feat: Switch clang tools from static binaries to wheels #368

shenxianpeng · 2025-11-03T20:44:05Z

closes #364

Summary by CodeRabbit

Documentation
- Clarified clang-tidy version requirement (13+)
- Removed README links to the old static-binary distribution; now points to wheel-based distribution
- Updated license text to the full MIT wording
Chores
- macOS and Windows fallbacks switched to the Python wheel distribution for clang tools
- Installer now defaults to platform tools if no version specified, parses versions numerically, builds a per-tool install list, applies version-aware install commands, and logs steps while installing tools sequentially

coderabbitai · 2025-11-03T20:48:38Z

Walkthrough

Replaces static-binaries fallback with Python wheel-based clang tools in README and action configuration; removes the clang-tools-static-binaries link, updates license text, and changes action.yml to parse version input, build a per-tool install list, and choose installer commands per tool/version.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Change Summary
Documentation `README.md`	Removed references and link to `cpp-linter/clang-tools-static-binaries`; updated fallback/install instructions to reference Python wheel-based installers (`clang-tools-pip` / `clang-tools-wheel`); replaced license text with full MIT wording.
GitHub Action configuration `action.yml`	Updated `version` input description to note "clang-tidy only supports versions 13 and above"; treat empty version as platform default; parse numeric version; build a dynamic tool list based on inputs; loop per tool and select installer command conditionally (legacy `clang-tools --install` for older cases vs `clang-tools-wheel --version` for wheel-based installs); added per-tool logging and handling.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 4 (Complex) | ⏱️ ~45 minutes

Verify version parsing and handling of empty/invalid strings and non-numeric suffixes.
Confirm correct installer selection across platforms and version boundaries (notably clang-tidy ≥13).
Check messaging/logs and license text correctness.

Possibly related PRs

Add clang v20 and change default version to v16 #299 — Modifies action.yml version handling and defaults; closely related to parsing/validation changes.
fix: venv usage #314 — Changes installation flow and README references for clang tools; related to switching installers and docs.

Suggested reviewers

shenxianpeng

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'feat: Switch clang tools from static binaries to wheels' accurately summarizes the main change: replacing static binary installation with Python wheel-based installation for clang tools.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The PR implements the core objective from #364: switching clang-tools installation from static binaries to Python wheels using the clang-tools-wheel CLI approach.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes are focused on switching from static binaries to wheels: README updates remove static-binaries references, and action.yml implements version-aware wheel installation logic.

✨ Finishing touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

Create PR with unit tests
Post copyable unit tests in a comment
Commit unit tests in branch fix-364

📜 Recent review details

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Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 29a60ef and d3e381b.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

action.yml (2 hunks)

🧰 Additional context used

🧠 Learnings (6)

📓 Common learnings

Learnt from: 2bndy5
Repo: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action PR: 306
File: .readthedocs.yaml:9-16
Timestamp: 2025-08-13T09:33:35.208Z
Learning: Read the Docs v2 config supports `tools.python: latest` as a valid value, not just explicit version strings like "3.12". This was confirmed by a successful build in cpp-linter-action project.

📚 Learning: 2025-08-13T09:33:35.208Z

Learnt from: 2bndy5
Repo: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action PR: 306
File: .readthedocs.yaml:9-16
Timestamp: 2025-08-13T09:33:35.208Z
Learning: Read the Docs v2 config supports `tools.python: latest` as a valid value, not just explicit version strings like "3.12". This was confirmed by a successful build in cpp-linter-action project.

Applied to files:

action.yml

📚 Learning: 2025-08-17T12:34:25.463Z

Learnt from: 2bndy5
Repo: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action PR: 314
File: action.yml:394-416
Timestamp: 2025-08-17T12:34:25.463Z
Learning: In the cpp-linter-action project, technical improvements can be deferred to separate PRs when they're not critical to the current changes, especially when the current implementation is known to work correctly.

Applied to files:

action.yml

📚 Learning: 2025-08-17T12:50:57.038Z

Learnt from: 2bndy5
Repo: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action PR: 314
File: action.yml:273-321
Timestamp: 2025-08-17T12:50:57.038Z
Learning: In Nu shell, `$in` is shorthand for a closure that takes 1 argument, so `(...) | complete | $in.exit_code == 0` is equivalent to `(...) | complete | {|in| $in.exit_code == 0}`.

