Add flag to prohibit equality checks between non-overlapping checks (#6370)

Fixes #1271

The new per-file flag `--strict-equality` disables equality, identity, and container checks between non-overlapping types. In general the implementation is straightforward. Here are some corner cases I have found:
* `Any` should be always safe.
* Type promotions should be ignored, `b'abc == 'abc'` should be an error.
* Checks like `if x is not None: ...`, are special cased to not be errors if `x` has non-optional type.
* `Optional[str]` and `Optional[bytes]` should be considered non-overlapping for the purpose of this flag.
* For structural containers and custom `__eq__()` (i.e. incompatible with `object.__eq__()`) I suppress the non-overlapping types error, if there is already an error originating from the method call check.

Note that I updated `typing-full.pyi` so that `Sequence` inherits from `Container` (this is needed by some added tests, and also matches real stubs). This however caused necessary changes in a bunch of builtins fixtures.

Author: ilevkivskyi

docs/source/command_line.rst

@@ -386,6 +386,23 @@ of the above sections.
            # 'items' now has type List[List[str]]
            ...
 
+``--strict-equality``
+    By default, mypy allows always-false comparisons like ``42 == 'no'``.
+    Use this flag to prohibit such comparisons of non-overlapping types, and
+    similar identity and container checks:
+
+    .. code-block:: python
+
+       from typing import Text
+
+       text: Text
+       if b'some bytes' in text:  # Error: non-overlapping check!
+           ...
+       if text != b'other bytes':  # Error: non-overlapping check!
+           ...
+
+       assert text is not None  # OK, this special case is allowed.
+
 ``--strict``
     This flag mode enables all optional error checking flags.  You can see the
     list of flags enabled by strict mode in the full ``mypy --help`` output.

docs/source/config_file.rst

@@ -294,6 +294,10 @@ Miscellaneous strictness flags
     Allows variables to be redefined with an arbitrary type, as long as the redefinition
     is in the same block and nesting level as the original definition.
 
+``strict_equality``  (bool, default False)
+   Prohibit equality checks, identity checks, and container checks between
+   non-overlapping types.
+
 Global-only options
 *******************
 

mypy/checker.py

@@ -2997,6 +2997,25 @@ def analyze_iterable_item_type(self, expr: Expression) -> Tuple[Type, Type]:
                 nextmethod = 'next'
             return iterator, echk.check_method_call_by_name(nextmethod, iterator, [], [], expr)[0]
 
+    def analyze_container_item_type(self, typ: Type) -> Optional[Type]:
+        """Check if a type is a nominal container of a union of such.
+
+        Return the corresponding container item type.
+        """
+        if isinstance(typ, UnionType):
+            types = []  # type: List[Type]
+            for item in typ.items:
+                c_type = self.analyze_container_item_type(item)
+                if c_type:
+                    types.append(c_type)
+            return UnionType.make_union(types)
+        if isinstance(typ, Instance) and typ.type.has_base('typing.Container'):
+            supertype = self.named_type('typing.Container').type
+            super_instance = map_instance_to_supertype(typ, supertype)
+            assert len(super_instance.args) == 1
+            return super_instance.args[0]
+        return None
+
     def analyze_index_variables(self, index: Expression, item_type: Type,
                                 infer_lvalue_type: bool, context: Context) -> None:
         """Type check or infer for loop or list comprehension index vars."""

