[similar_names]: Configuration option to whitelist specific names #10926

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1. rustbot

   assigned

   Centri3

   on Jun 11, 2023
2. rustbot

   added

   C-enhancementCategory: Enhancement of lints, like adding more cases or adding help messagesCategory: Enhancement of lints, like adding more cases or adding help messages

   on Jun 11, 2023
3. eloc3147 commented on Jul 12, 2023

   

   eloc3147

   on Jul 12, 2023

   Last edited by eloc3147

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   Just ran into this as well with msb and lsb.

   There is a hardcoded list of "names that are allowed to be similar". This list could be added to, but I can imagine many scenarios where using some similar domain-specific acronyms would make the most sense. I agree this should be configurable
4. tgross35 commented on Oct 2, 2023

   

   tgross35

   on Oct 2, 2023

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   Maybe an easy refinement rule is to skip this check if the first letters are visually different. That would cover the txc/ocx, msb/lsb, slen/dlen cases, and I think probably a good number of other cases that exist. A list would also be nice, but I think that clippy could probably be a bit smarter here.

   A slightly more complex but more general algorithm that could make sense is something like:

   fn raise_similar_lint(mut a: &str, mut b: &str) -> bool {
       // comparing identifiers a and b
       
       // commonize similar looking characters, e.g. l->i, 1->i, 5->s
       // from here on out, we are comparing visual difference
       a = replace_similar(a)
       b = replace_similar(b)
       
       // If the first characters are visually different, call it good
       if a[0] != b[0] {
           return false;
       }
      
       let lev = levenshtein(a, b);
   
       // If the difference is large relative to the string's length, call it OK. 
       // This means that `abb` and `abc` are ok, but `abbbb` and `abbbc` are not
       lev * 4 < a.len()
   }
5. tgross35

   added a commit that references this issue on Feb 10, 2024

   [similar_names] don't raise if the first character is different

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   09f18f6
6. tgross35 commented on Feb 10, 2024

   

   tgross35

   on Feb 10, 2024

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   I did part of my above suggestion in #12258. Not raising this lint if the first letter is different removes almost all of the cases I run into.

   Doing something with replacing and then levenshtein is probably still more accurate yet, but this is a good start.
7. bors

   added a commit that references this issue on Feb 10, 2024

   Auto merge of #12258 - tgross35:similiar-names-update, r=Alexendoo

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   e67b7e0
8. demurgos commented on Jun 3, 2024

   

   demurgos

   on Jun 3, 2024

   Last edited by demurgos

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   req/res are another example of a common identifier pair when remote calls are involved. They don't differ in the first letter. Having some way to configure the list of exceptions would be helpful.