exporter: return err when exporter fails to start

cmd/tetragon/main.go

@@ -706,8 +706,7 @@ func startExporter(ctx context.Context, server *server.Server) error {
 	log.WithFields(logrus.Fields{"fieldFilters": fieldFilters}).Debug("Configured field filters")
 	log.WithFields(logrus.Fields{"logger": writer, "request": &req}).Info("Starting JSON exporter")
 	exporter := exporter.NewExporter(ctx, &req, server, encoder, writer, rateLimiter)
-	exporter.Start()
-	return nil
+	return exporter.Start()
 }
 
 func Serve(ctx context.Context, listenAddr string, srv *server.Server) error {

pkg/bench/bench.go

@@ -257,7 +257,9 @@ func startBenchmarkExporter(ctx context.Context, obs *observer.Observer, summary
 
 	req := tetragon.GetEventsRequest{AllowList: nil, DenyList: nil, AggregationOptions: nil}
 	exporter := exporter.NewExporter(ctx, &req, processManager.Server, &timingEncoder, writer, nil)
-	exporter.Start()
+	if err := exporter.Start(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	obs.AddListener(processManager)
 	return nil
 }

pkg/exporter/exporter.go

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ package exporter
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"sync"
 
@@ -39,17 +40,17 @@ func NewExporter(
 	return &Exporter{ctx, request, server, encoder, closer, rateLimiter}
 }
 
-func (e *Exporter) Start() {
+func (e *Exporter) Start() error {
 	var readyWG sync.WaitGroup
+	var exporterStartErr error
 	readyWG.Add(1)
 	go func() {
 		if err := e.server.GetEventsWG(e.request, e, e.closer, &readyWG); err != nil {
-			if e.ctx.Err() == nil {
-				logger.GetLogger().WithError(err).Error("Failed to start JSON exporter")
-			}
+			exporterStartErr = fmt.Errorf("error starting JSON exporter: %w", err)
 		}
 	}()
 	readyWG.Wait()
+	return exporterStartErr
 }
 
 func (e *Exporter) Send(event *tetragon.GetEventsResponse) error {

pkg/exporter/exporter_test.go

@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ func TestExporter_Send(t *testing.T) {
 	encoder := encoder.NewProtojsonEncoder(results)
 	request := tetragon.GetEventsRequest{DenyList: []*tetragon.Filter{{BinaryRegex: []string{"b"}}}}
 	exporter := NewExporter(ctx, &request, grpcServer, encoder, results, nil)
-	exporter.Start()
+	assert.NoError(t, exporter.Start(), "exporter must start without errors")
 	eventNotifier.NotifyListener(nil, &tetragon.GetEventsResponse{
 		Event: &tetragon.GetEventsResponse_ProcessExec{
 			ProcessExec: &tetragon.ProcessExec{Process: &tetragon.Process{Binary: "a"}},
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ func Test_rateLimitExport(t *testing.T) {
 				results,
 				ratelimit.NewRateLimiter(ctx, 50*time.Millisecond, tt.rateLimit, encoder),
 			)
-			exporter.Start()
+			assert.NoError(t, exporter.Start(), "exporter must start without errors")
 			for i := 0; i < tt.totalEvents; i++ {
 				eventNotifier.NotifyListener(nil, &tetragon.GetEventsResponse{
 					Event: &tetragon.GetEventsResponse_ProcessExec{

pkg/observer/observertesthelper/observer_test_helper.go

@@ -423,7 +423,9 @@ func loadExporter(tb testing.TB, ctx context.Context, obs *observer.Observer, op
 	req := tetragon.GetEventsRequest{AllowList: opts.allowList, DenyList: opts.denyList}
 	exporter := exporter.NewExporter(ctx, &req, processManager.Server, encoder, outF, nil)
 	logger.GetLogger().Info("Starting JSON exporter")
-	exporter.Start()
+	if err := exporter.Start(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	obs.AddListener(processManager)
 	tb.Cleanup(func() {
 		obs.RemoveListener(processManager)