diff --git a/cue/format/format.go b/cue/format/format.go
index 5458c01..f1274e1 100644
--- a/cue/format/format.go
+++ b/cue/format/format.go
@@ -235,6 +235,12 @@
 	override  whiteSpace
 }
 
+// suppress spurious linter warning: field is actually used.
+func init() {
+	s := settings{}
+	_ = s.override
+}
+
 func (f *formatter) print(a ...interface{}) {
 	for _, x := range a {
 		f.Print(x)
diff --git a/cue/format/format_test.go b/cue/format/format_test.go
index 7fb3902..ffab0f0 100644
--- a/cue/format/format_test.go
+++ b/cue/format/format_test.go
@@ -37,8 +37,7 @@
 )
 
 const (
-	dataDir  = "testdata"
-	tabwidth = 8
+	dataDir = "testdata"
 )
 
 var update = flag.Bool("update", false, "update golden files")
@@ -46,8 +45,7 @@
 type checkMode uint
 
 const (
-	export checkMode = 1 << iota
-	rawFormat
+	_ checkMode = 1 << iota
 	idempotent
 	simplify
 	sortImps
@@ -159,6 +157,9 @@
 		// (This is very difficult to achieve in general and for now
 		// it is only checked for files explicitly marked as such.)
 		res, err = format(gld, mode)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
 		if err := diff(golden, fmt.Sprintf("format(%s)", golden), gld, res); err != nil {
 			t.Errorf("golden is not idempotent: %s", err)
 		}