How to Suppress depend_on_referenced_packages Lint Issues for Specific Imports in Flutter

Learn how to handle Flutter's `depend_on_referenced_packages` lint issue efficiently and keep your linting rules intact while working with transitive dependencies.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/72357358/ asked by the user 'Csaba Toth' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/292502/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/72360351/ provided by the user 'Petr Nymsa' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/8867524/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Understanding and Solving Lint Issues: Flutter's depend_on_referenced_packages

As a Flutter developer, you're likely familiar with the importance of keeping your code clean and adhering to linting rules. However, after upgrading to Flutter 3.0, many users began encountering the depend_on_referenced_packages lint issues during the flutter analyze process. This can be frustrating, particularly if the imports that cause issues are essential to your project. In this post, we're going to explore how to tackle this problem effectively, without having to disable linting for the entire file.

The Problem: Lint Issues After Upgrading to Flutter 3.0

Upon upgrading, several developers reported a surge of depend_on_referenced_packages lint errors, especially when importing packages such as package:collection/collection.dart. The root cause of this issue is resulting from transitive dependencies being brought into your project and the Flutter analyzer not being able to trace them correctly, leading to lint warnings.

Some users found that although they could suppress the lint warnings at the file level by adding // ignore_for_file: depend_on_referenced_packages, this solution was not ideal. They wanted to maintain their awareness of such lint issues for the rest of the codebase while simply not receiving warnings for specific imports where the lint issue occurred.

The Solution: Defining Direct Dependencies

To resolve the depend_on_referenced_packages lint issue without affecting your overall linting setup, you can explicitly define the problematic package as a direct dependency in your pubspec.yaml file. This practices clearly establish the dependencies your project needs, and it helps the analyzer better understand your project's structure. Here’s how to do it:

Steps to Fix the Lint Issue

Open Your pubspec.yaml Configuration: This file manages the packages your Flutter environment relies on.

Add the Collection Package as a Dependency: If you notice lint warnings related to the collection package, include it as a direct dependency. Add the following lines under your dependencies section:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Save Changes and Run Analysis: After updating your pubspec.yaml, run flutter pub get to install the new dependency, and then check for lint issues again using:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

By adding collection as a direct dependency, you should find that the lint issue related to references from this package disappears.

Why This Works

Direct vs. Transitive Dependencies: This method works because when you add a package as a direct dependency, the analyzer no longer views it as a transitive dependency. Thus, it eliminates confusion within the dependency graph, allowing your code to compile and analyze correctly while keeping your linting rules intact.

Maintaining Code Quality: By not suppressing linting for entire files, you can still keep your code quality in check, addressing only the specific imports that may rely on transitive dependencies.

Conclusion

Encountering linting issues like depend_on_referenced_packages can be daunting, especially after upgrading frameworks or libraries. However, understanding and implementing proper dependency management in your pubspec.yaml file can significantly alleviate these issues. By declaring direct dependencies, you make your codebase cleaner and more readable, while also keeping your linting practices active.

Keep your code happy and your builds efficient! If you enjoy keeping your project tidy with the right dependencies, make sure to share this information with fellow Flutter developers encountering the same issues.