Fix golangci-lint installation path in dev container #4729

kyu08 · 2025-07-12T10:55:57Z

Problem I encountered

Currently, make lint is not executable in Dev Containers or Codespaces because installation path of golangci-lint is not a expected location of scripts/lint.sh like below.

	Path
Current installation path for Codespaces	`$(go env GOPATH)/bin`
The location `scripts/lint.sh` expects	`./.bin`

@kyu08 ➜ /workspaces/lazygit (update-dev-container) $ make lint
./scripts/lint.sh
You need to install golangci-lint into .bin
One way to do this is to run
  GOBIN=$(pwd)/.bin go install github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/v2/cmd/golangci-lint@v2.2.1
make: *** [Makefile:43: lint] Error 1

How I solved and tested

So I've fixed installation path of golangci-lint to under ./.bin.

I have tested that I can run make lint after launching dev container like below.

@kyu08 ➜ /workspaces/lazygit (update-dev-container-settings) $ make lint
./scripts/lint.sh
0 issues.

Please check if the PR fulfills these requirements

~~Cheatsheets are up-to-date (run go generate ./...)~~
~~Code has been formatted (see here)~~
~~Tests have been added/updated (see here for the integration test guide)~~
~~Text is internationalised (see here)~~
~~If a new UserConfig entry was added, make sure it can be hot-reloaded (see here)~~
~~Docs have been updated if necessary~~
~~You've read through your own file changes for silly mistakes etc~~

kyu08 · 2025-07-12T10:57:50Z

.devcontainer/Dockerfile

-RUN curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/master/install.sh | sh -s -- -b $(go env GOPATH)/bin v1.50.0
-RUN golangci-lint --version


At first, I fixed this line like below:

RUN curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/master/install.sh | sh -s -- -b ./.bin

But golangci-lint binary is not installed to ./.bin for some reason.

So I use postStartCommand in devcontainer.json and it worked.

After some testing, I deleted golangci-lint installation from Dockerfile in 32e7b92.

I found that major golang dev tool is installed with this specify. (dlv golangci-lint golint gomodifytags goplay gopls gotests impl revive staticcheck)
https://github.com/kyu08/lazygit/blob/32e7b92311b933ab76e160d11b622ee190d64023/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json#L15-L17

So we don't need install golangci-lint in Dockerfile.

It would still be good to install the specific version that we are using on CI (2.2.1 at this time), to avoid false positives when golanci-lint gets updated and adds new checks that are enabled by default. This was the very point of introducing the .bin folder.

Of course, if we then later bump the golangci-lint version that we are using, people will still have to fix their installed version manually, but you also have to do that when working locally, and I don't see a good way around that. (We could add a version check to scripts/lint.sh and warn about this, but this wouldn't help with the lint-on-save function in vscode, which is the main use of linting for me.)

I see.
Then go tool may be suitable solution.

It allows us to manage versions of tools which are written in Go using go.mod.
So we can unify versions of dev tools such as golang-lint or gofumpt easily.

I'll take some time to try it out next week.

No experience with that, but on https://golangci-lint.run/welcome/install/ it says We don't recommend using go tool. They don't really say why, though.

No, I meant to test #4733. If I'm not missing anything, that PR can completely replace this one.

OK.
If you don't mind, could you add me as co-author of your first commit of #4733?
I'd be happy if my contribution remained in a clear and visible form.

Anyway, I'll take time for it next week.

If you don't mind, could you add me as co-author of your first commit of #4733?

Sure. Let me know if you'd like to appear with a different name or email address than what I added. Also mentioning you in the PR description now.

Ping @kyu08: any more input on this? I'm going to merge my PR on the weekend, in case you want to look at it before that.

I tested my branch with a dev container now, and everything seems to work fine.

The only thing that puzzles me a bit is the logs you posted above, with the go: downloading ... lines; I'm not seeing these, neither locally nor in the dev container. Does go have some global verbosity setting that might influence this?

@stefanhaller
Sorry for the late reply. At first, thanks for the adding me as a co-author of your commit.

any more input on this? I'm going to merge my PR on the weekend, in case you want to look at it before that.
I tested my branch with a dev container now, and everything seems to work fine.

No. I was thinking of testing your PR but, if you had already tested it, I think it's ready to merge. I'm sorry I couldn't reply and test it.

The only thing that puzzles me a bit is the logs you posted above, with the go: downloading ... lines; I'm not seeing these, neither locally nor in the dev container. Does go have some global verbosity setting that might influence this?

Hmm, TBH, I don't know why. But it shouldn't be a problem, as you probably think so as well.

kyu08 · 2025-07-12T10:59:56Z

.gitignore

@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ coverage.txt
 .idea/

 # Binaries
-.bin/
+.bin/*


This is necessary to ignoring binaries.

kyu08 · 2025-07-12T11:00:58Z

.gitignore

@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ coverage.txt
 .idea/

 # Binaries
-.bin/
+.bin/*
+!.bin/.gitkeep


This line is necessary to manage .bin directory under Git.

stefanhaller · 2025-07-12T13:46:38Z

Thanks. I'm very unfamiliar with containers in general, and with dev containers in VS Code in particular, but I played with it a little bit just now to get a feeling for how all this works.

But I don't think this solution works well enough. When I spin up my existing working copy in a container, it will overwrite my Mac binary with a linux binary. If I then switch back to local development, linting now longer works on the Mac.

