Custom messages for noConsole, or maybe in general

[redbmk]

I'd like to disable console logs, common in debugging, in favor of a more intentional logger. One of the reasons is to avoid logging sensitive data.

However, if I simply turn on the rule, the only message is "Don't use console", which doesn't explain why. It might encourage people (especially someone new to the project) to simply start using the logger by default to avoid the error rather than being sure not to commit debug code to main.

I'm also curious if it would make sense to have a generic rule that could apply to any of the rules. Something like "defaultMessage": "Moving pianos are dangerous", that could still be overridden by specific rules that have allow for custom messages for specific scenarios (e.g. noRestrictedImports letting you explain each import).

[dyc3]

I think adding a custom message option for noConsole makes sense. Being able to direct people to your logger of choice is great.

I'm not entirely sure how a generic option to override the message for rules would work. In some cases, lint rules are more objective than they are subjective, and ideally in those cases we would just provide the best message by default. In other cases like noRestrictedImports, that requires a message per item in the rule's options, not a single general message override.

[ematipico]

The rule does print more messages though: https://biomejs.dev/linter/rules/no-console/

Are you referring to the first message? How would you improve it? Feel free to send a PR if you think the message isn't good enough.

As for providing a custom message, I'm not much in favour. We structure our messaging to match our rule pillars https://biomejs.dev/linter/#rule-pillars, with high quality in mind. If we allow overriding messages, we lose that something that people praise us for. I'd prefer seeing PRs to improve them.

The rule noRestrictedImports is a black sheep. And I personally don't like it

[redbmk]

In my case I'm trying to solve for two different things:

1. Making sure we use a consistent logger to ensure instrumentation knows how to read it and it includes any extra info we need to help debug
2. We need to make sure we're not logging any sensitive information. This could still be done with any other logger but it feels like you'd be much more likely to leave in a console.log on accident during debugging than intentionally log PHI/PII with logger.info. Maybe you even have tools in your logger of choice to encrypt the messages or store them securely somewhere.

The second is probably more important in healthcare and finance, but it does seem like it could really apply to anything where user privacy is a concern.

Personally I tend to only see the errors in my editor which just shows the first message, so I'm not as likely to see the extra info unless it makes its way to CI.

I'd be happy to make a PR for this and iterate on the wording if it seems like something that would be useful to most people. I was thinking it was sort of a special use case but maybe an improvement that would still be generic would be something like:

• message: Don't use console in production code.
  • Similar message to what it is currently but hints at why you shouldn't use it without being overly verbose.
• info: The use of console is often reserved for debugging. Use a dedicated logging tool and be careful about logging private or sensitive information.
  • Same message but with a little extra context on the why and an alternative suggestion

[arendjr]

If you truly want a custom message on a particular code pattern (such as use of the console methods), this might be a use case where it could be preferable to just a GritQL plugin instead. This is coming in Biome 2.