Pylint OOM (exit code -9) in GitHub Actions when processing large number of files.

[Darshan-204]

Bug description

Problem

Pylint is failing with exit code -9 (Out Of Memory) in GitHub Actions when processing multiple files, even with --files flag for changed files only. This prevents CI from completing successfully.

Current Setup

• Using pylint v3.2.5 in pre-commit hooks
• GitHub Actions workflow runs pre-commit on changed files only
• Exit code -9 indicates OOM (process killed by OS)
• Issue occurs even with ~130 changed files

Attempts Made

1. Added --jobs=1 to force single-threaded processing
2. Added --limit-inference-results=1000 and --score=no to reduce memory usage

Requirements

Need a solution that:

• Allows pylint to run successfully in CI environment
• Processes all changed files in PRs
• Doesn't require manually excluding directories
• Works within GitHub Actions resource limits

Configuration

.pre-commit-config.yml:

repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/mirrors-mypy
    rev: v1.10.1
    hooks:
      - id: mypy
        args: [--namespace-packages, --ignore-missing-imports, --install-types, --non-interactive]
        exclude: (?x)(setup\.py$)

  - repo: https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8
    rev: 7.1.0
    hooks:
      - id: flake8
        exclude: (?x)(setup\.py$)

  - repo: https://github.com/pylint-dev/pylint
    rev: v3.2.5
    hooks:
      - id: pylint
        args: [--disable=import-error, --verbose, --jobs=1, --limit-inference-results=500, --score=no]
        exclude: (?x)(setup\.py$)

.github/workflows/lint.yml:

- name: Identify changed files
  run: |
    changed_files=$(git diff --diff-filter=AM --name-only origin/${{ github.event.pull_request.base.ref }} HEAD | grep -E '\.(py|yaml)$' | tr '\r\n' ' ' || true)
    echo "changed_files=$changed_files" >> $GITHUB_ENV

- name: Run pre-commit
  uses: sentinel-one/devops-github-actions/local-repos/pre-commit/action@master
  with:
    extra_args: "--files ${{ env.changed_files }}"

Command used

pre-commit run --files <changed_files_list>

pre-commit run --all-files

Pylint output

pylint...................................................................Failed
- hook id: pylint
- exit code: -9

Expected behavior

pylint: Should analyze files without OOM (exit code -9)
CI: Should complete successfully on PRs with changed files
Memory: Pylint should stay within GitHub Actions runner limits (~7GB RAM)
Performance: Analysis should complete within reasonable time (<10 minutes)

Pylint version

v3.2.5

OS / Environment

Github

Additional dependencies

[Pierre-Sassoulas]

Hello, do you have duplicate-code enabled ? If so it might be fixed by #10881, do you mind installing Pierre-Sassoulas@3640ead and reporting back ?