Google.Header throwing false positives

[andrewvaughan]

I'm trying to figure out why this keeps happening on seemingly-random headings:

For example, this snippet from my CONTRIBUTING.md:

For more information, please refer to the project's [Security Policy][security].

### Submit an idea

This community values ideas of any form - even better if you can help make it a reality. If you can't add a feature on
your own, suggestions are still encouraged and welcomed. Prior to submitting an idea or feature request, please search
through the project's [open feature requests][issues-features]. If you find a similar feature request, please add a
comment there, instead of opening a new Issue.

This keeps throwing:

 .github/CONTRIBUTING.md
 168:5    warning     'Submit an idea' should use     Google.Headings
                      sentence-style capitalization.

I have a custom Vocab I thought was causing an issue, but removing it did nothing. I also have this token configuration so Vale doesn't barf on me for using all lower-case with a custom Vocab in my Markdown link references:

##
# Markdown-specific rules
#
[*.md]

##
# Ignore link references
#
TokenIgnores = (\[`A-Za-z0-9-_]+\])

But removing that does nothing. I can't figure out why I keep getting this linting error when the Heading is in a sentence structure.

I have completely removed and synced my Google styles several times - no joy.

Here is my full config:

##
# Vale prose linter
#
# Vale is a command-line and open source linting tool that allows developers to define and apply custom rules for
# documentation/editorial style guides. Incorporating Vale in documentation helps to detect errors and provides error-
# fixing suggestions.
#
# MegaLinter manages all execution of this linter.
#
# @link https://vale.sh/
# @link https://megalinter.io/beta/descriptors/spell_vale/
# @link https://vale.sh/docs/topics/config/
# @link https://vale.sh/explorer/
#

##
# The linter configuration root is the base for Vale styles
#
StylesPath = .config/linters/vale/styles

##
# Hardened consistency requires the most verbose option
#
# The default level is `warning` for projects that don't need stringent prose requirements
#
MinAlertLevel = suggestion

##
# By default, projects use the Google Developer Documentation Style Guide
#
# @link https://developers.google.com/style/
#
Packages = Google

##
# Two vocab sets exist for ops and the project
#
# This isn't used for spellcheck, as CSpell manages that. Instead, informs Vale what words to treat as proper nouns and
# capitalization standards.
#
# @link https://vale.sh/docs/topics/vocab/
#
Vocab = Ops, Project


##
# Global rules
#
[*]

##
# The Google style-guide is the default for these projects
#
BasedOnStyles = Vale, Google

##
# The project disables spelling as the project uses CSpell for spellcheck
#
Vale.Spelling = NO

##
# Users of these projects understand common acronyms
#
Google.Acronyms = NO


##
# Markdown-specific rules
#
[*.md]

##
# Ignore link references
#
TokenIgnores = (\]\[.*\])


##
# File extension associations
#
# @link https://vale.sh/docs/topics/config/#format-associations
#
[formats]

#
# SCSS is more commonly used in projects than pure SASS
#
scss = sass

[andrewvaughan]

Wow, really odd behavior going on - I ran vale with watch to track changes over time:

watch -c vale .github/CONTRIBUTING.md

And the output changed second-by-second. Sometimes some warnings would pop up, other times they wouldn't. They're all incorrect, but sometimes in the scanning response I'll get this:

 .github/CONTRIBUTING.md
 168:5    warning  'Submit an idea' should use     Google.Headings 
                   sentence-style capitalization.   
 204:4    warning  'Working on Issues' should use  Google.Headings 
                   sentence-style capitalization.   
 255:47   error    Use 'Branch' instead of         Vale.Terms     
                   'branch'.
 260:108  error    Use 'Branch' instead of         Vale.Terms   
                   'branch'.   
 355:16   error    Use 'Branch' instead of         Vale.Terms     
                   'branch'.
 367:5    warning  'Issue triage' should use       Google.Headings 
                   sentence-style capitalization.  

✖ 3 errors, 3 warnings and 0 suggestions in 1 file.

And a second later (with no changes) this will be the output

 .github/CONTRIBUTING.md
 168:5    warning  'Submit an idea' should use     Google.Headings 
                   sentence-style capitalization.   
 204:4    warning  'Working on Issues' should use  Google.Headings 
                   sentence-style capitalization.   
 255:47   error    Use 'Branch' instead of         Vale.Terms     
                   'branch'.
 260:108  error    Use 'Branch' instead of         Vale.Terms   
                   'branch'.   
 355:16   error    Use 'Branch' instead of         Vale.Terms     
                   'branch'.
 367:5    warning  'Issue triage' should use       Google.Headings 
                   sentence-style capitalization.  
 644:4    warning  'Hot-Fixes and critical         Google.Headings
                   Releases' should use
                   sentence-style capitalization.

✖ 3 errors, 4 warnings and 0 suggestions in 1 file.

...none of these issues except the Branch errors (which is also failing incorrectly, per my TokenIgnores configuration) show on GitHub when ran...

Other errors come and go, too. This is a rather long document for my project using about as complex Markdown as I ever write, while staying within the core GitHub documentation.

I've made the file itself available here:
https://github.com/andrewvaughan/template-core/blob/doc/0035/refinement/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md

My Vale config is here:
https://github.com/andrewvaughan/template-core/blob/doc/0035/refinement/.vale.ini

My Vale styles folder is here:
https://github.com/andrewvaughan/template-core/tree/doc/0035/refinement/.config/linters/vale

And you can see the GitHub action running Vale via MegaLinter (and failing) here:
https://github.com/andrewvaughan/template-core/actions/runs/6526165675/job/17719628497?pr=49

It seems that my TokenIgnores is really-inconsistently applied, as well.

[andrewvaughan]

I'm wondering if the fact that I use backticks within my link references in this file is part of the issue? Is this something within the Vale testcase for Markdown? It's valid:

This is my [`code`][code-reference] style link reference.

Produces:

This is my code style link reference.

[jdkato]

If you remove your TokenIgnores and update to v2.29.5, you should see the expected results.

[andrewvaughan]

Like a charm! Thanks, @jdkato