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Hello,

The stats can be disabled with the following option:

output:
  show-stats: false

https://golangci-lint.run/usage/configuration/#output-configuration

or

golangci-lint run --show-stats=false

https://golangci-lint.run/usage/configuration/#run

Can I ask that we reopen this? What I think the original poster is asking for (or at least, I am 😁 ) is that it shows no stats only if there are no errors.

I think there are lots of programs out there that built around the output of golangci-lint run, in addition to exit codes. Those stats are really useful when there are errors, but we might want no output if there are no errors. So something like:

$ golangci-lint run ./...                   
....
...                                       
1 issues:
* staticcheck: 1
$ echo $?
1
$ 

But:

$ golangci-lint run ./...                   
$ echo $?
0
$ 

Thanks

It used to be a common Unix practice to output nothing if you modified/found nothing.

I just checked:

$ docker run --rm -it golang:1.24.2
# curl -sOL https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/releases/download/v1.64.8/golangci-lint-1.64.8-linux-amd64.deb
# apt install ./golangci-lint-1.64.8-linux-amd64.deb
# printf 'package main\nimport "fmt"\nfunc main(){fmt.Println("Test")}' >src/main.go
# 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 src/main.go
# echo $?
0

$ docker run --rm -it golang:1.24.2
# curl -sOL https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/releases/download/v2.1.2/golangci-lint-2.1.2-linux-amd64.deb
# apt install ./golangci-lint-2.1.2-linux-amd64.deb
# printf 'package main\nimport "fmt"\nfunc main(){fmt.Println("Test")}' >src/main.go
# golangci-lint --version
golangci-lint has version 2.1.2 built with go1.24.2 from 00a561d9 on 2025-04-15T13:26:47Z
# golangci-lint run src/main.go
0 issues.
# echo $?
0

I would say this is either a regression or an undocumented change in behavior.

show-stats was already an option inside v1, but false by default.

The "0 issues." is the expected behavior; it's not a regression because this is the same behavior as v1 with show-stats: true.

You are comparing two major versions, 1.0 and 2.0, so there are a bunch of breaking changes between them and this being one of them. It's mentioned in the migration guide

issues.show-stats: the existing value is ignored because, in v2, stats are enabled by default.

› docker run --rm -it golangci/golangci-lint:v1.64.8 /bin/bash
root@7f255dd6f820:/go# printf 'package main\nimport "fmt"\nfunc main(){fmt.Println("Test")}' >src/main.go && cd src
root@7f255dd6f820:/go/src# go mod init x
go: creating new go.mod: module x
root@7f255dd6f820:/go/src# golangci-lint run --show-stats
0 issues.

EDIT Oops 🐢, @ldez beat me to it 🏎

I was not as focused on whether or not it is a regression; heaven knows I am responsible for enough software with behavioural changes between major versions that people complained about. 😁

I was focused on, it is good to have the ability to show stats when there are errors, but to have empty output when there are none. Right now, it is either: show stats whether or not there are errors; or do not show stats whether or not there are errors.

Does that make sense?

The "0 issues" is the expected behavior. For now, I don't think adding another option only to hide the "0 issues" is worth it.

expected behaviour

I get that. I am suggesting that another behaviour may be more user-friendly in many cases (and hopefully get other people off your back). Would --show-stats-errors-only be bad?

I think I answered in the previous comment:

For now, I don't think adding another option only to hide the "0 issues" is worth it.