Language servers and |ale_lint_on_text_changed|

[mversic]

Information

VIM version
NVIM v0.4.3
Build type: Release
LuaJIT 2.0.5

Operating System:
Manjaro 19.0.2 Kyria

What went wrong

When ale_lint_on_text_changed=never ALE shouldn't lint while I am inserting which it doesn't unless I have ALE configured with some language server. I've tried using rls and pyls, it happened for both.
As far as I can determine, with language servers used, ALE bahaves as if ale_lint_on_text_changed=insert was set even when it's set to never.

Reproducing the bug

1. enable LS for some language
2. set ale_lint_on_text_changed=never
3. open a document and start typing randomly
4. observe how linting is being done even though it shouldn't be

:ALEInfo

Current Filetype: rust
Available Linters: ['cargo', 'rls', 'rustc']
Enabled Linters: ['rls']
Suggested Fixers:
'remove_trailing_lines' - Remove all blank lines at the end of a file.
'rustfmt' - Fix Rust files with Rustfmt.
'trim_whitespace' - Remove all trailing whitespace characters at the end of every line.
Linter Variables:

let g:ale_rust_rls_config = {}
let g:ale_rust_rls_executable = 'rls'
let g:ale_rust_rls_toolchain = ''
Global Variables:

let g:ale_cache_executable_check_failures = v:null
let g:ale_change_sign_column_color = 1
let g:ale_command_wrapper = ''
let g:ale_completion_delay = v:null
let g:ale_completion_enabled = 0
let g:ale_completion_max_suggestions = v:null
let g:ale_echo_cursor = 1
let g:ale_echo_msg_error_str = 'Error'
let g:ale_echo_msg_format = '%code: %%s'
let g:ale_echo_msg_info_str = 'Info'
let g:ale_echo_msg_warning_str = 'Warning'
let g:ale_enabled = 1
let g:ale_fix_on_save = 0
let g:ale_fixers = {}
let g:ale_history_enabled = 1
let g:ale_history_log_output = 1
let g:ale_keep_list_window_open = v:null
let g:ale_lint_delay = 200
let g:ale_lint_on_enter = 1
let g:ale_lint_on_filetype_changed = 1
let g:ale_lint_on_insert_leave = 1
let g:ale_lint_on_save = 1
let g:ale_lint_on_text_changed = 'never'
let g:ale_linter_aliases = {}
let g:ale_linters = {'rust': ['rls'], 'python': ['pyls']}
let g:ale_linters_explicit = 0
let g:ale_list_vertical = v:null
let g:ale_list_window_size = v:null
let g:ale_loclist_msg_format = v:null
let g:ale_lsp_root = {}
let g:ale_max_buffer_history_size = 20
let g:ale_max_signs = v:null
let g:ale_maximum_file_size = v:null
let g:ale_open_list = v:null
let g:ale_pattern_options = v:null
let g:ale_pattern_options_enabled = v:null
let g:ale_set_balloons = 0
let g:ale_set_highlights = 1
let g:ale_set_loclist = 1
let g:ale_set_quickfix = 0
let g:ale_set_signs = 1
let g:ale_sign_column_always = 1
let g:ale_sign_error = v:null
let g:ale_sign_info = v:null
let g:ale_sign_offset = v:null
let g:ale_sign_style_error = v:null
let g:ale_sign_style_warning = v:null
let g:ale_sign_warning = v:null
let g:ale_sign_highlight_linenrs = v:null
let g:ale_statusline_format = v:null
let g:ale_type_map = {}
let g:ale_use_global_executables = v:null
let g:ale_virtualtext_cursor = 0
let g:ale_warn_about_trailing_blank_lines = 1
let g:ale_warn_about_trailing_whitespace = 1
Command History:

(executable check - success) rls
(started) ['/usr/bin/zsh', '-c', '''rls''''']'''']

[mversic]

what should be the default value ale_lint_on_text_changed=normal is not working as well

[jasoncoleusa]

I am trying to setup ale for the first time today and am having issues getting lint_on_text_changed='never' to work.

