Parsing error: ESLint was configured to run on X However, that TSConfig does not include this file (when project opened from symlinked folder)

[fohrloop]

I'm in the process of setting up my very first JS/TS project. I was getting and error like this in VSCode from the eslint plugin:

Parsing error: ESLint was configured to run on `/testproj/repo/frontend/app/foo.ts` using `parserOptions.project`: <tsconfigRootDir>/tsconfig.node.json
However, that TSConfig does not include this file. Either:
- Change ESLint's list of included files to not include this file
- Change that TSConfig to include this file
- Create a new TSConfig that includes this file and include it in your parserOptions.project
See the typescript-eslint docs for more info: https://typescript-eslint.io/troubleshooting/typed-linting#i-get-errors-telling-me-eslint-was-configured-to-run--however-that-tsconfig-does-not--none-of-those-tsconfigs-include-this-fileeslint

I was trying to reproduce the issue with minimal example, and this is what I got. The reason seems to be somehow related to the fact that the project was opened from a location that is a symlink to another folder.

Steps to reproduce

1 Create the repo

Create a project folder with a "repo" folder (that would contain your git repo) somewhere. In this example, I'm using

/home/USERNAME/projects/testproj/repo

Create a /frontend directory to the repo, and add the following files:

eslint.config.js

import eslint from '@eslint/js';
import globals from 'globals';
import tseslint from 'typescript-eslint';

export default tseslint.config({
  files: ['**/*.{ts,tsx}'],

  extends: [
    eslint.configs.recommended,
    ...tseslint.configs.strictTypeChecked,
    ...tseslint.configs.stylisticTypeChecked,
  ],

  languageOptions: {
    ecmaVersion: 'latest',
    globals: globals.browser,
    parserOptions: {
      project: ['./tsconfig.node.json'],
      tsconfigRootDir: import.meta.dirname,
    },
  },

});

tsconfig.node.json

{
  "include": [
    "app/**/*",
  ],
  "compilerOptions": {
    "composite": true,
    "lib": ["DOM", "DOM.Iterable", "ES2022"],
    "types": ["vite/client"],
    "target": "ES2022",
    "module": "ES2022",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "moduleDetection": "force",
    "noEmit": true,
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "rootDirs": [".", "./.react-router/types"],
    "paths": {
      "~/*": ["./app/*"]
    },
  }
}

package.json

{
  "name": "testproj",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "author": "",
  "type": "module",
  "license": "MIT",
  "description": "",
  "devDependencies": {
    "@eslint/js": "^9.18.0",
    "@types/eslint__js": "^8.42.3",
    "eslint": "^9.18.0",
    "globals": "^15.14.0",
    "typescript": "^5.7.3",
    "typescript-eslint": "^8.20.0"
  }
}

app/foo.ts

import { something } from 'somewhere';

Install the package. The repo folder should have following contents:

📁 repo/
└─📁 frontend/
  ├─📄 pnpm-lock.yaml
  ├─📄 eslint.config.js
  ├─📄 package.json
  ├─📁 app/
  │ └─📄 foo.ts
  ├─📁 node_modules/
  └─📄 tsconfig.node.json

2 Create a symbolic link to the repo folder

❯ cd /
❯ sudo mkdir testproj
❯ sudo chown USERNAME /testproj
❯ cd testproj/
❯ ln -s /home/USERNAME/projects/testproj/repo/ repo

3 Open the project with VS Code with original and symlinked locations

When opening original folder (/home/USERNAME/projects/testproj/repo) in VS Code:

• You'll see some as expected but no ESLint Parsing error

When opening symlinked folder (/testproj/repo ) in VS Code:

• You'll see the unexpected Parsing error: ESLint was configured to run on X However, that TSConfig does not include this file . (this is the problem)
• If you have a larger project, the same error will be visible on the first word of every .ts/.tsx file in the project.

