x/tools/go/analysis <https://pkg.go.dev/golang.org/x/tools/go/analysis>
states "[a]n analysis reports mistakes is informally called a 'checker'".
While checkers are extensional - and Go is tangibly not sine qua non about
extensions - the foundations are there and they seem appropriate in the
right circumstances. Analyses employed by `go vet` or `gopls` demonstrate
the utility of checkers within the standard Go distribution.
It seems like, while there are enough options out there, there's no really
immediate way to run a checker from a third party from the standard
distribution. One reasonable question is whether this really is a gap in
the ecosystem, or if it's fine to leave alone. Static analyzers don't have
to be checkers, and the ones that aren't that sharp don't make sense here.
Another question, though: for well-formulated checkers, could `go test` be
a platform for running them? I'm wondering if it'd be plausible to run a
checker very much like a test function. Or if I'm missing something that
makes the notion obviously implausible. As a very crude illustration:
```
-- local_test.go --
package local
import (
"testing"
"github.com/some/checker"
)
func TestChecker() {
testing.Analyze(checker.Check()
}
```
The details would be a bit magic, with a fair amount of implicit behavior:
- There'd be no *testing.T argument (not sure about this, but just for
illustration...)
- `checker.Check()` would not be an `analysis.Analyzer`, but eventually
serves to partially initialize one with analysis logic. Roughly, I think
the type of `checker.Check()` could be some interface. Indirection and
assertions behind the scenes could be employed such that `analysis` isn't
an explicit dependency in `local` or `testing`; `analysis` would likely be
a dependency in `checker`.
- the `analysis.Analyzer` is employed by an `analysis.Pass` populated by
`testing` - the set of files it examines are naturally described by the
invocation of `testing`
- `testing` would arrange for this `analysis.Pass` to run once before other
tests, aggregating all `testing.Analyze` inputs to run with that pass
- problems detected by checkers would manifest like other fatal `testing`
outcomes: halting, failing, and logging a relevant message
- a really very, very magic thing would be for `gopls` to detect
`testing.Analyze` calls ...
The closest prior art here I've found is https://github.com/surullabs/lint,
it has a stated purpose of having "lint checks to be part of a regular go
build + go test workflow". But it's also using `os/exec` to run linters -
that seems like a red flag. It also doesn't stress checkers versus linting
for style, etc. Also in terms of prior art, I don't think it's entirely
unnatural to end up with something ad-hoc along the same lines when
developing around code generation or reflection.
I should note I'm definitely seeing this because of discussion around
struct tags on https://github.com/golang/go/issues/73787,
https://github.com/golang/go/issues/74472#issuecomment-3061802569.
https://github.com/golang/go/issues/74376 seems like an example of using
static analysis over json tags in a way that would be possible to `go
test`. It's not necessary with `go vet` and `gopls` coverage, but I think
that putting equivalent pieces together isn't really convenient for third
party solutions ... maybe it could be?
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