autotest's run_pylint is separate from `cros lint`. There is a bug to unify those ( issue 452983 ). That bug has been open for months / years.

In the short term, let's improve run_pylint based presubmit hook to only check the diff in a commit. That will allow us to at least enforce whatever run_pylint checks already in new code.

Currently, if I make a tiny change:
diff --git a/scheduler/monitor_db_functional_test.py b/scheduler/monitor_db_functional_test.py
index 4538f08fe..22041c831 100755
--- a/scheduler/monitor_db_functional_test.py
+++ b/scheduler/monitor_db_functional_test.py
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ class MockConnectionManager(object):
 
     def __init__(self):
         super(MockConnectionManager, self).__init__()
+        some_trivial_change = 3
+        print(some_trivial_change)
 
     def get_connection(self):
         assert MockConnectionManager.db


the pre upload hook blows up on the whole file:
pprabhu@pprabhu:/work/chromiumos/src/third_party/autotest/files$ repo upload . --cbr
Errors in PROJECT *chromiumos/third_party/autotest*!
    COMMIT 0f01afb8:
        Description:
            >not a cl
            >
            >BUG=None.
            >TEST=None.
            >
            >Change-Id: I392d0f4edb5e5d833dcb861306adbdd62295e716
            >
            >
        Errors:
            * Hook script "./utils/run_pylint.py" failed with code 1:
              ************* Module monitor_db_functional_test
              C: 18, 0: Missing class docstring (missing-docstring)
              C: 22, 8: Missing function docstring (missing-docstring)
              C: 28, 0: Missing class docstring (missing-docstring)
              C: 45, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:142, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:147, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:151, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:167, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:172, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:178, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:183, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:187, 4: Docstring needs "@param working_directory:" (missing-docstring)
              C:203, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:208, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:212, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:219, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:233, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:257, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              W:276,12: Specify string format arguments as logging function parameters (logging-not-lazy)
              C:280, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:284, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:288, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:292, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:296, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:300, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:312, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:323, 0: Missing class docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:326, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:331, 0: Missing class docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:412, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:454, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:482, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:499, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:505, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:552, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:562, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:605, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:614, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:634, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:640, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:651, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:663, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:676, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:689, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:703, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:728, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:741, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:763, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:777, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:816, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:822, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:828, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:841, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:861, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:872, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:897, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:920, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:942, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:977, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:1030, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:1055, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:1067, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:1084, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:1102, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:1125, 0: Missing class docstring (missing-docstring)
              C:1166, 4: Missing method docstring (missing-docstring)
              W: 10, 0: Unused import host_scheduler (unused-import)
              ERROR:root:20
              

Preupload failed due to errors in project(s). HINTS:
- To disable some source style checks, and for other hints, see <checkout_dir>/src/repohooks/README
- To upload only current project, run 'repo upload .'