cmd/go: go clean should not accept flags like -modcache with packages #53725

mvdan · 2022-07-06T20:44:08Z

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

$ go version
go version devel go1.19-818ffd4247 Tue Jul 5 15:19:44 2022 +0100 linux/amd64

Does this issue reproduce with the latest release?

Yes.

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

go env Output

$ go env
GO111MODULE=""
GOARCH="amd64"
GOBIN=""
GOCACHE="/home/mvdan/.cache/go-build"
GOENV="/home/mvdan/.config/go/env"
GOEXE=""
GOEXPERIMENT=""
GOFLAGS=""
GOHOSTARCH="amd64"
GOHOSTOS="linux"
GOINSECURE=""
GOMODCACHE="/home/mvdan/go/pkg/mod"
GONOPROXY=""
GONOSUMDB=""
GOOS="linux"
GOPATH="/home/mvdan/go"
GOPRIVATE=""
GOPROXY="https://proxy.golang.org,direct"
GOROOT="/home/mvdan/tip"
GOSUMDB="sum.golang.org"
GOTMPDIR=""
GOTOOLDIR="/home/mvdan/tip/pkg/tool/linux_amd64"
GOVCS=""
GOVERSION="devel go1.19-818ffd4247 Tue Jul 5 15:19:44 2022 +0100"
GCCGO="gccgo"
GOAMD64="v1"
AR="ar"
CC="gcc"
CXX="g++"
CGO_ENABLED="1"
GOMOD="/home/mvdan/src/garble/go.mod"
GOWORK=""
CGO_CFLAGS="-g -O2"
CGO_CPPFLAGS=""
CGO_CXXFLAGS="-g -O2"
CGO_FFLAGS="-g -O2"
CGO_LDFLAGS="-g -O2"
PKG_CONFIG="pkg-config"
GOGCCFLAGS="-fPIC -m64 -pthread -Wl,--no-gc-sections -fmessage-length=0 -fdebug-prefix-map=/tmp/go-build1584385538=/tmp/go-build -gno-record-gcc-switches"
GOROOT/bin/go version: go version devel go1.19-818ffd4247 Tue Jul 5 15:19:44 2022 +0100 linux/amd64
GOROOT/bin/go tool compile -V: compile version devel go1.19-818ffd4247 Tue Jul 5 15:19:44 2022 +0100
uname -sr: Linux 5.18.9-arch1-1
/usr/lib/libc.so.6: GNU C Library (GNU libc) stable release version 2.35.
gdb --version: GNU gdb (GDB) 12.1

What did you do?

I wanted to simulate fetching a module from proxy.golang.org, and since it is already in my GOMODCACHE, I wanted to delete it from there. So I naively ran:

go clean -modcache some/module/path

What did you expect to see?

I expected only a few files/directories to be deleted from GOMODCACHE.

What did you see instead?

It deleted my entire GOMODCACHE; presumably, the command is equivalent to:

go clean -modcache
go clean some/module/path

Given that flags like -cache, -modcache, -testcache, and -fuzzcache clear the entire cache directories in question, they should reject package arguments, because otherwise they are very easy to be misused or misunderstood.

It is possible that this might break a few users, but I generally doubt it will be many. I haven't seen any uses of go clean pkg in the wild in years. If anyone wants the current behavior of go clean -modcache pkg, they can always do go clean -modcache; go clean pkg as shown above, which is also more explicit.

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

seankhliao · 2022-07-06T21:04:33Z

Doesn't seem to be too uncommon, usually with ./...
https://sourcegraph.com/search?q=context:global+/go+clean%28+-%5Ba-z%5D%2B%29*%28+-%28cache%7Cmodcache%7Ctestcache%7Cfuzzcache%29%29%2B%28+-%5Ba-z%5D%2B%29*+%5Ba-z%5C.%5D%2B/&patternType=regexp

hyangah · 2022-07-06T21:39:55Z

I agree that it's better to report an error since this is confusing and the cost of the mistake can be large,
even though this behavior is documented.

Related #32976, which is marked as duplicate of #28835 even though the motivation of the proposal and the proposed command line structure is different.

mvdan · 2022-07-07T12:49:30Z

Thanks @seankhliao; the same search also works on github: https://cs.github.com/?scopeName=All+repos&scope=&q=%2Fgo+clean%28+-%5Ba-z%5D%2B%29*%28+-%28cache%7Cmodcache%7Ctestcache%7Cfuzzcache%29%29%2B%28+-%5Ba-z%5D%2B%29*+%5Ba-z%5C.%5D%2B%2F

I'm willing to bet that the majority of those lines are buggy. The way they are written, they look like the intent is to e.g. remove the cached test results for a few packages.

Related #32976, which is marked as duplicate of #28835 even though the motivation of the proposal and the proposed command line structure is different.

Good call out, I did not notice that proposal - cc @bcmills. I think this change could be a stepping stone towards that proposal; any people who currently use go clean -flag pkg and who want #28835's behavior will then come show their support for the proposal. Any people who just wanted go clean -flag, as per the current behavior, can simply adjust their commands.

mvdan · 2022-08-03T15:34:42Z

@bcmills suggests that I should turn this into a proposal, because it's a CLI change that could potentially break some users. See my reasoning above as to why I think the breakage will be minimal, though.

rsc · 2022-08-03T18:00:08Z

Reporting an error sounds fine to me.

