New Rule: No Import Type

[paulo-ferraz-oliveira]

Name

no_import_type

Brief Description

It is possible that a new import_type directive (⚠️ a previous link was removed - though GitHub doesn't seem to update the target - so that this rule suggestion is not poorly interpreted as an "attack" on the functionality...) lands in OTP soon (27 or later, I imagine). While it may have uses in some specific cases, namely, as the proposer mentions, large code bases, it can easily be avoided in smaller code bases. elvis_core shall propose this rule as "enabled by default".

Reasoning

There seems to be some value in the use of the directive:

• for large code bases, where the use of "externally-defined" types is done by means of an auxiliary (internal) type
• for potential removal of boilerplate, also potentially at the expense of more "difficult to reason about" code: where does the type come from? (it might be Ok if you use a language server, but not all developers do, and some might actually prefer the clarify of having Module:<type>)

but it's probably best to start by avoiding it (as we propose avoiding import). elvis_core proposes, doesn't force, and one can always go about using disable to negative the effect of the new rule 😄.

Refactoring Proposal

Instead of -import_type(m, [t/0])., then t, simply use m:t().

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This would potentially be a breaking change, depending on how we consider that to be (we're not changing the interface, but adding a rule, which may cause issues in flows with warnings_as_errors) but the MIGRATION.md file hasn't been updated in a while, either.