#21625·checkstyle

Update all filters documentation and javadoc to mention that accept() that return true means violation will be in report

Author: romaniCreated Sep 17, 2026Updated Sep 19, 2026
Labelsapproved

It was confusion for a while. but here was last drop https://github.com/checkstyle/checkstyle/pull/21570#discussion_r4032531547

We have a lot of filters https://checkstyle.org/filters/index.html , here is single : https://checkstyle.org/filters/severitymatchfilter.html

Image

Filter SeverityMatchFilter decides audit events according to the severity level of the event.

severity Specify the severity level of this filter.

acceptOnMatch Control whether the filter accepts an audit event if and only if there is a match between the event's severity level and property severity. If acceptOnMatch is false, then the filter accepts an audit event if and only if there is not a match between the event's severity level and property severity.

our code https://github.com/checkstyle/checkstyle/blob/63e6635e29d80925dfcf2fe94d09af1ff25834e4/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/Checker.java#L410-L414

accept means violation will be in report.

We need to update all javadoc and xdoc(that will be in html) to mention this, as users need to know what to know what to do to make violation disappear from final report.