ALEInfo

 Current Filetype: python
Available Linters: ['bandit', 'flake8', 'mypy', 'prospector', 'pycodestyle', 'pydocstyle', 'pyflakes', 'pylama', 'pylint', 'pyls', 'pyre', 'vulture']
  Enabled Linters: ['flake8', 'mypy', 'pylint']
 Suggested Fixers:
  'add_blank_lines_for_python_control_statements' - Add blank lines before control statements.
  'autopep8' - Fix PEP8 issues with autopep8.
  'black' - Fix PEP8 issues with black.
  'isort' - Sort Python imports with isort.
  'remove_trailing_lines' - Remove all blank lines at the end of a file.
  'reorder-python-imports' - Sort Python imports with reorder-python-imports.
  'trim_whitespace' - Remove all trailing whitespace characters at the end of every line.
  'yapf' - Fix Python files with yapf.
 Linter Variables:
let g:ale_python_auto_pipenv = 0
let g:ale_python_flake8_auto_pipenv = 0
let g:ale_python_flake8_change_directory = 1
let g:ale_python_flake8_executable = 'flake8'
let g:ale_python_flake8_options = ''
let g:ale_python_flake8_use_global = 0
let g:ale_python_mypy_auto_pipenv = 0
let g:ale_python_mypy_executable = 'mypy'
let g:ale_python_mypy_ignore_invalid_syntax = 0
let g:ale_python_mypy_options = ''
let g:ale_python_mypy_show_notes = 1
let g:ale_python_mypy_use_global = 0
let g:ale_python_pylint_auto_pipenv = 0
let g:ale_python_pylint_change_directory = 1
let g:ale_python_pylint_executable = 'pylint'
let g:ale_python_pylint_options = ''
let g:ale_python_pylint_use_global = 0
let g:ale_python_pylint_use_msg_id = 0
 Global Variables:
let g:ale_cache_executable_check_failures = v:null
let g:ale_change_sign_column_color = 0
let g:ale_command_wrapper = ''
let g:ale_completion_delay = v:null
let g:ale_completion_enabled = 0
let g:ale_completion_max_suggestions = v:null
let g:ale_echo_cursor = 1
let g:ale_echo_msg_error_str = 'Error'
let g:ale_echo_msg_format = '%code: %%s'
let g:ale_echo_msg_info_str = 'Info'
let g:ale_echo_msg_warning_str = 'Warning'
let g:ale_enabled = 1
let g:ale_fix_on_save = 0
let g:ale_fixers = {}
let g:ale_history_enabled = 1
let g:ale_history_log_output = 1
let g:ale_keep_list_window_open = 0
let g:ale_lint_delay = 200
let g:ale_lint_on_enter = 0
let g:ale_lint_on_filetype_changed = 1
let g:ale_lint_on_insert_leave = 1
let g:ale_lint_on_save = 1
let g:ale_lint_on_text_changed = 'never'
let g:ale_linter_aliases = {}
let g:ale_linters = {}
let g:ale_linters_explicit = 0
let g:ale_list_vertical = 0
let g:ale_list_window_size = 10
let g:ale_loclist_msg_format = '%code: %%s'
let g:ale_lsp_root = {}
let g:ale_max_buffer_history_size = 20
let g:ale_max_signs = -1
let g:ale_maximum_file_size = v:null
let g:ale_open_list = 1
let g:ale_pattern_options = v:null
let g:ale_pattern_options_enabled = v:null
let g:ale_set_balloons = 0
let g:ale_set_highlights = 1
let g:ale_set_loclist = 1
let g:ale_set_quickfix = 0
let g:ale_set_signs = 1
let g:ale_sign_column_always = 0
let g:ale_sign_error = '>>'
let g:ale_sign_info = '--'
let g:ale_sign_offset = 1000000
let g:ale_sign_style_error = '>>'
let g:ale_sign_style_warning = '--'
let g:ale_sign_warning = '--'
let g:ale_sign_highlight_linenrs = 0
let g:ale_statusline_format = v:null
let g:ale_type_map = {}
let g:ale_use_global_executables = v:null
let g:ale_virtualtext_cursor = 0
let g:ale_warn_about_trailing_blank_lines = 1
let g:ale_warn_about_trailing_whitespace = 1
  Command History:
(executable check - success) flake8
(finished - exit code 0) ['/bin/bash', '-c', '''flake8'' --version']
<<<OUTPUT STARTS>>>
3.7.9 (mccabe: 0.6.1, pycodestyle: 2.5.0, pyflakes: 2.1.1) CPython 3.7.7 on Darwin
<<<OUTPUT ENDS>>>
(executable check - failure) mypy
(finished - exit code 1) ['/bin/bash', '-c', 'cd ''/Users/jcole'' && ''flake8'' --format=default --stdin-display-name ''/Users/jcole/test.py'' - < ''/var/folders/db/ktk_lw4x6m76dbswxxls41sc0000gn/T/vgM5clw/1/test.py''']
<<<OUTPUT STARTS>>>
/Users/jcole/test.py:2:1: F821 undefined name 'a'
/Users/jcole/test.py:2:2: W291 trailing whitespace
/Users/jcole/test.py:4:1: E402 module level import not at top of file
/Users/jcole/test.py:4:1: F401 'time' imported but unused
/Users/jcole/test.py:6:1: E302 expected 2 blank lines, found 1
/Users/jcole/test.py:8:5: F841 local variable 'x' is assigned to but never used
/Users/jcole/test.py:14:5: F821 undefined name 'retun'
/Users/jcole/test.py:15:1: W391 blank line at end of file
<<<OUTPUT ENDS>>>