mypy/checkexpr.py

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 from mypy import message_registry
 from mypy.infer import infer_type_arguments, infer_function_type_arguments
 from mypy import join
-from mypy.meet import narrow_declared_type
+from mypy.meet import narrow_declared_type, is_overlapping_types
 from mypy.subtypes import (
     is_subtype, is_proper_subtype, is_equivalent, find_member, non_method_protocol_members,
 )
@@ -1914,6 +1914,11 @@ def visit_comparison_expr(self, e: ComparisonExpr) -> Type:
                 _, method_type = self.check_method_call_by_name(
                     '__contains__', right_type, [left], [ARG_POS], e, local_errors)
                 sub_result = self.bool_type()
+                # Container item type for strict type overlap checks. Note: we need to only
+                # check for nominal type, because a usual "Unsupported operands for in"
+                # will be reported for types incompatible with __contains__().
+                # See testCustomContainsCheckStrictEquality for an example.
+                cont_type = self.chk.analyze_container_item_type(right_type)
                 if isinstance(right_type, PartialType):
                     # We don't really know if this is an error or not, so just shut up.
                     pass
@@ -1929,16 +1934,29 @@ def visit_comparison_expr(self, e: ComparisonExpr) -> Type:
                         self.named_type('builtins.function'))
                     if not is_subtype(left_type, itertype):
                         self.msg.unsupported_operand_types('in', left_type, right_type, e)
+                # Only show dangerous overlap if there are no other errors.
+                elif (not local_errors.is_errors() and cont_type and
+                        self.dangerous_comparison(left_type, cont_type)):
+                    self.msg.dangerous_comparison(left_type, cont_type, 'container', e)
                 else:
                     self.msg.add_errors(local_errors)
             elif operator in nodes.op_methods:
                 method = self.get_operator_method(operator)
+                err_count = self.msg.errors.total_errors()
                 sub_result, method_type = self.check_op(method, left_type, right, e,
-                                                    allow_reverse=True)
+                                                        allow_reverse=True)
+                # Only show dangerous overlap if there are no other errors. See
+                # testCustomEqCheckStrictEquality for an example.
+                if self.msg.errors.total_errors() == err_count and operator in ('==', '!='):
+                    right_type = self.accept(right)
+                    if self.dangerous_comparison(left_type, right_type):
+                        self.msg.dangerous_comparison(left_type, right_type, 'equality', e)
 
             elif operator == 'is' or operator == 'is not':
-                self.accept(right)  # validate the right operand
+                right_type = self.accept(right)  # validate the right operand
                 sub_result = self.bool_type()
+                if self.dangerous_comparison(left_type, right_type):
+                    self.msg.dangerous_comparison(left_type, right_type, 'identity', e)
                 method_type = None
             else:
                 raise RuntimeError('Unknown comparison operator {}'.format(operator))
@@ -1954,6 +1972,30 @@ def visit_comparison_expr(self, e: ComparisonExpr) -> Type:
         assert result is not None
         return result
 
+    def dangerous_comparison(self, left: Type, right: Type) -> bool:
+        """Check for dangerous non-overlapping comparisons like 42 == 'no'.
+
+        Rules:
+            * X and None are overlapping even in strict-optional mode. This is to allow
+            'assert x is not None' for x defined as 'x = None  # type: str' in class body
+            (otherwise mypy itself would have couple dozen errors because of this).
+            * Optional[X] and Optional[Y] are non-overlapping if X and Y are
+            non-overlapping, although technically None is overlap, it is most
+            likely an error.
+            * Any overlaps with everything, i.e. always safe.
+            * Promotions are ignored, so both 'abc' == b'abc' and 1 == 1.0
+            are errors. This is mostly needed for bytes vs unicode, and
+            int vs float are added just for consistency.
+        """
+        if not self.chk.options.strict_equality:
+            return False
+        if isinstance(left, NoneTyp) or isinstance(right, NoneTyp):
+            return False
+        if isinstance(left, UnionType) and isinstance(right, UnionType):
+            left = remove_optional(left)
+            right = remove_optional(right)
+        return not is_overlapping_types(left, right, ignore_promotions=True)
+
     def get_operator_method(self, op: str) -> str:
         if op == '/' and self.chk.options.python_version[0] == 2:
             # TODO also check for "from __future__ import division"

mypy/errors.py

@@ -169,6 +169,9 @@ def copy(self) -> 'Errors':
         new.scope = self.scope
         return new
 