Applied to files:

action.yml

📚 Learning: 2025-08-17T12:31:25.319Z

Learnt from: 2bndy5
Repo: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action PR: 314
File: action.yml:273-321
Timestamp: 2025-08-17T12:31:25.319Z
Learning: In Nu shell, the pattern `(...) | complete | $in.exit_code == 0` is valid syntax for checking command exit codes, where `complete` captures the command result and `$in` refers to the piped input.

Applied to files:

action.yml

📚 Learning: 2025-08-17T12:34:25.463Z

Learnt from: 2bndy5
Repo: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action PR: 314
File: action.yml:394-416
Timestamp: 2025-08-17T12:34:25.463Z
Learning: The cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action repository manages the downstream parsing of command-line arguments through their own cpp-linter/cpp-linter project, so passing empty string values for flags like --extra-arg="" is acceptable and known to work in their implementation.

Applied to files:

action.yml

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GitHub Check: test (windows-latest, 18)
GitHub Check: test (windows-latest, 10)
GitHub Check: test (macos-latest, 20)
GitHub Check: test (macos-latest, 16)
GitHub Check: test (macos-latest, 17)
GitHub Check: test (ubuntu-latest, 16)

🔇 Additional comments (4)

action.yml (4)

43-43: Version constraint documentation added for clang-tidy.

The note clarifying that clang-tidy only supports versions 13 and above is helpful context for users. This aligns with the fallback logic in the installer (line 406).

381-386: Empty version handling looks correct for this step.

The code properly exits the wheel installation step early when inputs.version is empty, allowing platform-default tools to be used as documented. Note: the earlier Linux/macOS platform-specific installation steps (lines 274–335) also construct version-specific install commands. Verify they handle the empty-version case gracefully, or add platform-specific guards if needed for complete empty-version support.

393-401: Per-tool list building is clean and correct.

The conditional logic correctly:

Includes clang-tidy only when checks are enabled (not "-*")

Includes clang-format only when style is specified (not empty)

This matches the intent to install only what is needed.

405-418: No issues found—wheel availability assumption is correct.

For clang-format versions 10 through 18, the PyPI "clang-format" package provides prebuilt wheels for Linux (manylinux), macOS, and Windows. The hardcoded v9 threshold correctly marks the boundary where wheel coverage becomes universal across all platforms. The installer selection logic is sound and should not encounter silent installation failures due to missing wheels for v10+.

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github-actions · 2025-11-03T20:50:29Z

Cpp-Linter Report ⚠️

Some files did not pass the configured checks!

clang-format (v16.0.6) reports: 2 file(s) not formatted

docs/examples/demo/demo.cpp
docs/examples/demo/demo.hpp

clang-tidy (v16.0.6) reports: 7 concern(s)

docs/examples/demo/demo.cpp:3:10: warning: [modernize-deprecated-headers]

inclusion of deprecated C++ header 'stdio.h'; consider using 'cstdio' instead
```
#include <stdio.h>
         ^~~~~~~~~
         <cstdio>
```
docs/examples/demo/demo.cpp:8:5: warning: [modernize-use-trailing-return-type]

