error format support

[BeatScherrer]

When running recipes the resulting errors might be of any format which cannot be determined solely from the recipe that is called. A single recipe might even contain multiple error formats, since the type of command is neither restricted (which results in a vast amount of flexibility).

Nevertheless it would be nice to have a(n optional) field containing an error format so other tools, thinking of vscode/nvim/emacs/etc., might make use of the generated output in a meaningful manner.

For me personally to use a command runner efficiently I need to be able to extract the errors and jump to them in an automatic way, otherwise the tool loses a lot of appeal.

[casey]

Can you give some examples of errors that just might generate that you're having trouble with?

I think there's a lot of room for improvement, especially for Just's own errors. Right now they are usually pretty good about printing line numbers, but they could definitely be more consistent, to make it easier for tools to handle just errors.

[casey]

I think you're talking about errors produced by things that just calls, and not just errors themselves, so I created a separate issue to track just making just errors more consistent: #1277

[BeatScherrer]

I think you're talking about errors produced by things that just calls, and not just errors themselves, so I created a separate issue to track just making just errors more consistent: #1277

Yep I am considering errors from what just is calling. E.g. when my make command results in a compile error I want to be able to extract the meaningful parts of that error and be able to use that in my editor to jump to the according location.

[casey]

Yep I am considering errors from what just is calling. E.g. when my make command results in a compile error I want to be able to extract the meaningful parts of that error and be able to use that in my editor to jump to the according location.

Gotcha! Can't you already do this? E.g. if you're using just to invoke Python scripts, tell vim to use Python's error formatting when handling errors?

[BeatScherrer]

I will work out a small example and test some things in neovim to get some more insight on what is actually needed from the just framework.

But in the end I want a full chain of recipes to have extractable problems. If I want to have just run run my full toolchain which might look like:

• run shell script
• compile c++
• run tests
• start a web frontend

So when an error occurrs along the line ultimately I want to know what failed and where the problem is located in the code. Since that is command specific each command would require information on how these errors should be interpreted.

I'll follow up with more information and specific examples when I find some spare time or we can discuss this manner in discord more extensively.

[casey]

Sounds good! I think a concrete example with a justfile with multiple recipes using different tools and the error formats for each would be most helpful.