tsc sometimes doesn't respect "include" in tsconfig.json

[Zarel]

TypeScript Version: 2.6.1, 2.7.0-dev.201xxxxx

Code

Unfortunately, this error disappears when I try to construct a simple self-contained test-case (most TypeScript errors I encounter work like this, which makes debugging them really weird).

But you can reproduce this with:

git clone https://github.com/Zarel/Pokemon-Showdown
cd Pokemon-Showdown
git checkout 28cb849
npm i
tsc

Expected behavior:

No errors

Actual behavior:

punishments.js(1135,10): error TS1005: '{' expected.

This is unexpected because punishments.js is explicitly not one of the files included in "include" in tsconfig.json. Even explicitly adding "exclude": ["punishments.js"] doesn't make the error disappear.

I thought maybe I was using the wrong syntax? But when I copied the tsconfig.json to a new project, suddenly the "include" setting was being respected again (this is what I mean by "this error disappears when I try to construct a simple self-contained test-case").

[Zarel]

...never mind, I figured it out.

(punishments.js was being required by dev-tools/globals.ts)

[Zarel]

(On third thought, commenting out the relevant line of dev-tools/globals.ts doesn't make the error disappear, either; I'm confused again.)

[mhegazy]

The compiler picks up imports from your files, not just include/exclude, see https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/FAQ#why-is-a-file-in-the-exclude-list-still-picked-up-by-the-compiler

[Zarel]

Yes, but if I remove the import, it's still giving the same error message.

[Zarel]

...okay, it's working now. There was a stray input elsewhere.

[Zarel]

...I'm still unclear on what's making the error message appear. It would probably be useful to be able to ask TypeScript what file is importing the file.

I was able to discover that chat-commands is importing punishments (and removing that import suppresses that error), but not what's importing chat-commands

[mhegazy]

...I'm still unclear on what's making the error message appear. It would probably be useful to be able to ask TypeScript what file is importing the file.

use tsc --listFiles to know what files are included in your compilation, and tsc --traceResolution to know why they were included.

[Zarel]

Thanks!