache folder, we now try to use
the project_dir for that, which defaults to the location of
.ansiblelint config file.

If there is no config file found and git fails to report a project
root, it will use ~/.cache

* Update docs/usage.rst

Co-authored-by: Amin Vakil <info@aminvakil.com>

Co-authored-by: Amin Vakil <info@aminvakil.com>

docs/usage.rst

@@ -23,6 +23,19 @@ associated tags.
    :cwd: ..
    :returncode: 0
 
+Temporary files
+---------------
+
+As part of the execution, the linter will likely need to create a cache of
+installed or mocked roles, collections and modules. This is done inside
+``{project_dir}/.cache`` folder. The project directory is either given as a
+command line argument, determined by location of the configuration
+file, git project top-level directiory or user home directory as fallback.
+In order to speed-up reruns, the linter does not clean this folder by itself.
+
+If you are using git, you will likely want to add this folder to your
+``.gitignore`` file.
+
 Progressive mode
 ----------------
 

src/ansiblelint/_prerun.py

@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ def prepare_environment() -> None:
             "role",
             "install",
             "--roles-path",
-            ".cache/roles",
+            f"{options.project_dir}/.cache/roles",
             "-vr",
             "requirements.yml",
         ]
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ def prepare_environment() -> None:
                 "collection",
                 "install",
                 "-p",
-                ".cache/collections",
+                f"{options.project_dir}/.cache/collections",
                 "-vr",
                 "requirements.yml",
             ]
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ def _install_galaxy_role() -> None:
             file=sys.stderr,
         )
         sys.exit(INVALID_PREREQUISITES_RC)
-    p = pathlib.Path(".cache/roles")
+    p = pathlib.Path(f"{options.project_dir}/.cache/roles")
     p.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
     link_path = p / f"{role_author}.{role_name}"
     # despite documentation stating that is_file() reports true for symlinks,
@@ -195,10 +195,10 @@ def _prepare_ansible_paths() -> None:
 
     for path_list, path in (
         (library_paths, "plugins/modules"),
-        (library_paths, ".cache/modules"),
-        (collection_list, ".cache/collections"),
+        (library_paths, f"{options.project_dir}/.cache/modules"),
+        (collection_list, f"{options.project_dir}/.cache/collections"),
         (roles_path, "roles"),
-        (roles_path, ".cache/roles"),
+        (roles_path, f"{options.project_dir}/.cache/roles"),
     ):
         if path not in path_list and os.path.exists(path):
             path_list.append(path)
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ def _make_module_stub(module_name: str) -> None:
     # a.b.c is treated a collection
     if re.match(r"\w+\.\w+\.\w+", module_name):
         namespace, collection, module_file = module_name.split(".")
-        path = f".cache/collections/ansible_collections/{ namespace }/{ collection }/plugins/modules"
+        path = f"{ options.project_dir }/.cache/collections/ansible_collections/{ namespace }/{ collection }/plugins/modules"
         os.makedirs(path, exist_ok=True)
         _write_module_stub(
             filename=f"{path}/{module_file}.py",
@@ -227,9 +227,10 @@ def _make_module_stub(module_name: str) -> None:
         )
         sys.exit(INVALID_CONFIG_RC)
     else:
-        os.makedirs(".cache/modules", exist_ok=True)
+        os.makedirs(f"{options.project_dir}/.cache/modules", exist_ok=True)
         _write_module_stub(
-            filename=f".cache/modules/{module_name}.py", name=module_name
+            filename=f"{options.project_dir}/.cache/modules/{module_name}.py",
+            name=module_name,
         )
 
 

src/ansiblelint/cli.py

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     DEFAULT_RULESDIR,
     INVALID_CONFIG_RC,
 )
-from ansiblelint.file_utils import expand_path_vars
+from ansiblelint.file_utils import expand_path_vars, guess_project_dir, normpath
 
