Was the command line option --out-format removed at golangci-lint v2?

[suzuki-shunsuke]

Hello. Thank you for your great project!
I have a question about golangci-lint v2.

I noticed --out-format option was removed at v2.

v2.0.1

$ golangci-lint --version
golangci-lint has version 2.0.1 built with go1.24.1 from e8927ce2 on 2025-03-24T20:34:31Z

$ golangci-lint run --help | grep out-format

$ golangci-lint run --out-format
Error: unknown flag: --out-format
Failed executing command with error: unknown flag: --out-format

v2.0.0

$ golangci-lint --version     
golangci-lint has version 2.0.0 built with go1.24.1 from f1f8343d on 2025-03-24T12:12:51Z

$ golangci-lint run --help | grep out-format

$ golangci-lint run --out-format
Error: unknown flag: --out-format
Failed executing command with error: unknown flag: --out-format

v1.64.8

$ golangci-lint --version                   
golangci-lint has version 1.64.8 built with go1.24.1 from 8b37f141 on 2025-03-17T20:41:53Z

$ golangci-lint run --help | grep out-format
      --out-format string              Formats of output:

I read the migration guide, but I can't find this breaking change.

https://golangci-lint.run/product/migration-guide/

And I can't find any alternative option.

help

$ golangci-lint run --help
Run the linters

Usage:
  golangci-lint run [flags]

Flags:
  -c, --config PATH                       Read config from file path PATH
      --no-config                         Don't read config file
      --default string                    Default set of linters to enable (default "standard")
  -D, --disable strings                   Disable specific linter
  -E, --enable strings                    Enable specific linter
      --enable-only strings               Override linters configuration section to only run the specific linter(s)
      --fast-only                         Filter enabled linters to run only fast linters
  -j, --concurrency int                   Number of CPUs to use (Default: Automatically set to match Linux container CPU quota and fall back to the number of logical CPUs in the machine)
      --modules-download-mode string      Modules download mode. If not empty, passed as -mod=<mode> to go tools
      --issues-exit-code int              Exit code when issues were found (default 1)
      --build-tags strings                Build tags
      --timeout duration                  Timeout for total work. Disabled by default
      --tests                             Analyze tests (*_test.go) (default true)
      --allow-parallel-runners            Allow multiple parallel golangci-lint instances running.
                                          If false (default) - golangci-lint acquires file lock on start.
      --allow-serial-runners              Allow multiple golangci-lint instances running, but serialize them around a lock.
                                          If false (default) - golangci-lint exits with an error if it fails to acquire file lock on start.
      --path-prefix string                Path prefix to add to output
      --show-stats                        Show statistics per linter (default true)
      --output.text.path stdout           Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
      --output.text.print-linter-name     Print linter name in the end of issue text. (default true)
      --output.text.print-issued-lines    Print lines of code with issue. (default true)
      --output.text.colors                Use colors. (default true)
      --output.json.path stdout           Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
      --output.tab.path stdout            Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
      --output.tab.print-linter-name      Print linter name in the end of issue text. (default true)
      --output.tab.colors                 Use colors. (default true)
      --output.html.path stdout           Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
      --output.checkstyle.path stdout     Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
      --output.code-climate.path stdout   Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
      --output.junit-xml.path stdout      Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
      --output.junit-xml.extended         Support extra JUnit XML fields.
      --output.teamcity.path stdout       Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
      --output.sarif.path stdout          Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
      --max-issues-per-linter int         Maximum issues count per one linter. Set to 0 to disable (default 50)
      --max-same-issues int               Maximum count of issues with the same text. Set to 0 to disable (default 3)
      --uniq-by-line                      Make issues output unique by line (default true)
  -n, --new                               Show only new issues: if there are unstaged changes or untracked files, only those changes are analyzed, else only changes in HEAD~ are analyzed.
                                          It's a super-useful option for integration of golangci-lint into existing large codebase.
                                          It's not practical to fix all existing issues at the moment of integration: much better to not allow issues in new code.
                                          For CI setups, prefer --new-from-rev=HEAD~, as --new can skip linting the current patch if any scripts generate unstaged files before golangci-lint runs.
      --new-from-rev REV                  Show only new issues created after git revision REV
      --new-from-patch PATH               Show only new issues created in git patch with file path PATH
      --new-from-merge-base string        Show only new issues created after the best common ancestor (merge-base against HEAD)
      --whole-files                       Show issues in any part of update files (requires new-from-rev or new-from-patch)
      --fix                               Fix found issues (if it's supported by the linter)
      --cpu-profile-path string           Path to CPU profile output file
      --mem-profile-path string           Path to memory profile output file
      --print-resources-usage             Print avg and max memory usage of golangci-lint and total time
      --trace-path string                 Path to trace output file

Global Flags:
      --color string   Use color when printing; can be 'always', 'auto', or 'never' (default "auto")
  -h, --help           Help for a command
  -v, --verbose        Verbose output

How should we migrate?

[ldez]

Hello,

I recommend reading the migration guide: https://golangci-lint.run/product/migration-guide/#output

[ldez]

--out-format has been migrated to the following flags:

--output.text.path stdout           Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
--output.text.print-linter-name     Print linter name in the end of issue text. (default true)
--output.text.print-issued-lines    Print lines of code with issue. (default true)
--output.text.colors                Use colors. (default true)
--output.json.path stdout           Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
--output.tab.path stdout            Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
--output.tab.print-linter-name      Print linter name in the end of issue text. (default true)
--output.tab.colors                 Use colors. (default true)
--output.html.path stdout           Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
--output.checkstyle.path stdout     Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
--output.code-climate.path stdout   Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
--output.junit-xml.path stdout      Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
--output.junit-xml.extended         Support extra JUnit XML fields.
--output.teamcity.path stdout       Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.
--output.sarif.path stdout          Output path can be either stdout, `stderr` or path to the file to write to.

[suzuki-shunsuke]

The migration guide describes the change of configuration files, but I can't find the description about command line options.

[suzuki-shunsuke]

Oh, I see.

So --out-format checkstyle (v1) should be migrated to --output.checkstyle.path stdout (v2), right?

[ldez]

yes exactly

[suzuki-shunsuke]

Thank you for your quick answer!