I'm also +1 on those ideas, and I'd also like to add a recommendation to
switch to a "standard" return signature for client methods, say Requested
Object, Alerts, Summary (?), ReqInf, Error ? We have many endpoint methods
that silently drop returned Alerts and I think there are a few that don't
return ReqInf.

On Fri, May 15, 2020, 14:46 Zach Hoffman <[email protected]> wrote:

> >I think we should either thoroughly document that the returned
> `http.Response.Body` will always be closed, or else add the
> `http.Response.Status`  and `http.Response.Header` to `ReqInf`, instead of
> the `http.Response` itself.
>
> Does a calling function have the responsibility of closing Response.Body,
> since
> Session.ErrUnlessOK() already defers doing so?
>
> >Returning a closed Body seems to violate the Principle of Least Surprise.
>
> The official documentation (https://golang.org/pkg/net/http/#Client.Do)
> states:
>
> >On error, any Response can be ignored. A non-nil Response with a non-nil
> error
> >only occurs when CheckRedirect fails, and even then the returned
> Response.Body
> >is already closed.
>
> So, returning the full http.Response struct to callers in case of an error
> does
> not incur additional responsibility.
>
> >> add the `http.Response.Status`  and `http.Response.Header` to `ReqInf`,
> >> instead of the `http.Response` itself.
> >
> >+1, I can get on board with that. It's also entirely possible that not
> >all of our client methods currently return a `ReqInf`, but we should
> >definitely rectify that.
>
> That sounds fine to me, as well. Then we should be able to get rid of all
> of the
> Session.RawRequest() usage that the Role, StaticDNSEntry, and
> DeliveryServiceRequests client functions currently have.
>
> -Zach
>
>
> On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 2:30 PM Rawlin Peters <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > add the `http.Response.Status`  and `http.Response.Header` to `ReqInf`,
> > instead of the `http.Response` itself.
> >
> > +1, I can get on board with that. It's also entirely possible that not
> > all of our client methods currently return a `ReqInf`, but we should
> > definitely rectify that.
> >
> > - Rawlin
> >
> > On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 2:09 PM Robert O Butts <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >
> > > >I've never really been a fan of the `ErrUnlessOK` behavior in the
> client
> > >
> > > +1 - In my experience, the pain exceeds the convenience.
> > >
> > > >If the HTTP request was successful but returned a bad status code, a
> > > non-nil error would be returned along with the non-nil http.Response.
> But
> > > if the HTTP request failed (e.g. due to a failed connection), it would
> > > return a non-nil error but a nil http.Response.
> > >
> > > +1
> > >
> > > My only concern is the `Response.Body`. It's an additional burden and
> > > potential error for clients to have to close the Body, especially since
> > > we've already deserialized and returned what it contains. In fact,
> > because
> > > `http.Reader.Body` isn't an `io.Seeker`, I think it's impossible for us
> > to
> > > reset it.
> > >
> > > I think we should either thoroughly document that the returned
> > > `http.Response.Body` will always be closed, or else add the
> > > `http.Response.Status`  and `http.Response.Header` to `ReqInf`, instead
> > of
> > > the `http.Response` itself.
> > >
> > > I'm leaning toward the latter. Returning a closed Body seems to violate
> > the
> > > Principle of Least Surprise. I can imagine scenarios where someone
> might
> > > want some of the other data in `http.Response`, but they seem pretty
> > > unlikely. With the headers and remote IP you can usually figure out the
> > > rest. I've used the client a lot, and I don't think I've ever
> > wanted/needed
> > > anything but the code and headers.
> > >
> > > Thoughts?
> > >
> > > On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 1:51 PM Rawlin Peters <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Honestly, I've never really been a fan of the `ErrUnlessOK` behavior
> > > > in the client, but I also know it makes things more convenient (at
> > > > least for non-test purposes). I know it's kind of "idiomatic Go" to
> > > > not rely on any other return value being useful when the error is
> > > > non-nil, but I personally don't see a problem with returning some
> kind
> > > > of response object even when returning a non-nil error (the 3rd
> option
> > > > you've mentioned). Most use cases for testing probably care mainly
> > > > about the status code returned, but I could see us wanting to test
> > > > things like response headers too. So rather than just returning the
> > > > status code from the client, we should probably just return the full
> > > > `*http.Response`. If the HTTP request was successful but returned a