 _logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 _PATH_VARS = [
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ def load_config(config_file: str) -> Dict[Any, Any]:
     except yaml.YAMLError as e:
         _logger.error(e)
         sys.exit(INVALID_CONFIG_RC)
+
+    config['config_file'] = config_path
     # TODO(ssbarnea): implement schema validation for config file
     if isinstance(config, list):
         _logger.error(
@@ -92,6 +94,7 @@ def load_config(config_file: str) -> Dict[Any, Any]:
 
     config_dir = os.path.dirname(config_path)
     expand_to_normalized_paths(config, config_dir)
+
     return config
 
 
@@ -164,6 +167,13 @@ def get_cli_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
         " of violations compared with previous git commit. This "
         "feature works only in git repositories.",
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '--project-dir',
+        dest='project_dir',
+        default=None,
+        help="Location of project/repository, autodetected based on location "
+        " of configuration file.",
+    )
     parser.add_argument(
         '-r',
         action=AbspathArgAction,
@@ -289,7 +299,7 @@ def merge_config(file_config, cli_config: Namespace) -> Namespace:
         'mock_roles': [],
     }
 
-    scalar_map = {"loop_var_prefix": None}
+    scalar_map = {"loop_var_prefix": None, "project_dir": None}
 
     if not file_config:
         # use defaults if we don't have a config file and the commandline
@@ -337,6 +347,14 @@ def get_config(arguments: List[str]) -> Namespace:
 
     options.rulesdirs = get_rules_dirs(options.rulesdir, options.use_default_rules)
 
+    if not options.project_dir:
+        project_dir = os.path.dirname(
+            os.path.abspath(
+                options.config_file or f"{guess_project_dir()}/.ansiblelint"
+            )
+        )
+        options.project_dir = normpath(project_dir)
+
     return config
 
 

src/ansiblelint/config.py

@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
     mock_roles=[],
     loop_var_prefix=None,
     offline=False,
+    project_dir=None,
     extra_vars=None,
     skip_action_validation=True,
 )

src/ansiblelint/file_utils.py

@@ -216,6 +216,21 @@ def get_yaml_files(options: Namespace) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     return OrderedDict.fromkeys(sorted(out))
 
 
+def guess_project_dir() -> str:
+    """Return detected project dir or user home directory."""
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "rev-parse", "--show-toplevel"],
+        stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+        stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+        universal_newlines=True,
+        check=False,
+    )
+
+    if result.returncode != 0:
+        return str(Path.home())
+    return result.stdout[0]
+
+
 def expand_dirs_in_lintables(lintables: Set[Lintable]) -> None:
     """Return all recognized lintables within given directory."""
     all_files = get_yaml_files(options)

test/TestCliRolePaths.py

@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ def test_run_role_name_with_prefix(self):
         result = run_ansible_lint(role_path, cwd=cwd)
         assert len(result.stdout) == 0
         assert (
-            "Added ANSIBLE_ROLES_PATH=~/.ansible/roles:/usr/share/ansible/roles:/etc/ansible/roles:roles:.cache/roles"
+            "Added ANSIBLE_ROLES_PATH=~/.ansible/roles:/usr/share/ansible/roles:/etc/ansible/roles:roles"
             in result.stderr
         )
         assert result.returncode == 0
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ def test_run_role_name_from_meta(self):
         result = run_ansible_lint(role_path, cwd=cwd)
         assert len(result.stdout) == 0
         assert (
-            "Added ANSIBLE_ROLES_PATH=~/.ansible/roles:/usr/share/ansible/roles:/etc/ansible/roles:roles:.cache/roles"
+            "Added ANSIBLE_ROLES_PATH=~/.ansible/roles:/usr/share/ansible/roles:/etc/ansible/roles:roles"
             in result.stderr
         )
         assert result.returncode == 0

test/TestCommandLineInvocationSameAsConfig.py

@@ -44,6 +44,11 @@ def _fake_pathlib_resolve(self):
     file_config = cli.load_config(config)
 
     for key, val in file_config.items():
+
+        # config_file does not make sense in file_config
+        if key == 'config_file':
+            continue
+
         if key in {'exclude_paths', 'rulesdir'}:
             val = [Path(p) for p in val]
         assert val == getattr(options, key)