LuaLS / LuaLS/lua-language-server

Support for a bottom type for non-returning functions

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Dominant language
Lua
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Description

How are you using the lua-language-server?

Visual Studio Code Extension (sumneko.lua)

Which OS are you using?

Windows

What is the issue affecting?

Type Checking

Expected Behaviour

Have a way to tag the return type of a function as Bottom, i.e., never returns.

Actual Behaviour

I have a snippet like this:


local function abort(err)
	io.stderr:write(err .. "\n")
	os.exit(1)
end

local function stuff()
	local chunk = loadfile("x.lua")
	if not chunk then
		abort("failed to loadfile()")
	end
	chunk()
	return {}
end

stuff()

which triggers the "need-nil-check" diagnostic on "chunk()" because it doesn't understand that abort() never returns, so i would like to tag abort() (or better tag os.exit() and do return os.exit) as never returning function.

obvious work-around is to do "return abort(...)" instead, but that messes up the return type of stuff() from table to table|nil. so i have to write abort() return {} to make the type checker happy which is a bit cumbersome

Reproduction steps
  1. Go to '...'
  2. Click '...'
  3. See error '...'
Additional Notes

No response

Log File

No response

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the type-checking path for the need-nil-check diagnostic and the existing function return-type annotations. Compare the requested handling of abort and os.exit with how the checker infers stuff() after the call. Done means a non-returning function can be represented so the nil diagnostic is avoided without adding nil to stuff()'s return type.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
lua
Domain
devtools
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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