rsc · 2022-08-03T18:02:00Z

This proposal has been added to the active column of the proposals project
and will now be reviewed at the weekly proposal review meetings.
— rsc for the proposal review group

rsc · 2022-08-12T03:54:52Z

Based on the discussion above, this proposal seems like a likely accept.
— rsc for the proposal review group

rsc · 2022-08-17T18:13:51Z

No change in consensus, so accepted. 🎉
This issue now tracks the work of implementing the proposal.
— rsc for the proposal review group

gopherbot · 2022-08-26T07:13:17Z

Change https://go.dev/cl/425874 mentions this issue: cmd/go: go clean should not accept flags like -modcache with packages

For #53725 Change-Id: I99a85b437d5f918dba74c4eccefcf8087193646a Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/425874 Run-TryBot: Bryan Mills <bcmills@google.com> Auto-Submit: Bryan Mills <bcmills@google.com> Reviewed-by: Heschi Kreinick <heschi@google.com> TryBot-Result: Gopher Robot <gobot@golang.org> Reviewed-by: Bryan Mills <bcmills@google.com>

After upgrading to Go 1.20, I now see this error: go: clean -testcache cannot be used with package arguments More info: golang/go#53725

penggy · 2023-06-25T14:11:54Z

I don't think that's a good suggestion.
I just want to clean my cgo package, go clean -cache my/cgo/package It's what I want.
It worked well in the past.
When I upgraded to 1.20, It say "go: clean -cache cannot be used with package arguments".
Now I have to run go clean -cache to clean all packages, and then rebuild cost more time.
This commit cause the trouble.

mvdan · 2023-06-25T14:29:12Z

@penggy please read the original post carefully - go clean -cache some/pkg used to clean the entire build cache, not just that one package's build cache entries. It never did what you thought it did, which is why I raised this issue.

penggy · 2023-06-25T15:25:31Z

@mvdan 😄
Thank you for reply.
I have misunderstanding on go clean -cache.

* remove unnecessary bin target * remove bin directory during clean * fix typo * do not clean entire go build cache (see golang/go#53725) Signed-off-by: Alexander Yastrebov <alexander.yastrebov@zalando.de>

bcmills · 2023-10-12T21:09:47Z

https://go.dev/cl/425874 was merged in 2022. I think this proposal was implemented in Go 1.20?

mvdan added the GoCommand cmd/go label Jul 6, 2022

heschi added the NeedsDecision Feedback is required from experts, contributors, and/or the community before a change can be made. label Jul 7, 2022

heschi added this to the Backlog milestone Jul 7, 2022

mvdan changed the title ~~cmd/go: go clean should not accept flags like -modcache with packages~~ proposal: cmd/go: go clean should not accept flags like -modcache with packages Aug 3, 2022

mvdan removed the NeedsDecision Feedback is required from experts, contributors, and/or the community before a change can be made. label Aug 3, 2022

gopherbot added the Proposal label Aug 3, 2022

mvdan modified the milestones: Backlog, Proposal Aug 3, 2022

ianlancetaylor added this to Incoming in Proposals (old) Aug 3, 2022

rsc moved this from Incoming to Active in Proposals (old) Aug 3, 2022

rsc added the Proposal-FinalCommentPeriod label Aug 12, 2022

rsc changed the title ~~proposal: cmd/go: go clean should not accept flags like -modcache with packages~~ cmd/go: go clean should not accept flags like -modcache with packages Aug 17, 2022

rsc added the Proposal-Accepted label Aug 17, 2022

rsc modified the milestones: Proposal, Backlog Aug 17, 2022

evanw added a commit to evanw/esbuild that referenced this issue Feb 3, 2023

avoid a new problem with go clean -testcache

4e53c27

After upgrading to Go 1.20, I now see this error: go: clean -testcache cannot be used with package arguments More info: golang/go#53725

ocelotsloth mentioned this issue Mar 4, 2023

ArchLinux - Failed to install maaslalani/slides#219

Closed

AlexanderYastrebov mentioned this issue Jul 15, 2023

build: cleanup Makefile zalando/skipper#2461

Merged

rsc removed the Proposal-FinalCommentPeriod label Jul 26, 2023

bcmills closed this as completed Oct 12, 2023

bcmills modified the milestones: Backlog, Go1.20 Oct 12, 2023

joshperry mentioned this issue Mar 28, 2024

Package cleaning errors since golang 1.20 homeport/dyff#357

Merged

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

cmd/go: go clean should not accept flags like -modcache with packages #53725

cmd/go: go clean should not accept flags like -modcache with packages #53725

mvdan commented Jul 6, 2022

seankhliao commented Jul 6, 2022

hyangah commented Jul 6, 2022

mvdan commented Jul 7, 2022

mvdan commented Aug 3, 2022

rsc commented Aug 3, 2022

rsc commented Aug 3, 2022

rsc commented Aug 12, 2022

rsc commented Aug 17, 2022

gopherbot commented Aug 26, 2022

penggy commented Jun 25, 2023 •

edited

mvdan commented Jun 25, 2023

penggy commented Jun 25, 2023 •

edited

bcmills commented Oct 12, 2023

cmd/go: go clean should not accept flags like -modcache with packages #53725

cmd/go: go clean should not accept flags like -modcache with packages #53725

Comments

mvdan commented Jul 6, 2022

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?

What did you see instead?

seankhliao commented Jul 6, 2022

hyangah commented Jul 6, 2022

mvdan commented Jul 7, 2022

mvdan commented Aug 3, 2022

rsc commented Aug 3, 2022

rsc commented Aug 3, 2022

rsc commented Aug 12, 2022

rsc commented Aug 17, 2022

gopherbot commented Aug 26, 2022

penggy commented Jun 25, 2023 • edited

mvdan commented Jun 25, 2023

penggy commented Jun 25, 2023 • edited

bcmills commented Oct 12, 2023

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

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

penggy commented Jun 25, 2023 •

edited

penggy commented Jun 25, 2023 •

edited