cmd/go: unhelpful "unknown import path" error for 'go build' in an empty module directory #28459

vdobler · 2018-10-29T12:10:13Z

What version of Go are you using (`go version`)?

go version go1.11.1 darwin/amd64

Does this issue reproduce with the latest release?

Yes.

What operating system and processor architecture are you using (`go env`)?

At least amd64/darwin and amd64/linux, probably all of them.

What did you do?

If a module is just a wrapper for other packages some commands fail
unexpectedly. They also fail with error messages which are not really
helpful diagnosing the underlying problem.

I set up a module which is just a wrapper around two packages a and b
versioned together:

$ tree
.
├── a
│   └── a.go
├── b
│   └── b.go
└── go.mod
$ cat go.mod
module path/should/not/matter

Doing a go build ./... and works fine but go build results in

can't load package: package path/should/not/matter: unknown import path "path/should/not/matter": cannot find module providing package path/should/not/matter

Other commands like go clean -modcache result in the same error.

I think the error can be explained like this:

go build or go clean -modcache are like go build . or go clean -modcache .
Looking up the what . stands for in go.mod yields "path/should/not/matter"
The go tool doesn't know what to do with this import path.
(BTW: if the module is e.g. git.intern.ourcorp.net/shared/tooling
the go tool will start querying Fetching https://git.intern.ourcorp.net/shared?go-get=1
to no avail.)

What did you expect to see?

I would expect that a GO111MODULE=on go build fails with the same
error message like a GO111MODULE=off go build in a GOPATH layout
namely:

can't load package: package stuff: no Go files in $GOPATH/src/stuff

To reproduce:
$ cd /tmp
$ mkdir stuff
$ cd stuff/
$ mkdir a b
$ echo -e 'package a\nconst S="Package A"' > a/a.go
$ echo -e 'package b\nconst S="Package B"' > b/b.go
$ go mod init "path/should/not/matter"
go: creating new go.mod: module path/should/not/matter
$ go build ./... # fine
$ go clean -modcache
can't load package: package path/should/not/matter: unknown import path "path/should/not/matter": cannot find module providing package path/should/not/matter
$ go build .
can't load package: package path/should/not/matter: unknown import path "path/should/not/matter": cannot find module providing package path/should/not/matter

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

myitcv · 2018-10-29T12:33:29Z

@vdobler - please can you edit the issue description to follow the full issue template? It makes it much easier to read and digest issues. Thanks

bcmills · 2018-11-16T15:17:51Z

The fact that go build without arguments fails is working as designed. Per https://golang.org/cmd/go/#hdr-Package_lists_and_patterns:

If no import paths are given, the action applies to the package in the current directory.

bcmills · 2018-11-16T15:18:00Z

That said, we should improve the error message.

gopherbot · 2018-11-17T20:01:35Z

Change https://golang.org/cl/149966 mentions this issue: modules: Fix incorrect error with modules containing no Go source

gopherbot · 2018-12-10T20:46:15Z

Change https://golang.org/cl/153459 mentions this issue: cmd/go: fix 'go test' and 'go fmt' with files outside a module

Use the actual loader result in findModule instead of making assumptions about nesting in the build list. As a side-effect, this produces much clearer error messages for packages that (for one reason or another) failed to load. Adjust the package and module path outside a module to "command-line-arguments". That string already appears in the output of a number of (module-mode and GOPATH-mode) commands for file arguments, and as far as I can tell operation outside a module is currently the only case in which the module path of a package is not actually a prefix of the import path. Fixes #28011 Fixes #27099 Fixes #28943 Updates #27102 Updates #28459 Updates #27063 Change-Id: I61d5556df7b1b7d1efdaffa892f0e3e95b612d87 Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/153459 Run-TryBot: Bryan C. Mills <bcmills@google.com> TryBot-Result: Gobot Gobot <gobot@golang.org> Reviewed-by: Jay Conrod <jayconrod@google.com>

paralin · 2019-03-02T15:31:47Z

This issue appears to extend further - build.Import with build.FindOnly should return the directory path resolved for an import, even if there are no Go files in the directory, but this does not seem to be the case with Go modules.

gopherbot · 2019-07-09T21:18:19Z

Change https://golang.org/cl/185343 mentions this issue: cmd/go/internal/modload: make packageNotInModuleError reasonable for the Target module

gopherbot · 2019-07-09T21:18:35Z

Change https://golang.org/cl/185345 mentions this issue: cmd/go: rationalize errors in internal/load and internal/modload

gopherbot · 2019-08-09T22:02:45Z

Change https://golang.org/cl/189780 mentions this issue: cmd/go/internal/modload: propagate errors from Query for missing imports

Updates #30748 Updates #28459 Change-Id: I1c34b3dae0bf9361dba0dae66bb868901ecafe29 Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/189780 Run-TryBot: Bryan C. Mills <bcmills@google.com> TryBot-Result: Gobot Gobot <gobot@golang.org> Reviewed-by: Jay Conrod <jayconrod@google.com>

gopherbot · 2019-09-11T21:12:07Z

Change https://golang.org/cl/194817 mentions this issue: cmd/go/internal/modload: add an Unwrap method on ImportMissingError

Jay suggested this in CL 189780, and it seems semantically correct. As far as I can tell this has no impact one way or the other right now, but might prevent confusion (or at least give us more experience with error handling!) in future changes. Updates #30748 Updates #28459 Updates #30322 Change-Id: I5d7e9a08ea141628ed6a8fd03c62d0d3c2edf2bb Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/194817 Run-TryBot: Bryan C. Mills <bcmills@google.com> TryBot-Result: Gobot Gobot <gobot@golang.org> Reviewed-by: Jay Conrod <jayconrod@google.com>

bcmills · 2019-12-06T22:23:33Z

As far as I can tell this is fixed at head.

