There are several ways to install the config file validator tool
Download and unpack from https://github.com/Boeing/config-file-validator/releases
You can install the validator using aqua.
aqua g -i Boeing/config-file-validator
You can install the validator using Scoop.
scoop install config-file-validator
We release an AUR package for the config-file-validator
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/config-file-validator.git
cd config-file-validator
makepkg -si
go install
If you have a go environment on your desktop you can use go install to install the validator executable. The validator executable will be installed to the directory named by the GOBIN environment variable, which defaults to $GOPATH/bin or $HOME/go/bin if the GOPATH environment variable is not set.
go install github.com/Boeing/config-file-validator/cmd/validator@v1.6.0
Usage: validator [OPTIONS] [<search_path>...]
positional arguments:
search_path: The search path on the filesystem for configuration files. Defaults to the current working directory if no search_path provided
optional flags:
-depth int
Depth of recursion for the provided search paths. Set depth to 0 to disable recursive path traversal
-exclude-dirs string
Subdirectories to exclude when searching for configuration files
-exclude-file-types string
A comma separated list of file types to ignore
-groupby string
Group output by filetype, directory, pass-fail. Supported for Standard and JSON reports
-output string
Destination to a file to output results
-quiet
If quiet flag is set. It doesn't print any output to stdout.
-reporter string
Format of the printed report. Options are standard and json (default "standard")
-version
Version prints the release version of validator
If the search path is omitted it will search the current directory
validator /path/to/search
Multiple search paths are supported, and the results will be merged into a single report
validator /path/to/search /another/path/to/search
Exclude subdirectories in the search path
validator --exclude-dirs=/path/to/search/tests /path/to/search
Exclude file types in the search path. Available file types are csv
, env
, hcl
, hocon
, ini
, json
, plist
, properties
, toml
, xml
, yaml
, and yml
validator --exclude-file-types=json /path/to/search
By default there is no recursion limit. If desired, the recursion depth can be set to an integer value. If depth is set to 0
recursion will be disabled and only the files in the search path will be validated.
validator --depth=0 /path/to/search
Customize the report output. Available options are standard
, junit
, and json
validator --reporter=json /path/to/search
Group the report output by file type, directory, or pass-fail. Supports one or more groupings.
validator -groupby filetype
validator -groupby directory,pass-fail
Output report results to a file (default name is result.{extension}
). Must provide reporter flag with a supported extension format. Available options are junit
and json
. If an existing directory is provided, create a file named default name in the given directory. If a file name is provided, create a file named the given name at the current working directory.
validator --reporter=json --output=/path/to/dir
Passing the --quiet
flag suppresses all output to stdout. If there are invalid config files the validator tool will exit with 1. Any errors in execution such as an invalid path will still be displayed.
validator --quiet /path/to/search
docker run -it --rm -v /path/to/config/files:/test config-file-validator:1.6.0 /test
The project can be downloaded and built from source using an environment with Go 1.21+ installed. After a successful build, the binary can be moved to a location on your operating system PATH.
CGO_ENABLED=0 \
GOOS=darwin \
GOARCH=amd64 \ # for Apple Silicon use arm64
go build \
-ldflags='-w -s -extldflags "-static"' \
-tags netgo \
-o validator \
cmd/validator/validator.go
cp ./validator /usr/local/bin/
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/validator
CGO_ENABLED=0 \
GOOS=linux \
GOARCH=amd64 \
go build \
-ldflags='-w -s -extldflags "-static"' \
-tags netgo \
-o validator \
cmd/validator/validator.go
cp ./validator /usr/local/bin/
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/validator
CGO_ENABLED=0 \
GOOS=windows \
GOARCH=amd64 \
go build \
-ldflags='-w -s -extldflags "-static"' \
-tags netgo \
-o validator.exe \
cmd/validator/validator.go
mkdir -p 'C:\Program Files\validator'
cp .\validator.exe 'C:\Program Files\validator'
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("C:\Program Files\validator", $env:Path, [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)
You can also use the provided Dockerfile to build the config file validator tool as a container
docker build . -t config-file-validator:v1.6.0
We welcome contributions! Please refer to our contributing guide
The Config File Validator is released under the Apache 2.0 License