Replace `github.com/pkg/errors` package

[shahpratikr]

Currently, we are using the github.com/pkg/errors package to report error messages. This package is no longer maintained and the repository has been archived. We also use the fmt.Errorf function in some places. Use fmt.Errorf everywhere or find a suitable alternative and replace all error handling.

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[denisvmedia]

Note, I didn't study this issue deeply, but there is a list of what I think should be considered, before applying the proposed changes. Changing to fmt.Errorf - although also supports wrapping - may have an undesired effect of changing the error message. Also, fmt.Errorf does not include error stack. Additionally, there's at least one usage of errors.WithStack(err).

[denisvmedia]

Possible other options I see here:

• find a supported fork of pkg/errors
• create own fork of pkg/errors
• build own reusable replacement standalone package

The most robust (but at the same time the most effort consuming) solution will be the third option.

[e-sumin]

I collected some statistics about what we are using and what could be useful:

+--------------------+-----+
|        FN          |     |
+--------------------+-----+
| errors.New         | 221 |
| errors.Cause       |   7 |
| errors.Is          |   1 |
| errors.As          |   1 |
| errors.Unwrap      |   2 |
| errors.WithStack   |  21 |
| errors.WithMessage |   7 |
| errors.Wrap        | 470 |
| errors.Wrapf       | 976 |
| errors.Errorf      | 145 |
| fmt.Errorf         |  45 |
+--------------------+-----+

I've checked which error libraries are available and found two that offer rich functionality. Here is a comparison of the features we are currently using and those we could potentially use:

+---------------------------------+------------------+----------------------+----------------------------+---------------------+
|            FEATURES             |    std errors    | github.com/pkg/errors| github.com/rotisserie/eris | emperror.dev/errors |
+---------------------------------+------------------+----------------------+----------------------------+---------------------+
| errors.New                      | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.Cause                    | Not Supported    | Supported            | Not Supported              | Supported           |
| errors.Is                       | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.As                       | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.Unwrap                   | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.WithStack                | Not Supported    | Supported            | Not Supported              | Supported           |
| errors.WithMessage              | Not Supported    | Supported            | Not Supported              | Supported           |
| errors.Wrap                     | Not Supported    | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.Wrapf                    | Not Supported    | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.Errorf                   | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| fmt.Errorf                      | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| Attach values from context      | Not Supported    | Not Supported        | Supported                  | Supported           |
| Attach map[string]interface{}   | Not Supported    | Not Supported        | Supported                  | Supported           |
| Dump values as string with Error| Not Supported    | Not Supported        | Supported                  | Supported           |
| Convert error to JSON           | Not Supported    | Not Supported        | Supported                  | Supported           |
+---------------------------------+------------------+----------------------+----------------------------+---------------------+

[e-sumin]

After discussing with @viveksinghggits and @pavannd1, we decided to implement our own solution based on the standard errors package.

[mitar]

Shameless plug: you can also switch it to drop-in replacement gitlab.com/tozd/go/errors. It fixes many issues, is maintained, and supports modern Go's error patterns (sentinel errors, %w formatting, joined errors, etc.). It also provides some nice utility functions and structured details so that it is easy to extract dynamic data out of errors (instead of trying to get them out of formatted strings). Has improved error formatting and JSON marshaling of errors. It is interoperable with other errors packages and does not require a dependency on it to extract data (e.g., stack trace) from errors.

[krishnaduttp]

I collected some statistics about what we are using and what could be useful:

+--------------------+-----+
|        FN          |     |
+--------------------+-----+
| errors.New         | 221 |
| errors.Cause       |   7 |
| errors.Is          |   1 |
| errors.As          |   1 |
| errors.Unwrap      |   2 |
| errors.WithStack   |  21 |
| errors.WithMessage |   7 |
| errors.Wrap        | 470 |
| errors.Wrapf       | 976 |
| errors.Errorf      | 145 |
| fmt.Errorf         |  45 |
+--------------------+-----+

I've checked which error libraries are available and found two that offer rich functionality. Here is a comparison of the features we are currently using and those we could potentially use:

+---------------------------------+------------------+----------------------+----------------------------+---------------------+
|            FEATURES             |    std errors    | github.com/pkg/errors| github.com/rotisserie/eris | emperror.dev/errors |
+---------------------------------+------------------+----------------------+----------------------------+---------------------+
| errors.New                      | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.Cause                    | Not Supported    | Supported            | Not Supported              | Supported           |
| errors.Is                       | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.As                       | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.Unwrap                   | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.WithStack                | Not Supported    | Supported            | Not Supported              | Supported           |
| errors.WithMessage              | Not Supported    | Supported            | Not Supported              | Supported           |
| errors.Wrap                     | Not Supported    | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.Wrapf                    | Not Supported    | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| errors.Errorf                   | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| fmt.Errorf                      | Supported        | Supported            | Supported                  | Supported           |
| Attach values from context      | Not Supported    | Not Supported        | Supported                  | Supported           |
| Attach map[string]interface{}   | Not Supported    | Not Supported        | Supported                  | Supported           |
| Dump values as string with Error| Not Supported    | Not Supported        | Supported                  | Supported           |
| Convert error to JSON           | Not Supported    | Not Supported        | Supported                  | Supported           |
+---------------------------------+------------------+----------------------+----------------------------+---------------------+

@e-sumin which tool have you used to get this clean evaluation ?