For the lint.sh script I suppose we could solve this by having subfolders in .bin (e.g. .bin/Darwin/golanci-lint), and then use something like ./.bin/$(uname)/golangci-lint to call it. However, the path is also referenced from .vscode/settings.json (in the go.alternateTools section), to make linting on save work, and I don't know how to make this conditional based on the platform we're running on. (See microsoft/vscode#2809)

If anybody has ideas how to improve all this, I'm all ears.

kyu08 · 2025-07-12T14:19:34Z

Thanks for the input. I understand your concern.

As far as I know, many of dev containers users don't switch frequently between dev containers and local develop environment. I think one of the purposes of using dev containers is for avoiding construct develop environment locally.

So this might not be a problem in practice.
What do you think?

stefanhaller · 2025-07-12T14:56:31Z

Sounds reasonable, but when I played with this, I thought this might be useful for cases where I need to debug a linux-specific problem. Instead of spinning up my linux VM I could simply switch to a dev container with the existing working copy, might be easier. So then I would run into this problem.

But what if we change it to keep the installation of golangci-lint in Dockerfile (just change it to install 2.2.1 so that it matches what we use on CI), and then in the postStartCommand add something like test -e .bin/golangci-lint || { mkdir -p .bin && ln -s $(go env GOPATH)/bin/golangci-lint .bin/golangci-lint }? This will create a symlink if it doesn't exist already.

With the mkdir we can also drop the .gitkeep change, which I find a bit ugly.

kyu08 · 2025-07-12T16:35:32Z

Sounds reasonable, but when I played with this, I thought this might be useful for cases where I need to debug a linux-specific problem. Instead of spinning up my linux VM I could simply switch to a dev container with the existing working copy, might be easier. So then I would run into this problem.

That makes sense. As you said, dev containers is useful for debugging on Linux.

But what if we change it to keep the installation of golangci-lint in Dockerfile (just change it to install 2.2.1 so that it matches what we use on CI), and then in the postStartCommand add something like test -e .bin/golangci-lint || { mkdir -p .bin && ln -s $(go env GOPATH)/bin/golangci-lint .bin/golangci-lint }? This will create a symlink if it doesn't exist already.

I'm not sure if your approach resolves the issue.
If my understanding is correct, in the below scenario, the problem still exist.

The binary for darwin exists in .bin/.
Enter into dev containers. There is the binary for darwin in .bin/ because it already exists.
You can't run make lint because there is the binary for darwin but running OS is linux.

I think the same issue could occur in reverse scenerio(linux -> macOS) as well.

If I miss or misunderstand something, please let me know.

With the mkdir we can also drop the .gitkeep change, which I find a bit ugly.

I have no objections about this.

stefanhaller · 2025-07-12T16:44:36Z

Of course, it doesn't solve it perfectly, but I think it's a reasonable compromise that works well enough in the important cases:

You use a working copy exclusively with a dev container: just works
You use your existing Mac working copy with a dev container occasionally: you won't be able to lint while in the dev container, but at least it doesn't "corrupt" your working copy, and when you go back to local development, you can lint again on Mac.

This would be perfectly acceptable for me.

kyu08 · 2025-07-12T16:52:46Z

Ah I understand. Thanks for the information.

I'll fix it tomorrow as your suggestion.

kyu08 · 2025-07-13T05:04:50Z

.devcontainer/devcontainer.json

@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@

  // See https://www.kenmuse.com/blog/avoiding-dubious-ownership-in-dev-containers/ for the safe.directory part
  // The defaultBranch part is required for our deprecated integration tests.
-  "postStartCommand": "git config --global --add safe.directory ${containerWorkspaceFolder} && git config --global init.defaultBranch master",
+  "postStartCommand": "git config --global --add safe.directory ${containerWorkspaceFolder} && git config --global init.defaultBranch master && test -e .bin/golangci-lint || { mkdir -p .bin && ln -s $(go env GOPATH)/bin/golangci-lint .bin/golangci-lint; }",


I added just ;. And it works.

kyu08 · 2025-07-13T05:07:01Z

@stefanhaller
I added fixup commit 32e7b92 and some comments for explanation.

Please check the comments and diff.

kyu08 · 2025-07-18T12:19:30Z

#4733 is superior, so I'm closing this PR.

@stefanhaller
Thanks for the input and review!

kyu08 commented Jul 12, 2025

View reviewed changes

kyu08 changed the title ~~Fix installation path of golangci-lint in dev container~~ Fix golangci-lint installation path in dev container Jul 12, 2025

Fix golangci-lint installation path in dev container

e3f422f

kyu08 force-pushed the update-dev-container-settings branch from a5c3f63 to e3f422f Compare July 12, 2025 11:03

fixup! Fix golangci-lint installation path in dev container

32e7b92

kyu08 force-pushed the update-dev-container-settings branch from ccb97e6 to 32e7b92 Compare July 13, 2025 04:54

kyu08 commented Jul 13, 2025

View reviewed changes

fixup! Fix golangci-lint installation path in dev container

718ed5c

stefanhaller mentioned this pull request Jul 13, 2025

Use a better way of pinning the version of golangci-lint #4733

Merged

kyu08 closed this Jul 18, 2025

		RUN curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/master/install.sh \| sh -s -- -b $(go env GOPATH)/bin v1.50.0
		RUN golangci-lint --version

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Fix golangci-lint installation path in dev container #4729

Fix golangci-lint installation path in dev container #4729

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