~/src/golang.org/x/mobile$ gotip version
go version devel +0915a19a Fri Dec 6 05:12:15 2019 +0000 linux/amd64

~/src/golang.org/x/mobile$ GO111MODULE=on gotip build
can't load package: package .: no Go files in /usr/local/google/home/bcmills/src/golang.org/x/mobile

~/src/golang.org/x/mobile$ GO111MODULE=off gotip build
can't load package: package golang.org/x/mobile: no Go files in /usr/local/google/home/bcmills/src/golang.org/x/mobile

@vdobler, is this also fixed for your specific example?

gopherbot · 2020-01-06T22:23:50Z

Timed out in state WaitingForInfo. Closing.

(I am just a bot, though. Please speak up if this is a mistake or you have the requested information.)

…the Target module Updates #28459 Updates #32917 Change-Id: Iced562cb7c2e0ac075d8345f1e4ad3b073842dcf Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/185343 Run-TryBot: Bryan C. Mills <bcmills@google.com> TryBot-Result: Gobot Gobot <gobot@golang.org> Reviewed-by: Jay Conrod <jayconrod@google.com>

This change is a non-minimal fix for #32917, but incidentally fixes several other bugs and makes the error messages much more ergonomic. Updates #32917 Updates #27122 Updates #28459 Updates #29280 Updates #30590 Updates #37214 Updates #36173 Updates #36587 Fixes #36008 Fixes #30992 Change-Id: Iedb26d2e0963697c130df5d0f72e7f83ec2dcf06 Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/185345 Reviewed-by: Michael Matloob <matloob@golang.org> Reviewed-by: Jay Conrod <jayconrod@google.com>

myitcv added WaitingForInfo Issue is not actionable because of missing required information, which needs to be provided. modules labels Oct 29, 2018

myitcv changed the title ~~Problems if top-level directory of a module contains no Go code~~ cmd/go: problems if top-level directory of a module contains no Go code Oct 29, 2018

myitcv removed the WaitingForInfo Issue is not actionable because of missing required information, which needs to be provided. label Nov 2, 2018

bcmills changed the title ~~cmd/go: problems if top-level directory of a module contains no Go code~~ cmd/go: unhelpful "unknown import path" error for 'go build' in an empty module directory Nov 16, 2018

bcmills added NeedsFix The path to resolution is known, but the work has not been done. GoCommand cmd/go labels Nov 16, 2018

bcmills added this to the Go1.13 milestone Nov 16, 2018

estroz mentioned this issue Apr 9, 2019

go mod support for new operators operator-framework/operator-sdk#1001

Merged

estroz mentioned this issue May 21, 2019

internal/pkg/scaffold: add group.go scaffold to prevent deepcopy parse errors operator-framework/operator-sdk#1401

Merged

bcmills mentioned this issue Jul 3, 2019

cmd/go: go test in a directory without any test files uses network access to try to fetch the source for the code running locally #32917

Closed

andybons modified the milestones: Go1.13, Go1.14 Jul 8, 2019

jayconrod mentioned this issue Jul 9, 2019

cmd/go: improve error message when a package does not exist #30723

Closed

nikhita mentioned this issue Jul 16, 2019

[WIP] sync-tags: add support for versioned imports kubernetes/publishing-bot#196

Closed

aarondl mentioned this issue Sep 2, 2019

cmd/go: The modules feature acts in surprising ways #34025

Closed

gazerro mentioned this issue Sep 11, 2019

cmd/scriggo: improve handling errors when loading modules open2b/scriggo#395

Open

rsc modified the milestones: Go1.14, Backlog Oct 9, 2019

bcmills added the WaitingForInfo Issue is not actionable because of missing required information, which needs to be provided. label Dec 6, 2019

gopherbot closed this as completed Jan 6, 2020

golang locked and limited conversation to collaborators Jan 5, 2021

gopherbot added the FrozenDueToAge label Jan 5, 2021

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cmd/go: unhelpful "unknown import path" error for 'go build' in an empty module directory #28459

cmd/go: unhelpful "unknown import path" error for 'go build' in an empty module directory #28459

vdobler commented Oct 29, 2018 •

edited

myitcv commented Oct 29, 2018

bcmills commented Nov 16, 2018

bcmills commented Nov 16, 2018

gopherbot commented Nov 17, 2018

gopherbot commented Dec 10, 2018

paralin commented Mar 2, 2019

gopherbot commented Jul 9, 2019

gopherbot commented Jul 9, 2019

gopherbot commented Aug 9, 2019

gopherbot commented Sep 11, 2019

bcmills commented Dec 6, 2019

gopherbot commented Jan 6, 2020

cmd/go: unhelpful "unknown import path" error for 'go build' in an empty module directory #28459

cmd/go: unhelpful "unknown import path" error for 'go build' in an empty module directory #28459

Comments

vdobler commented Oct 29, 2018 • edited

What version of Go are you using (go version)?

Does this issue reproduce with the latest release?

What operating system and processor architecture are you using (go env)?

What did you do?

What did you expect to see?

myitcv commented Oct 29, 2018

bcmills commented Nov 16, 2018

bcmills commented Nov 16, 2018

gopherbot commented Nov 17, 2018

gopherbot commented Dec 10, 2018

paralin commented Mar 2, 2019

gopherbot commented Jul 9, 2019

gopherbot commented Jul 9, 2019

gopherbot commented Aug 9, 2019

gopherbot commented Sep 11, 2019

bcmills commented Dec 6, 2019

gopherbot commented Jan 6, 2020

vdobler commented Oct 29, 2018 •

edited

What version of Go are you using (`go version`)?

What operating system and processor architecture are you using (`go env`)?