golint-sl

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humaneerror

About 207 wordsLess than 1 minute

2025-01-16

Enforces the use of humane-errors-go for user-facing errors.

Category

Error Handling

What It Checks

This analyzer ensures error messages provide actionable information for users, not just technical details.

Why It Matters

Technical error messages frustrate users:

Error: connection refused

Humane errors help users:

Error: Unable to connect to the database
Hint: Check that the database server is running and accessible
Details: connection refused to localhost:5432

Examples

Bad

func GetUser(id string) (*User, error) {
    user, err := db.Find(id)
    if err != nil {
        return nil, err  // Raw technical error
    }
    return user, nil
}

Good

import "github.com/sierrasoftworks/humane-errors-go"

func GetUser(id string) (*User, error) {
    user, err := db.Find(id)
    if err != nil {
        return nil, humane.New("Unable to find the user").
            WithHint("Check that the user ID is correct").
            WithDetails(err.Error())
    }
    return user, nil
}

Configuration

# .golint-sl.yaml
analyzers:
  humaneerror: true  # enabled by default

When to Disable

  • Internal services where users are developers
  • CLI tools with technical audiences
  • Libraries (let consumers decide error presentation)
analyzers:
  humaneerror: false

See Also