VIM

:version
VIM - Vi IMproved 8.2 (2019 Dec 12, compiled Mar 18 2020 18:46:04)
macOS version
Included patches: 1-400
Compiled by Homebrew
Huge version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
+acl               ++builtin_terms    +cmdline_info      +diff              -farsi             -hangul_input      +libcall           +modify_fname      -mouse_sysmouse    +packages          -python            +smartindent       -tag_old_static    +textprop          +visual            -X11
+arabic            +byte_offset       +comments          +digraphs          +file_in_path      +iconv             +linebreak         +mouse             +mouse_urxvt       +path_extra        +python3           -sound             -tag_any_white     +timers            +visualextra       -xfontset
+autocmd           +channel           +conceal           -dnd               +find_in_path      +insert_expand     +lispindent        -mouseshape        +mouse_xterm       +perl              +quickfix          +spell             -tcl               +title             +viminfo           -xim
+autochdir         +cindent           +cryptv            -ebcdic            +float             +job               +listcmds          +mouse_dec         +multi_byte        +persistent_undo   +reltime           +startuptime       +termguicolors     -toolbar           +vreplace          -xpm
-autoservername    -clientserver      +cscope            +emacs_tags        +folding           +jumplist          +localmap          -mouse_gpm         +multi_lang        +popupwin          +rightleft         +statusline        +terminal          +user_commands     +wildignore        -xsmp
-balloon_eval      +clipboard         +cursorbind        +eval              -footer            +keymap            +lua               -mouse_jsbterm     -mzscheme          +postscript        +ruby              -sun_workshop      +terminfo          +vartabs           +wildmenu          -xterm_clipboard
+balloon_eval_term +cmdline_compl     +cursorshape       +ex_extra          +fork()            +lambda            +menu              +mouse_netterm     +netbeans_intg     +printer           +scrollbind        +syntax            +termresponse      +vertsplit         +windows           -xterm_save
-browse            +cmdline_hist      +dialog_con        +extra_search      +gettext           +langmap           +mksession         +mouse_sgr         +num64             +profile           +signs             +tag_binary        +textobjects       +virtualedit       +writebackup
   system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
       defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/local/share/vim"
Compilation: clang -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H   -DMACOS_X -DMACOS_X_DARWIN  -g -O2 -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1
Linking: clang   -L. -fstack-protector-strong -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/local/opt/libyaml/lib -L/usr/local/opt/openssl@1.1/lib -L/usr/local/opt/readline/lib  -L/usr/local/lib -o vim        -lncurses -liconv -lintl -framework AppKit  -L/usr/local/opt/lua/lib -llua5.3 -mmacosx-version-min=10.15 -fstack-protector-strong -
L/usr/local/lib  -L/usr/local/Cellar/perl/5.30.1/lib/perl5/5.30.1/darwin-thread-multi-2level/CORE -lperl -lm -lutil -lc  -L/usr/local/opt/python/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/config-3.7m-darwin -lpython3.7m -framework CoreFoundation  -lruby.2.7

[jasoncoleusa]

I ended up adding this and behaves like I was hoping. Not sure what the difference is between these variables...

let g:ale_lint_on_insert_leave = 0

[mversic]

@jasontcole if you are not using a language server, and it seems you don't, then your problem is unrelated to this issue

[copy]

I also have this issue with ALE and rls. The issue goes away when automatic completion popups are disabled (e.g., let g:ale_completion_enabled = 0 and deoplete is disabled). I suspect rls responds with a list of errors when ALE asks it for completion, and ALE fills the error list with this info even though ale_lint_on_text_changed=never is set.

[w0rp]

It is not possible to fix this without changing Language Server Protocol itself. See this issue I filed a while ago: microsoft/language-server-protocol#737

[copy]

@w0rp I don't see this being fixed upstream any time soon. In the mean time, could ALE buffer diagnostic responses when in insert mode?

[w0rp]

No, the LSP standard should be changed.