add method for reading APIClient initialization errors
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Go
- Stars
- 6.1k
- Forks
- 2.2k
- Avg merge
- 1d 15h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 43
Description
Description
Background
We use DockerCli as a library to create an APIClient. As far as I know, this is the only way to get an APIClient that's DOCKER_CONTEXT aware.
The Problem
If the APIClient fails to initialize, the library mysteriously exits.
https://github.com/docker/cli/blob/d1c04fb0f8db4a3c163f310652d19c65f6e2ff11/cli/command/cli.go#L106
func (cli *DockerCli) Client() client.APIClient {
if err := cli.initialize(); err != nil {
_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(cli.Err(), "Failed to initialize: %s\n", err)
os.Exit(1)
}
return cli.client
}
This is a sad way to do error-handling:
- It's usually considered bad form for libraries to call os.Exit
- Err is a generic Writer, and you can't guarantee that the message will get flushed before the process terminates
Proposal
- Mark
Client()as deprecated - Add two new functions:
ClientOrDie()andClientOrError() ClientOrDiehas the same signature and behavior asClientOrDie()todayClientOrErrorreturns the error to the caller
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start at cli/command/cli.go, especially DockerCli.Client and the linked initialization path, to understand the current failure behavior. Define the new ClientOrDie and ClientOrError entry points and deprecate Client; done means callers can receive initialization errors instead of the library unconditionally terminating.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- go
- Domain
- api, cli
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 42/100