Version info

• VsCode extension Identifier: dbaeumer.vscode-eslint
• VsCode extension Version: 3.0.10

from ESList Output:

[Info  - 2:49:42 PM] ESLint server is starting.
[Info  - 2:49:42 PM] ESLint server running in node v20.18.1
[Info  - 2:49:42 PM] ESLint server is running.
[Info  - 2:49:43 PM] Server process exited successfully
[Info  - 2:49:43 PM] ESLint library loaded from: /home/USERNAME/projects/testproj/repo/frontend/node_modules/.pnpm/eslint@9.18.0/node_modules/eslint/lib/api.js

[dbaeumer]

Thanks for the issue report.

Does the validation happen correctly when you use eslint in the terminal. The error you are seeing indicates that this is a general ESLint setup problem independent of the VSCode extension.

If validation happens correctly in the terminal can you please provide me with a GitHub repository I can clone that demos what you are experiencing.

[fohrloop]

When opening the original folder, and running in the "frontend" folder in VS Code terminal, I get (as expected):

repo/frontend on  main [?] is 📦 v1.0.0 via  v22.11.0 
❯ pwd
/home/fohrloop/projects/testproj/repo/frontend

repo/frontend on  main [?] is 📦 v1.0.0 via  v22.11.0 
❯ pnpm eslint .

/home/fohrloop/projects/testproj/repo/frontend/app/foo.ts
  0:1   error  This rule requires the `strictNullChecks` compiler option to be turned on to function correctly  @typescript-eslint/no-unnecessary-condition
  0:1   error  This rule requires the `strictNullChecks` compiler option to be turned on to function correctly  @typescript-eslint/prefer-nullish-coalescing
  1:10  error  'something' is defined but never used                                                            @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars

✖ 3 problems (3 errors, 0 warnings)

When opening the symlinked folder, and running in the "frontend" folder in VS Code terminal, I get:

repo/frontend on  main [?] is 📦 v1.0.0 via  v22.11.0 took 2s 
❯ pwd
/testproj/repo/frontend

repo/frontend on  main [?] is 📦 v1.0.0 via  v22.11.0 
❯ pnpm eslint .

/home/fohrloop/projects/testproj/repo/frontend/app/foo.ts
  0:1   error  This rule requires the `strictNullChecks` compiler option to be turned on to function correctly  @typescript-eslint/no-unnecessary-condition
  0:1   error  This rule requires the `strictNullChecks` compiler option to be turned on to function correctly  @typescript-eslint/prefer-nullish-coalescing
  1:10  error  'something' is defined but never used                                                            @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars

✖ 3 problems (3 errors, 0 warnings)

So, exactly the same output in command line, but different behavior in the editor.

I've created a repo with the example reproducing the issue: fohrloop/vscode-eslint-issue-1972.

[dbaeumer]

Thanks for the repository!

Can you provide me with some steps I should following on the reproducing example.

[fohrloop]

Sure! I wrote some steps already on the issue itself (under Steps to reproduce). Basically

Setup

• Clone the repo. I had the original folder inside home folder, so I would create /home/USERNAME/projects/testproj/repo and clone the repo there for maximal reproducibility. (Should have a file called /home/USERNAME/projects/testproj/repo/frontend/app/foo.ts after this)
• Install the project with npm / pnpm or a similar tool (e.g. pnpm install inside the repo folder)
• Create a symbolic link to the repo folder as instructed above. For maximal reproducibility, I would use the same folder as in the issue (/testproj)

Reproducing the issue

• Open VS Code and open the testproj folder from the symlinked folder (so: open /testproj)
• Open the repo/frontend/app/foo.ts in VS Code from the left side panel to see the contents
• After ESLint runs (after few seconds), the import text is underlined with red squiggly line. Hover over it to see the error.

[dbaeumer]

Duplicates #1543 (comment)

The problem here is that TS since 5.x real paths all paths and VS Code / the extension doesn't. As said in the above link comment if we decide to real path in the extension as well it would need to go behind a setting to avoid conflicts with older TS versions. However I would be fine to have it on by default since 5.x version are now the norm.

PR is welcome :-)

[ExE-Boss]

This also occurs when the directory has the case sensitive attribute set on Windows¹ and the filename contains uppercase characters.

Footnotes

1. Using fsutil file setCaseSensitiveInfo repo enable ↩