cmd/vet: export list of analysis passes used by vet

[leighmcculloch]

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

$ go version
go version go1.13.4 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="/home/leighmcculloch/local/bin"
GOCACHE="/home/leighmcculloch/.cache/go-build"
GOENV="/home/leighmcculloch/.config/go/env"
GOEXE=""
GOFLAGS=""
GOHOSTARCH="amd64"
GOHOSTOS="linux"
GONOPROXY=""
GONOSUMDB=""
GOOS="linux"
GOPATH="/home/leighmcculloch/go"
GOPRIVATE=""
GOPROXY="https://proxy.golang.org,direct"
GOROOT="/home/leighmcculloch/local/bin/go/1.13.4"
GOSUMDB="sum.golang.org"
GOTMPDIR=""
GOTOOLDIR="/home/leighmcculloch/local/bin/go/1.13.4/pkg/tool/linux_amd64"
GCCGO="gccgo"
AR="ar"
CC="gcc"
CXX="g++"
CGO_ENABLED="1"
GOMOD=""
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 -fmessage-length=0 -fdebug-prefix-map=/tmp/go-build882821970=/tmp/go-build -gno-record-gcc-switches"

What did you do?

I was looking to include all the same analysis passes of go vet into my own main package using multichecker similar to the pattern that I saw @FiloSottile use in FiloSottile/mkcert@82ea753aa2a8050fc7799c18afc81300d8547d1c.

What did you expect to see?

I expected to find an exported slice/list of analysis passes that vet uses so that it is easy to build multicheckers that build on-top of vet.

What did you see instead?

I saw that in go vet's main function is where the list of analysis passes is defined and that folks are just copying that list when building multichecker's that run additional checks on-top of vet's checks.

https://github.com/golang/go/blob/78d4560793de65e21199d3c80e9c901833bdaeba/src/cmd/vet/main.go#L35-L58

Ask

Could we export in a package inside the go repo, or inside the tools repo, a slice that holds the analysis passes that vet will run, and have vet reference that so that it can be referenced by other tools?

I'm able to submit a change doing this if this would be welcomed.

[leighmcculloch]

If this change would be welcome I'm unsure on where the exported list should live.

Should it live in the x/tools module? In an import path like one of these? golang.org/x/tools/go/vet golang.org/x/tools/go/analysis/vet

Or, should we make golang.org/x/tools/go/analysis/passes a package that has an exported variable Vet that is a slice of passes run by vet?

[leighmcculloch]

Would a change making the analysis exported be welcomed?

[timothy-king]

Or, should we make golang.org/x/tools/go/analysis/passes a package that has an exported variable Vet that is a slice of passes run by vet?

Would we export 2 lists: the vet checkers run by go test and the vet checkers run by go vet?

[zpavlinovic]

Or, should we make golang.org/x/tools/go/analysis/passes a package that has an exported variable Vet that is a slice of passes run by vet?

Would we export 2 lists: the vet checkers run by go test and the vet checkers run by go vet?

IMO, there should be only list that both go test and go vet use. I believe this would go well with go test vet=... approach suggested in #47309.