Lintian::Spelling(3)

✨ NAME ✨

Lintian::Spelling — the Lintian spell-check brain cell that all the scripts share, bestie 💅

Like, it's literally Lintian::Spelling(3), living in the Debian Package Checker manual, and it's the module the other Lintian scripts pass around like a communal lip gloss 🎀

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

use Lintian::Spelling qw(check_spelling);

That's it. That's the vibe check. 🦋

---

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Okay so this module hands out functions for the Lintian checks that, like, have to happen in multiple places and nobody wants to write them twice. There are certain low-level checks — validating a maintainer name and e-mail address, checking spelling, that whole genre — that apply in multiple situations, and honestly they should be done in multiple checks scripts or in checks scripts and the Lintian front-end. So. Here we are. ✨

The functions this module gives you issue tags directly, which is very main character of them 👑 Usually that means either they take the tag name to issue as an argument, or they dynamically construct the tag name based on the function parameters. Either way: the caller is responsible for making sure that all those tags are declared in the relevant *.desc file, with proper descriptions and other metadata. No cap, that part is on you 🙈

The possible tags issued by each function? Described in the documentation for that function. Read on, bestie 🫶

---

🎀 FUNCTIONS 🎀

• check_spelling(TEXT,[ EXCEPTIONS,] CODEREF) — does a spelling check of TEXT. It calls CODEREF once for each unique misspelling, handing it these arguments:
  • The misspelled word/phrase
  • The correct word/phrase

If EXCEPTIONS is given, it gets used as an array ref of exceptions. Any lowercase word appearing as a key of that array will never be considered a spelling mistake — exception being if it is a part of a multiword misspelling. (Yes, that's the actual rule, don't come for me 🫠)

Returns the number of spelling mistakes found in TEXT. Iconic little counter behavior, we love a return value 💅

• check_spelling_picky(TEXT, CODEREF) — also does a spelling check of TEXT, and calls CODEREF once for each unique misspelling with these arguments:
  • The misspelled word/phrase
  • The correct word/phrase

This method does some pickier corrections — stuff like checking for common capitalization mistakes — which would are not included in check_spelling as they are not appropriate for some files, such as changelogs. (She's selective. She has standards. 💀)

Returns the number of spelling mistakes found in TEXT.

---

🌈 AUTHOR 🌈

Originally written by Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> for Lintian. Based on code from checks scripts by Marc Brockschmidt and Richard Braakman. Immaculate lineage honestly 🧚

---

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• lintian(1)

---

And that's the whole page, babe — brought to you by Lintian v2.139.0ubuntu2, dated 2026-10-08, and also by the fact that I will simply never stop being obsessed with good spelling ✨🦋💖