govet: `printf` unstable behavior with imported types

[gabolaev]

Welcome

• Yes, I'm using a binary release within 2 latest major releases. Only such installations are supported.
• Yes, I've searched similar issues on GitHub and didn't find any.
• Yes, I've read the typecheck section of the FAQ (https://golangci-lint.run/usage/faq/#why-do-you-have-typecheck-errors).
• Yes, I've tried with the standalone linter if available (e.g., gocritic, go vet, etc.). (https://golangci-lint.run/usage/linters/)

Description of the problem

Hi, we've encountered some strange behavior with the govet printf linter.

If we edit the previously reported file without fixing the issue, it stops reporting the issue. However, if we clean the cache, it gets back to normal, but I'm not sure we're supposed to clean the cache before every run.

There is one interesting detail that I think may be a clue though.
It stops being unstable if we change the code so that it doesn't import logger, but initializes log in place:

 package somepackage
 
-import "reproduction/logger"
+import "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 
-var log = logger.NewLogger()
+var log = logrus.New()
 
 func SomeFunc() {
        log.Warnf("SOME OTHER TEXT %v") // this line is supposed to be reported by govet printf linter
 }

Version of golangci-lint

$ golangci-lint --version
golangci-lint has version 1.56.2 built with go1.22.0 from 58a724a on 2024-02-15T12:52:06Z

Configuration

linters:
  disable-all: true
  enable:
    - govet

Go environment

$ go version && go env
go version go1.22.0 darwin/arm64
GO111MODULE=''
GOARCH='arm64'
GOBIN=''
GOCACHE='/Users/gabolaev/Library/Caches/go-build'
GOENV='/Users/gabolaev/Library/Application Support/go/env'
GOEXE=''
GOEXPERIMENT=''
GOFLAGS=''
GOHOSTARCH='arm64'
GOHOSTOS='darwin'
GOINSECURE=''
GOMODCACHE='/Users/gabolaev/go/pkg/mod'
GONOPROXY=''
GONOSUMDB=''
GOOS='darwin'
GOPATH='/Users/gabolaev/go'
GOPRIVATE=''
GOPROXY='https://proxy.golang.org,direct'
GOROOT='/opt/homebrew/Cellar/go/1.22.0/libexec'
GOSUMDB='sum.golang.org'
GOTMPDIR=''
GOTOOLCHAIN='auto'
GOTOOLDIR='/opt/homebrew/Cellar/go/1.22.0/libexec/pkg/tool/darwin_arm64'
GOVCS=''
GOVERSION='go1.22.0'
GCCGO='gccgo'
AR='ar'
CC='cc'
CXX='c++'
CGO_ENABLED='1'
GOMOD='/Users/gabolaev/d/reproduction/go.mod'
GOWORK=''
CGO_CFLAGS='-O2 -g'
CGO_CPPFLAGS=''
CGO_CXXFLAGS='-O2 -g'
CGO_FFLAGS='-O2 -g'
CGO_LDFLAGS='-O2 -g'
PKG_CONFIG='pkg-config'
GOGCCFLAGS='-fPIC -arch arm64 -pthread -fno-caret-diagnostics -Qunused-arguments -fmessage-length=0 -ffile-prefix-map=/var/folders/k1/pd5ymz911jl6gdx0zgj85cym0000gq/T/go-build3537487068=/tmp/go-build -gno-record-gcc-switches -fno-common'

Verbose output of running

$ # golangci-lint cache clean
$ golangci-lint run -v
INFO [config_reader] Config search paths: [./ /Users/gabolaev/d/reproduction /Users/gabolaev/d /Users/gabolaev /Users /] 
INFO [lintersdb] Active 6 linters: [errcheck gosimple govet ineffassign staticcheck unused] 
INFO [loader] Go packages loading at mode 575 (files|compiled_files|deps|exports_file|imports|name|types_sizes) took 80.6465ms 
INFO [runner/filename_unadjuster] Pre-built 0 adjustments in 671.333µs 
INFO [linters_context/goanalysis] analyzers took 22.21121ms with top 10 stages: buildir: 4.840833ms, fact_deprecated: 1.047916ms, ctrlflow: 868.047µs, errcheck: 710.334µs, SA9002: 663.334µs, printf: 639.212µs, SA4020: 559.833µs, SA4019: 559.667µs, unused: 544.792µs, ineffassign: 540.792µs 
INFO [runner] processing took 998ns with stages: max_same_issues: 333ns, skip_dirs: 167ns, nolint: 125ns, sort_results: 125ns, max_from_linter: 42ns, diff: 42ns, exclude-rules: 41ns, max_per_file_from_linter: 41ns, severity-rules: 41ns, autogenerated_exclude: 41ns, path_prettifier: 0s, skip_files: 0s, path_shortener: 0s, path_prefixer: 0s, uniq_by_line: 0s, exclude: 0s, filename_unadjuster: 0s, source_code: 0s, fixer: 0s, cgo: 0s, identifier_marker: 0s 
INFO [runner] linters took 95.207125ms with stages: goanalysis_metalinter: 94.983417ms 
INFO File cache stats: 0 entries of total size 0B 
INFO Memory: 3 samples, avg is 32.2MB, max is 39.6MB 
INFO Execution took 184.939709ms                  

A minimal reproducible example or link to a public repository

https://github.com/gabolaev/gl-issue-reproduction

Validation

• Yes, I've included all information above (version, config, etc.).

[boring-cyborg]

Hey, thank you for opening your first Issue ! 🙂 If you would like to contribute we have a guide for contributors.

[ldez]

Hello,

the problem is related to 2 things: the cache, and the relative position between reports and the code.

1. The first run fills the cache with reports

• the report targets the file somefile.go inside the package somepackage but the report is related to a function of another package (logger).

2. The second run uses the cache and invalids the cache for the package somepackage

• only the "invalided" package will be analyzed
• but the root of the report is not inside somepackage but logger (and it's not a dependency).
• so when the package is analyzed there is no report.

For now, I have no solution, I need to investigate more.

[ldez]

I found a solution.