Comparison golang stacktrace error library output

Note: Runnable examples are available here

Golang is great. I mostly love it. However, collecting an error with relevant context and a nicely formatted stacktrace is kind of a mess of competing approaches. This this feature comparison is a good overview of the landscape.

I wanted to compare the output of a few different "nicely formatted" approaches with two different kinds of wrapped
errors, Sentinel errors and custom error types.

Some libraries capture the exact state of the stack when an error happens, including every function call.

Some try to attach relevant contextual information (messages, variables) at strategic places along the call stack,
keeping stack traces compact and maximally useful.

Some eliminate stacktrace duplication from wrapped errors.

• jba/errfmt

  {Msg:This is a message Detail:Important detail Err:reading "file"
    cmd/prog/reader.go:122
  parsing line 23
    iff x > 3 {
    cmd/prog/parser.go:85
  syntax error
    cmd/prog/parser.go:214
  }

• emperror

  something went wrong
  main.foo
  /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/emperror/main.go:23
  main.main
  /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/emperror/main.go:31
  runtime.main
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/proc.go:203
  runtime.goexit
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1373

  starting bar

  something went wrong
  got an error in bar
  main.bar
  /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/emperror/main.go:27
  main.main
  /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/emperror/main.go:39
  runtime.main
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/proc.go:203
  runtime.goexit
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1373 

• cockroachdb/errors

  Sentinel Something Went Wrong
  (1) attached stack trace
  -- stack trace:
  | main.foo
  |     /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/cockroachdb-errors/main.go:23
  | main.main
  |     /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/cockroachdb-errors/main.go:31
  | [...repeated from below...]
  Wraps: (2) attached stack trace
  -- stack trace:
  | main.init
  |     /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/cockroachdb-errors/main.go:10
  | runtime.doInit
  |     /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/proc.go:5480
  | runtime.main
  |     /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/proc.go:190
  | runtime.goexit
  |     /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1373
  Wraps: (3) Sentinel Something Went Wrong
  Error types: (1) *withstack.withStack (2) *withstack.withStack (3) *errutil.leafError


  starting bar

  got an error in bar: bar something went wrong
  (1) attached stack trace
  -- stack trace:
  | main.bar
  |     /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/cockroachdb-errors/main.go:27
  | main.main
  |     /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/cockroachdb-errors/main.go:39
  | runtime.main
  |     /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/proc.go:203
  | runtime.goexit
  |     /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1373
  Wraps: (2) got an error in bar
  Wraps: (3) bar something went wrong
  Error types: (1) *withstack.withStack (2) *errutil.withPrefix (3) main.ErrMyError

• palantir/stacktrace

  foo returned error
  --- at /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/palantir-err/main.go:22 (foo) ---
  Caused by: Sentinel Something Went Wrong
  --- at /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/palantir-err/main.go:9 (init) ---


  starting bar

  got an error in bar
  --- at /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/palantir-err/main.go:26 (bar) ---
  Caused by: bar something went wrong

• pkg/errors

  Sentinel Something Went Wrong
  main.init
  /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/pkg-errors/main.go:10
  runtime.doInit
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/proc.go:5480
  runtime.main
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/proc.go:190
  runtime.goexit
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1373
  main.foo
  /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/pkg-errors/main.go:23
  main.main
  /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/pkg-errors/main.go:31
  runtime.main
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/proc.go:203
  runtime.goexit
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1373


  starting bar

  bar something went wrong
  got an error in bar
  main.bar
  /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/pkg-errors/main.go:27
  main.main
  /Users/steve/Documents/git/comparerr/pkg-errors/main.go:39
  runtime.main
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/proc.go:203
  runtime.goexit
  /Users/steve/.asdf/installs/golang/1.14.15/go/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1373

You can clone this repo, cd into any of the directories and run go run main.go to see an example

• jba errfmt output example
• emperror output example
• cockroackdb/errors playground times out? Not sure what that is all about.
• pkg/errors
• palantir/stacktrace