use a trailing return type for this function
```
int main(){
~~~ ^
auto       -> int
```
docs/examples/demo/demo.cpp:10:13: warning: [readability-braces-around-statements]

statement should be inside braces
```
    for (;;) break;
            ^
             {
```
docs/examples/demo/demo.cpp:13:5: warning: [cppcoreguidelines-pro-type-vararg]

do not call c-style vararg functions
```
    printf("Hello world!\n");
    ^
```
docs/examples/demo/demo.hpp:6:11: warning: [modernize-use-default-member-init]

use default member initializer for 'useless'
```
    char* useless;
          ^
                 {"\0"}
```
docs/examples/demo/demo.hpp:7:9: warning: [modernize-use-default-member-init]

use default member initializer for 'numb'
```
    int numb;
        ^
            {0}
```

docs/examples/demo/demo.hpp:11:11: warning: [modernize-use-trailing-return-type]

use a trailing return type for this function

    void *not_useful(char *str){useless = str;}
    ~~~~~~^
    auto                        -> void *

Have any feedback or feature suggestions? Share it here.

2bndy5

I disagree with deprecated any version of clang-tidy before v13.

2bndy5 · 2025-11-03T21:06:26Z

action.yml

    description: |
      The desired version of the [clang-tools](https://github.com/cpp-linter/clang-tools-pip) to use.
      Accepted options are strings which can be 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 or 9.
+      clang-tidy only supports versions 13 and above.


woah! I thought we would fallback to the static binaries for this.

FYI, nushell can convert string to integers:

let version = "${{ inputs.version }}" | into int

And, if you need to convert the integer to a string:

let ver_str = $"v($version)"

That way you can do comparisons like $version >= 13.

The README changes should be reverted now that we have backward compatibility.

action.yml

2bndy5 · 2025-11-03T21:30:59Z

I think there's a bug in clang-tools-pip. It does not seem to match v9.0.0. Probably a logical error (>= vs >).

coderabbitai

Actionable comments posted: 1

📜 Review details

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Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between b1a59d8 and 9de4cf2.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

action.yml (2 hunks)

🧰 Additional context used

🧠 Learnings (2)

📓 Common learnings

Learnt from: 2bndy5
Repo: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action PR: 314
File: action.yml:394-416
Timestamp: 2025-08-17T12:34:25.463Z
Learning: In the cpp-linter-action project, technical improvements can be deferred to separate PRs when they're not critical to the current changes, especially when the current implementation is known to work correctly.

Learnt from: 2bndy5
Repo: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action PR: 314
File: README.md:206-211
Timestamp: 2025-08-17T13:20:51.048Z
Learning: For GitHub Actions documentation references in cpp-linter-action, prefer stable workflow syntax documentation links over "canonical" specialized pages that may redirect, as the comprehensive workflow syntax page provides better context and examples for container configuration.

Learnt from: 2bndy5
Repo: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action PR: 306
File: .readthedocs.yaml:9-16
Timestamp: 2025-08-13T09:33:35.208Z
Learning: Read the Docs v2 config supports `tools.python: latest` as a valid value, not just explicit version strings like "3.12". This was confirmed by a successful build in cpp-linter-action project.

📚 Learning: 2025-08-17T12:34:25.463Z

Learnt from: 2bndy5
Repo: cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action PR: 314
File: action.yml:394-416
Timestamp: 2025-08-17T12:34:25.463Z
Learning: The cpp-linter/cpp-linter-action repository manages the downstream parsing of command-line arguments through their own cpp-linter/cpp-linter project, so passing empty string values for flags like --extra-arg="" is acceptable and known to work in their implementation.

Applied to files:

action.yml

⏰ Context from checks skipped due to timeout of 90000ms. You can increase the timeout in your CodeRabbit configuration to a maximum of 15 minutes (900000ms). (8)

GitHub Check: test (macos-latest, 20)
GitHub Check: test (windows-latest, 21)
GitHub Check: test (windows-latest, 13)
GitHub Check: test (windows-latest, 10)
GitHub Check: test (macos-latest, 19)
GitHub Check: test (macos-latest, 15)
GitHub Check: test (macos-latest, 9)
GitHub Check: test (ubuntu-latest, 15)

🔇 Additional comments (2)

action.yml (2)

43-43: Documentation update is clear and helpful.

The added constraint note aligns with the fallback logic implemented in the installation step and sets proper user expectations.

388-396: Tool selection logic is clean and efficient.

Only clang-tidy and clang-format are installed when actually needed based on inputs, avoiding unnecessary installation overhead.

action.yml

2bndy5 · 2025-11-04T18:55:43Z

uv pip install clang-format==9
  × No solution found when resolving dependencies:
  ╰─▶ Because clang-format==9.0.0 has no wheels with a matching platform tag (e.g., `win_amd64`) and you require     
      clang-format==9, we can conclude that your requirements are unsatisfiable.

      hint: Wheels are available for `clang-format` (v9.0.0) on the following platform: `manylinux1_x86_64`

Apparently, there are only wheels for linux from clang-format v9 (or older) PyPI package:

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Co-authored-by: Brendan <[email protected]>

Switch clang tools from static binaries to wheels

6df3a07

shenxianpeng requested a review from a team as a code owner November 3, 2025 20:44

shenxianpeng requested review from 2bndy5 and removed request for a team November 3, 2025 20:44

shenxianpeng added the enhancement New feature or request label Nov 3, 2025

github-actions bot added the documentation Improvements or additions to documentation label Nov 3, 2025

fix: install clang-format and clang-tidy

b1a59d8

2bndy5 requested changes Nov 3, 2025

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2bndy5 force-pushed the fix-364 branch 2 times, most recently from cc0b06f to 29a60ef Compare November 4, 2025 19:13

shenxianpeng and others added 2 commits November 4, 2025 11:16

conditionally fallback to static binaries

7653c20

Co-authored-by: Brendan <[email protected]>

exit step early if using system default version

d3e381b

Co-authored-by: Brendan <[email protected]>

2bndy5 force-pushed the fix-364 branch from 29a60ef to d3e381b Compare November 4, 2025 19:17

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