--recursive $DIR doesn't work but --recursive . does

[chb0github]

Summary

I am trying to recusrively scan a directory by name, which should be:

tflint --recursive $dirname and I get an error. But when I go into that same directory and add . as the directory, it's fine

cbongior@soho-cbongio-l1:/mnt/c/Users/cbongior/dev/wr$ docker run -it -w /root -v $PWD:/root --entrypoint=sh ghcr.io/terraform-linters/tflint-bundle
~ # ls
 wr-studio-installer   
~ # tflint --recursive wr-studio-installer
Cannot use --recursive and arguments at the same time
~ # cd wr-studio-installer/
~/wr-studio-installer # tflint --recursive .
...
Warning: variable "image_tag" is declared but not used (terraform_unused_declarations)

  on modules/tools/modules/wrsc/variables.tf line 33:
  33: variable "image_tag" {

Reference: https://github.com/terraform-linters/tflint-ruleset-terraform/blob/v0.2.2/docs/rules/terraform_unused_declarations.md

This is being run in ubuntu on WSL V2

Command

tflint --recusrive .

Terraform Configuration

doesn't apply

TFLint Configuration

using docker container:
ghcr.io/terraform-linters/tflint-bundle

Output

~ # tflint --recursive wr-studio-installer
Cannot use --recursive and arguments at the same time

TFLint Version

0.44.1

Terraform Version

No response

Operating System

• Linux
• macOS
• Windows

[bendrucker]

Have you tried this with --chdir? Passing modules as arguments is deprecated and will be removed in an upcoming version.

[taoufik07]

Have you tried this with --chdir? Passing modules as arguments is deprecated and will be removed in an upcoming version.

The cli warns and exit when passing both --chdir and --recursive, though the fix seems pretty simple, I can make a PR if needed, unless there are some hidden snakes in the jar -- probably @wata727 could give us more insights.

[wata727]

First, the --recursive . works correctly is not the intended behavior. An error should be raised for all directory arguments, even if it is the current directory.

On the other hand, I'm wondering if --recursive and --chdir should be allowed at the same time. Internally --recursive is an alias for --chdir to each directory and is not supposed to be used at the same time.

Probably, you want to limit the directories that are recursively inspected, but I'm not sure that's what --chdir should do.

[wata727]

Previously, I considered the flat config pattern for more advanced recursive inspection, but we started with a simpler implementation.
#1355 (comment)

[taoufik07]

I think it makes sense, when used with --recursive, --chdir will set the base directory from which we want to run tflint recursively and it's already set by default to the current directory ., we just need to allow customizing it.

[wata727]

Yeah, so I would like to know under what circumstances the customization is necessary. Maybe there is another solution.