[confmap] Add error hint when invalid YAML was passed

.chloggen/mx-psi_error-map.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Use this changelog template to create an entry for release notes.
+
+# One of 'breaking', 'deprecation', 'new_component', 'enhancement', 'bug_fix'
+change_type: enhancement
+
+# The name of the component, or a single word describing the area of concern, (e.g. otlpreceiver)
+component: confmap
+
+# A brief description of the change.  Surround your text with quotes ("") if it needs to start with a backtick (`).
+note: Surface YAML parsing errors when they happen at the top-level.
+
+# One or more tracking issues or pull requests related to the change
+issues: [12180]
+
+# (Optional) One or more lines of additional information to render under the primary note.
+# These lines will be padded with 2 spaces and then inserted directly into the document.
+# Use pipe (|) for multiline entries.
+subtext: |
+  This adds context to some instances of the error "retrieved value (type=string) cannot be used as a Conf", which typically happens because of invalid YAML documents
+
+# Optional: The change log or logs in which this entry should be included.
+# e.g. '[user]' or '[user, api]'
+# Include 'user' if the change is relevant to end users.
+# Include 'api' if there is a change to a library API.
+# Default: '[user]'
+change_logs: []

confmap/provider.go

@@ -100,13 +100,15 @@ type ChangeEvent struct {
 // Retrieved holds the result of a call to the Retrieve method of a Provider object.
 type Retrieved struct {
 	rawConf   any
+	errorHint error
 	closeFunc CloseFunc
 
 	stringRepresentation string
 	isSetString          bool
 }
 
 type retrievedSettings struct {
+	errorHint            error
 	stringRepresentation string
 	isSetString          bool
 	closeFunc            CloseFunc
@@ -138,6 +140,12 @@ func withStringRepresentation(stringRepresentation string) RetrievedOption {
 	})
 }
 
+func withErrorHint(errorHint error) RetrievedOption {
+	return retrievedOptionFunc(func(settings *retrievedSettings) {
+		settings.errorHint = errorHint
+	})
+}
+
 // NewRetrievedFromYAML returns a new Retrieved instance that contains the deserialized data from the yaml bytes.
 // * yamlBytes the yaml bytes that will be deserialized.
 // * opts specifies options associated with this Retrieved value, such as CloseFunc.
@@ -146,7 +154,10 @@ func NewRetrievedFromYAML(yamlBytes []byte, opts ...RetrievedOption) (*Retrieved
 	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(yamlBytes, &rawConf); err != nil {
 		// If the string is not valid YAML, we try to use it verbatim as a string.
 		strRep := string(yamlBytes)
-		return NewRetrieved(strRep, append(opts, withStringRepresentation(strRep))...)
+		return NewRetrieved(strRep, append(opts,
+			withStringRepresentation(strRep),
+			withErrorHint(fmt.Errorf("assuming string type since contents are not valid YAML: %w", err)),
+		)...)
 	}
 
 	switch rawConf.(type) {
@@ -175,6 +186,7 @@ func NewRetrieved(rawConf any, opts ...RetrievedOption) (*Retrieved, error) {
 	}
 	return &Retrieved{
 		rawConf:              rawConf,
+		errorHint:            set.errorHint,
 		closeFunc:            set.closeFunc,
 		stringRepresentation: set.stringRepresentation,
 		isSetString:          set.isSetString,
@@ -188,6 +200,9 @@ func (r *Retrieved) AsConf() (*Conf, error) {
 	}
 	val, ok := r.rawConf.(map[string]any)
 	if !ok {
+		if r.errorHint != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("retrieved value (type=%T) cannot be used as a Conf: %w", r.rawConf, r.errorHint)
+		}
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("retrieved value (type=%T) cannot be used as a Conf", r.rawConf)
 	}
 	return NewFromStringMap(val), nil

confmap/provider_test.go

@@ -134,7 +134,9 @@ func TestNewRetrievedFromYAMLInvalidYAMLBytes(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
 	_, err = ret.AsConf()
-	require.Error(t, err)
+	require.EqualError(t, err,
+		"retrieved value (type=string) cannot be used as a Conf: assuming string type since contents are not valid YAML: yaml: line 1: did not find expected node content",
+	)
 
 	str, err := ret.AsString()
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -150,7 +152,7 @@ func TestNewRetrievedFromYAMLInvalidAsMap(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
 	_, err = ret.AsConf()
-	require.Error(t, err)
+	require.EqualError(t, err, "retrieved value (type=string) cannot be used as a Conf")
 
 	str, err := ret.AsString()
 	require.NoError(t, err)

otelcol/collector_test.go

@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ func TestCollectorStartInvalidConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		ConfigProviderSettings: newDefaultConfigProviderSettings(t, []string{filepath.Join("testdata", "otelcol-invalid.yaml")}),
 	})
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Error(t, col.Run(context.Background()))
+	assert.EqualError(t, col.Run(context.Background()), "invalid configuration: service::pipelines::traces: references processor \"invalid\" which is not configured")
 }
 
 func TestNewCollectorInvalidConfigProviderSettings(t *testing.T) {