The latest v2023.18.0 is causing the linter option to run bandit which is not available and auto-enabling the default (.venv) even when not requested.

[iamibi]

I updated the python extension to the latest and I started receiving errors that the extension was trying to run bandit linter (i never configured it). Additionally, not some random .venv is activated on the vscode terminal (again, not my configuration). I have to manually set the bash source to .bashrc and then activate my custom virtual environment (separate from the one that was activated by the extension).

Rolling back the python extension to v2023.16.0 resolved this issue for me.

[karthiknadig]

@iamibi Can you share your user and workspace settings?

[dipasqualew]

Same happens to me, but with flake8. I use ruff. No mentions of Python linters in my setting files.

[maltsev]

Same for me (for flake8).

[iamibi]

@iamibi Can you share your user and workspace settings?

I was able to figure out the issue. So, I was using WSL and even though my workspace settings never mentioned anything about bandit linting, the WSL settings (located in ~/.vscode-server/data/Machine/settings.json) were having these references. After removing them and updating the plugin to the latest version fixed the issue.

[dipasqualew]

Thanks @iamibi – I use a Mac, so the WSL solution doesn't apply to me unfortunately.

Any clues on how you found the offending setting file?

Edit:

Found the solution, at least for me. Here are the steps:

1. Open the command palette, select "Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)"
2. Find the relevant entry (for flake8, it is python.linting.flake8Enabled)
3. Set it to false

@maltsev I suspect it might fix it for you as well!

[iamibi]

Weird that this issue started popping up after the recent update. Something was fixed (un)knowingly. Maybe the team can say it "It's not a bug, it's a feature :P"

[karthiknadig]

The default for most of these is false:

vscode-python/package.json

Lines 682 to 683 in e7dfef8

	"python.linting.banditEnabled": {
	"default": false,

vscode-python/package.json

Lines 783 to 784 in e7dfef8

	"python.linting.flake8Enabled": {
	"default": false,

It should not trigger these linters unless explicitly set to true. You can also just remove any setting that enables any of the linters.

[maltsev]

Found the solution, at least for me. Here are the steps:

1. Open the command palette, select "Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)"
2. Find the relevant entry (for flake8, it is python.linting.flake8Enabled)
3. Set it to false
   @maltsev I suspect it might fix it for you as well!

Thanks! Actually, that was the first thing I tried :-) It did solve the issue for some workspaces but not for other ones. So in the end, I just installed the new flake8 plugin.

[karthiknadig]

This is now fixed in pre-release