> > > > bad status code, a non-nil error would be returned along with the
> > > > non-nil http.Response. But if the HTTP request failed (e.g. due to a
> > > > failed connection), it would return a non-nil error but a nil
> > > > http.Response.
> > > >
> > > > If we added the `*http.Response` to the ReqInf struct that is
> > > > typically returned by all client methods, that would save us from
> > > > having to go update the usage throughout the codebase (as opposed to
> > > > changing the function signature by adding a new return value). I
> think
> > > > that would be alright.
> > > >
> > > > - Rawlin
> > > >
> > > > On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 12:12 PM Zach Hoffman <[email protected]>
> > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > In Go, we often use an error's nilness to verify that a subroutine
> > was
> > > > > successful. While this is fine, the converse, returning a nil
> struct
> > and
> > > > a
> > > > > non-nil error in the case of failure, is not necessarily
> sufficient,
> > > > > particularly in the case of HTTP response status codes, where it is
> > often
> > > > > important to distinguish between responses that have a 400-level or
> > > > > 500-level status code.
> > > > >
> > > > > When we test Traffic Ops validation with negative Traffic Ops API
> > tests,
> > > > we
> > > > > should assert that the response status code is 400-level, as
> > 500-level
> > > > > indicades a server error. However, asserting status codes is not
> > > > currently
> > > > > practical in the TO API tests, because:
> > > > >
> > > > > • The status code is a field in the http.Response struct
> > > > > • For all cases of successfully receiving a response,
> > > > > client.Session.request() will return the result of
> > > > > client.Session.ErrUnlessOK() unless the status code is 401, 403, or
> > > > > 200-level:
> > > > >
> > > >
> >
> https://github.com/apache/trafficcontrol/blob/683ba8cf8c/traffic_ops/client/session.go#L342-L351
> > > > > • Unless the response status code is less than 300,
> > > > > client.Session.ErrUnlessOK() will return a nil response:
> > > > >
> > > >
> >
> https://github.com/apache/trafficcontrol/blob/683ba8cf8c/traffic_ops/client/session.go#L321-L329
> > > > >
> > > > > To provide a practical example of this problem, the status code
> check
> > > > added
> > > > > in https://github.com/apache/trafficcontrol/pull/4694 will always
> > pass
> > > > > because the Topologies API tests will not know if a response's
> status
> > > > code
> > > > > was 500-level.
> > > > >
> > > > > One possible answer to this is "Then don't use
> > client.Session.request(),
> > > > > just use client.Session.RawRequest() directly. This answer neglects
> > the
> > > > > fact that, although the goal mentioned is to verify HTTP status
> > codes in
> > > > > the API tests, the preferred method of sending requests from the
> API
> > > > tests
> > > > > to the Traffic Ops instance is using the Golang Traffic Ops client
> > > > library,
> > > > > which benefits from the additional validation that
> > > > client.Session.request()
> > > > > provides over client.Session.RawRequest(). Performing this
> validation
> > > > > outside of client.Session.request() or client.Session.RawRequest()
> > but
> > > > > still using it would be duplicated effort.
> > > > >
> > > > > Another possible answer is "Just derive the status code from the
> > error
> > > > > string". Besides the fact that the error is not guaranteed to be
> > non-nil,
> > > > > building program flow around the anticipated structure of an error
> > > > message
> > > > > would be an anti-pattern that would take increasing effort to
> > maintain as
> > > > > the TO client library grows and is worth avoiding.
> > > > >
> > > > > A third option is to modify client.Session.ErrUnlessOK() to stil
> > return
> > > > the
> > > > > response in cases where there was an error. This option does not
> > remove
> > > > any
> > > > > information, as the error from the validation that ErrUnlessOK()
> > performs
> > > > > is still returned. When that error is non-nil, callers still know
> to
> > > > abort
> > > > > what they were doing, but we now can benefit from the additional
> > > > > information that the non-nil response provides (including status
> > code).
> > > > >
> > > > > A fourth option is to add an additional request method that has all
> > of
> > > > > client.Session.request()'s validation but still always returns the
> > > > > response. Code fragmentation like this incurs an additional
> > maintenance
> > > > > cost and would be nice to avoid.
> > > > >
> > > > > Does anyone prefer one of these four options (or a different
> option)?
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks for reading.
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > Zach
> > > >
> >
>

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