helper package seems to be missing functions from 1.3.4 onwards

[CarbonCollins]

Nomad version

1.3.4 to 1.4.2

Operating system and Environment details

Go build environment for plugin building

Issue

From 1.3.4 onwards the github.com/hashicorp/nomad/helper go package seems to be missing several helper functions including:

helper.StringToPtr
helper.Int64ToPtr

among a few others and I didn't see a change log entry detailing this change?
have these been accidentally removed or did I just miss a deprecation message?

This also seems to be the case in the go helper package docs here:
https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/hashicorp/[email protected]/helper <- the helpers are present
https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/hashicorp/[email protected]/helper <- the helpers are no longer present

As some extra info I found this while attempting to debug an issue raised with the USB plugin here: https://gitlab.com/CarbonCollins/nomad-usb-device-plugin/-/issues/29

Reproduction steps

Within the USB plugin:

1. Update github.com/hashicorp/nomad to v1.4.2 in the USB plugin dependencies
2. Run make build
3. Get a failed build with several undefined: helper.StringToPtr errors

Expected Result

When building the USB plugin using make build with the latest version of nomad I should get a working build with no other code changes.

Actual Result

When building the USB plugin using make build with the latest version of nomad as a dependnency I get:

# gitlab.com/CarbonCollins/nomad-usb-device-plugin/internal/plugin
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:217:19: undefined: helper.StringToPtr
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:220:19: undefined: helper.StringToPtr
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:223:19: undefined: helper.StringToPtr
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:226:19: undefined: helper.StringToPtr
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:229:19: undefined: helper.StringToPtr
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:234:16: undefined: helper.Int64ToPtr
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:237:16: undefined: helper.Int64ToPtr
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:240:16: undefined: helper.Int64ToPtr
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:243:16: undefined: helper.Int64ToPtr
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:246:16: undefined: helper.Int64ToPtr
internal/plugin/fingerprint.go:246:16: too many errors
make: *** [GNUmakefile:12: build] Error 2

Job file (if appropriate)

n/a

Nomad Server logs (if appropriate)

n/a

Nomad Client logs (if appropriate)

n/a

[jrasell]

Hi @CarbonCollins; Nomad v1.3.4 updated the version of Go used for building to v1.19. Among a number of features and fixes, this gave Nomad the ability to use generics which allowed us to remove the per-type pointer functions for a generic function.

I think you can either upgrade the tooling used to build the plugin to Go 1.19 and update the function calls to use the new generic function, or create your own helper functions to handle to pointer creation for each type needed. Apologies for causing a little extra work here. While are careful of all code modification, the helper package is not intended to be a general purpose SDK outside the Nomad codebase.

[CarbonCollins]

Hi @jrasell Thats good to know! ill update the plugin to use the Go 1.19 toolchain as a resolution to this issue there :)

Just as a followup question, I'm mainly using the helper package as from memory the driver skeleton used it 🤔, my question being should I fully remove any dependency on the helper package to prevent things like this happening again?

[jrasell]

I think the pointer function within the helper package will be very stable and therefore safe to use.

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