Incorrect alphabetical ordering of `+alias` metas due to short name sorting by parser

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Since Oct 24, 2026.

  • #1593 by @opusstudiohq-max — open

Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
84/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
java, xml
Domain
testing-qa, tooling

Research direction

Start with src/main/resources/org/eolang/lints/metas/unsorted-metas.xsl lines 14–17 and compare its ordering key with the source spelling of +alias metas; the parser expands alias tails before the lint sees them. Add the two packs described in the issue beside the existing packs under src/test/resources/org/eolang/lints/packs/single/unsorted-metas/, then run LtByXslTest#checksAllLints. Done means the sorted example has no defect and the swapped example warns on line 2.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

bug good-title

Bug

src/main/resources/org/eolang/lints/metas/unsorted-metas.xsl (lines 14-17) compares concat(head, ' ', tail) of each meta with the previous one. For +alias the parser has already expanded the tail: +alias org.eolang.txt.sprintf arrives as tail sprintf Φ.org.eolang.txt.sprintf. So the lint orders aliases by their last segment (sprintf, stdout), not by what is written in the source. The motive (motives/metas/unsorted-metas.md) says "Metas must be alphabetically ordered" and its example orders aliases by the name as written.

Steps to reproduce

+alias org.eolang.io.stdout
+alias org.eolang.txt.sprintf

[] > foo
  42 > @

and the same program with the two aliases swapped.

Actual result

The sorted program gets:

<defect line="2" severity="warning">The "alias⌴sprintf⌴Φ.org.eolang.txt.sprintf" meta is out of order</defect>

The swapped program (org.eolang.txt.sprintf before org.eolang.io.stdout), which is really out of order, gets no defects.

Expected result

No defect for the first program, and a warning on line 2 for the second one, as for +alias org.eolang.io.stdout before +alias org.eolang.io.stdin in the motive.

Test

Two packs next to the existing ones in src/test/resources/org/eolang/lints/packs/single/unsorted-metas/ fail on master 46a7315 in LtByXslTest#checksAllLints:

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2016-2026 Objectionary.com
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
---
sheets:
  - /org/eolang/lints/metas/unsorted-metas.xsl
defects: 0
input: |
  +alias org.eolang.io.stdout
  +alias org.eolang.txt.sprintf

  [] > foo
    42 > @

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2016-2026 Objectionary.com
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
---
sheets:
  - /org/eolang/lints/metas/unsorted-metas.xsl
defects:
  - severity: warning
    line: 2
input: |
  +alias org.eolang.txt.sprintf
  +alias org.eolang.io.stdout

  [] > foo
    42 > @

FAIL: /defects[count(defect)=0]
FAIL: /defects[count(defect)=1]
FAIL: /defects/defect[@severity='warning' and @line='2']

This is not #1391 (an out-of-order meta compared with the first meta instead of its neighbour): here neighbours are compared, but by the expanded text.

Dominant language
Java
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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