Error: "Cannot read properties of null (reading 'rules')"

[luciansmith]

When running the latest svglint on ubuntu, it's failing to do any linting; I assume the problem stems from some recent update to svglint or one of its dependencies.

Here's what I get when trying it:

(x) Failed to lint file /home/lpsmith/biomodels-qc/tests/fixtures/BIOMD0000000692/BIOMD0000000692.svg 
 TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'rules')
    at normalizeConfig (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/svglint/src/svglint.js:103:70)
    at lint (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/svglint/src/svglint.js:124:24)
    at Object.lintFile (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/svglint/src/svglint.js:152:16)

This happens regardless of the file I point it at, whether an actual SVG file or otherwise.

[ericcornelissen]

When running the latest svglint on ubuntu, it's failing to do any linting; [...]

Just to double check, latest being v2.3.0 (you can double check this by running npm ls svglint in your project)?

[...] I assume the problem stems from some recent update to svglint or one of its dependencies.

Does that imply it did work for you at some point in the past? If so, what version of svglint did work for you?

Here's what I get when trying it:

(x) Failed to lint file /home/lpsmith/biomodels-qc/tests/fixtures/BIOMD0000000692/BIOMD0000000692.svg 
 TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'rules')
    at normalizeConfig (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/svglint/src/svglint.js:103:70)
    at lint (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/svglint/src/svglint.js:124:24)
    at Object.lintFile (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/svglint/src/svglint.js:152:16)

This happens regardless of the file I point it at, whether an actual SVG file or otherwise.

It seems something's going wrong with your configuration file. Could you share the configuration file (or a representative sample) or the whole project you're working with if it's publicly available?

[luciansmith]

There's no configuration file at all. This is being run as part of a github action, where svglint is installed from npm, and then immediately used. I'm not sure which version it was when it worked, but I know it used to work, and now fails--this could be due to any number of things, unfortunately, up to and including ubuntu itself being updated.

Here's the 'live' result of svglint failing:

https://github.com/biosimulations/biomodels-qc/actions/runs/4516731122/jobs/7955350793

The test is just 'run svglint on a png file'. From when it used to work:

https://github.com/biosimulations/biomodels-qc/actions/runs/2150934692/jobs/3143682354

The workflow file is:

https://github.com/biosimulations/biomodels-qc/blob/dev/.github/workflows/ci.yml

The python code that calls the function is just:

def validate_svg_file(filename):
    """ Determine if a SVG file is valid

    Args:
        filename (:obj:`str`): path to SVG file

    Returns:
        :obj:`tuple`:

            * nested :obj:`list` of :obj:`str`: nested list of errors
            * nested :obj:`list` of :obj:`str`: nested list of warnings
    """
    result = subprocess.run(['svglint', filename], check=False, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
    if result.returncode == 0:
        return [], []
    else:
        return [[result.stderr.decode()]], []

Investigating, I ran the same commands on my VirtualBox Ubuntu machine, and got the 'failed to lint file' error above.

Results from 'npm ls svglint':

lpsmith@lpsmith-VirtualBox:~/biomodels-qc$ npm ls svglint

/home/lpsmith/biomodels-qc

└── (empty)

lpsmith@lpsmith-VirtualBox:~/biomodels-qc$ svglint --version

2.3.0

#79 shows a fix that works for me (with no config file), though it fails the automatic tests here.

Thanks for looking into this!

[ericcornelissen]

There's no configuration file at all. This is being run as part of a github action, where svglint is installed from npm, and then immediately used. I'm not sure which version it was when it worked, but I know it used to work, and now fails--this could be due to any number of things, unfortunately, up to and including ubuntu itself being updated. [...]

Thanks for elaborating. Based on the "no-configuration-file-at-all" I was able to reproduce the issue. I was also able to determine that the issue first appeared in v2.2.0.

If you need a quick solution for your CI, you can change this line as follows:

-         run: npm install -g svglint
+         run: npm install -g [email protected]

Results from 'npm ls svglint': [...]

Thanks for the details. the npm ls command only works if you have a npm manifest so it makes sense it came back empty. Thanks for sharing the svglint --version output, probably should've just asked for that 😅

#79 shows a fix that works for me (with no config file), though it fails the automatic tests here.

I saw, thanks for jumping in with a fix! Just wanted to understand the problem better before looking at that - will try to look at this as soon as possible.

[luciansmith]

Thanks so much! An immediate workaround and the promise of a fix is great.

[github-actions]

🎉 This issue has been resolved in version 2.3.1 🎉

The release is available on:

• npm package (@latest dist-tag)
• GitHub release

Your semantic-release bot 📦🚀

[luciansmith]

Works for me! Thanks again.