Python: unused argument needed for compatibility. How to avoid Pylint complaining about it

Question

For my code in Python, I would like to call many functions with a specific argument. However, for some functions, that argument does not do anything. Still, I would like to add the argument for compatibility reasons. For example, consider the following minimal working example:

def my_function(unused=False):
    """ Function with unused argument. """
    return True

Obviously, the argument unused is not used, so Pylint throws a warning:

W0613: Unused argument 'redundant' (unused-argument)

My point is that I do not want to remove the argument unused, because the function my_function will be called in a similar way as many other functions for which unused is used.

My question: How can I avoid the warning from Pylint without removing the optional argument?

Option 1: I can think of two options, but these options do not satisfy me. One option is to add some useless code, such that unused is used, e.g.,

def my_function(unused=False):
    """ Function with unused argument. """
    if unused:
        dummy = 10
        del dummy
    return True

This feels as a waste of resources and it only clutters the code.

Option 2: The second option is to suppress the warning, e.g., like this:

def my_function(unused=False):
    """ Function with unused argument. """
    # pylint: disable=unused-argument
    return True

I also do not really like this option, because usually Pylint warnings are a sign of bad style, so I am more looking to a different way of coding that avoids this warning.

What other options do I have?

Answer 1

It would be possible to work out a solution by playing around with **kwargs. For example:

def _function_a(one, two=2):
    return one + two

def _function_b(one, **kwargs):
    return one + kwargs['two']

def _function_c(one, **_kwargs):
    return one

def _main():
    for _function in [_function_a, _function_b, _function_c]:
        print(_function.__name__, _function(1, two=4))