+    def total_errors(self) -> int:
+        return sum(len(errs) for errs in self.error_info_map.values())
+
     def set_ignore_prefix(self, prefix: str) -> None:
         """Set path prefix that will be removed from all paths."""
         prefix = os.path.normpath(prefix)

mypy/main.py

@@ -527,6 +527,11 @@ def add_invertible_flag(flag: str,
                         help="Allow unconditional variable redefinition with a new type",
                         group=strictness_group)
 
+    add_invertible_flag('--strict-equality', default=False, strict_flag=False,
+                        help="Prohibit equality, identity, and container checks for"
+                             " non-overlapping types",
+                        group=strictness_group)
+
     incremental_group = parser.add_argument_group(
         title='Incremental mode',
         description="Adjust how mypy incrementally type checks and caches modules. "

mypy/meet.py

@@ -221,9 +221,28 @@ def is_none_typevar_overlap(t1: Type, t2: Type) -> bool:
     # As before, we degrade into 'Instance' whenever possible.
 
     if isinstance(left, TypeType) and isinstance(right, TypeType):
-        # TODO: Can Callable[[...], T] and Type[T] be partially overlapping?
         return _is_overlapping_types(left.item, right.item)
 
+    def _type_object_overlap(left: Type, right: Type) -> bool:
+        """Special cases for type object types overlaps."""
+        # TODO: these checks are a bit in gray area, adjust if they cause problems.
+        # 1. Type[C] vs Callable[..., C], where the latter is class object.
+        if isinstance(left, TypeType) and isinstance(right, CallableType) and right.is_type_obj():
+            return _is_overlapping_types(left.item, right.ret_type)
+        # 2. Type[C] vs Meta, where Meta is a metaclass for C.
+        if (isinstance(left, TypeType) and isinstance(left.item, Instance) and
+                isinstance(right, Instance)):
+            left_meta = left.item.type.metaclass_type
+            if left_meta is not None:
+                return _is_overlapping_types(left_meta, right)
+            # builtins.type (default metaclass) overlaps with all metaclasses
+            return right.type.has_base('builtins.type')
+        # 3. Callable[..., C] vs Meta is considered below, when we switch to fallbacks.
+        return False
+
+    if isinstance(left, TypeType) or isinstance(right, TypeType):
+        return _type_object_overlap(left, right) or _type_object_overlap(right, left)
+
     if isinstance(left, CallableType) and isinstance(right, CallableType):
         return is_callable_compatible(left, right,
                                       is_compat=_is_overlapping_types,

mypy/messages.py

@@ -975,6 +975,13 @@ def incompatible_typevar_value(self,
                   .format(typevar_name, callable_name(callee) or 'function', self.format(typ)),
                   context)
 
+    def dangerous_comparison(self, left: Type, right: Type, kind: str, ctx: Context) -> None:
+        left_str = 'element' if kind == 'container' else 'left operand'
+        right_str = 'container item' if kind == 'container' else 'right operand'
+        message = 'Non-overlapping {} check ({} type: {}, {} type: {})'
+        left_typ, right_typ = self.format_distinctly(left, right)
+        self.fail(message.format(kind, left_str, left_typ, right_str, right_typ), ctx)
+
     def overload_inconsistently_applies_decorator(self, decorator: str, context: Context) -> None:
         self.fail(
             'Overload does not consistently use the "@{}" '.format(decorator)

mypy/options.py

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ class BuildType:
     # Please keep this list sorted
     "allow_untyped_globals",
     "allow_redefinition",
+    "strict_equality",
     "always_false",
     "always_true",
     "check_untyped_defs",
@@ -157,6 +158,10 @@ def __init__(self) -> None:
         # and the same nesting level as the initialization
         self.allow_redefinition = False
 
+        # Prohibit equality, identity, and container checks for non-overlapping types.
+        # This makes 1 == '1', 1 in ['1'], and 1 is '1' errors.
+        self.strict_equality = False
+
         # Variable names considered True
         self.always_true = []  # type: List[str]