Flutter "version" file in repo root is missing and being created then deleted by the tool on branches named master/main

[DanTup]

Steps to reproduce

I'm on the latest master (commit ccb2b44) and I noticed a number of things not working as expected in VS Code. It turns out, Dart-Code thinks I'm on Flutter version 0.0.0 and is therefore disabling all functionality that requires a specific Flutter version. This seems to be because I don't have the version file in the repo root.

I found #133097 while searching which seems to describe the same issue, however I'm on a much newer version than that (cc @christopherfujino )

Expected results

There should be a file named version in the root of the repository.

Actual results

There is no file.

Code sample

N/A

Screenshots or Video

PS C:\Dev\Google\flutter> flutter --version
Flutter 3.19.0-13.0.pre.32 • channel master • git@github.com:DanTup/flutter.git
Framework • revision ccb2b4439a (5 hours ago) • 2024-01-30 14:59:24 +0800
Engine • revision 438e9b4d7d
Tools • Dart 3.4.0 (build 3.4.0-82.0.dev) • DevTools 2.31.0
PS C:\Dev\Google\flutter> ls

    Directory: C:\Dev\Google\flutter

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
d----          30/01/2024    11:24                .github
d----          19/12/2023    12:02                .vscode
d----          19/12/2023    12:02                bin
d----          30/01/2024    11:24                dev
d----          19/12/2023    12:02                examples
d----          01/06/2023    20:01                packages
-a---          30/01/2024    11:24         187181 .ci.yaml
-a---          01/06/2023    20:01            858 .gitattributes
-a---          19/12/2023    12:02           2932 .gitignore
-a---          19/12/2023    12:02          11615 analysis_options.yaml
-a---          30/01/2024    11:24           4714 AUTHORS
-a---          19/12/2023    12:02           2939 CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
-a---          30/01/2024    11:24            489 CODEOWNERS
-a---          30/01/2024    11:24          11619 CONTRIBUTING.md
-a---          30/01/2024    11:24           2035 dartdoc_options.yaml
-a---          01/06/2023    20:01           1731 flutter_console.bat
-a---          01/06/2023    20:01           1544 LICENSE
-a---          01/06/2023    20:01           1124 PATENT_GRANT
-a---          30/01/2024    11:24           7055 README.md
-a---          30/01/2024    11:24          27988 TESTOWNERS

PS C:\Dev\Google\flutter>

Logs

No response

Flutter Doctor output

PS C:\Dev\Google\flutter> flutter doctor
Doctor summary (to see all details, run flutter doctor -v):
[!] Flutter (Channel master, 3.19.0-13.0.pre.32, on Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22621.3007], locale en-GB)
    ! Warning: `dart` on your path resolves to C:\Dev\Tools\Dart\Stable\bin\dart.exe, which is not inside your current Flutter SDK checkout at
      C:\Dev\Google\flutter. Consider adding C:\Dev\Google\flutter\bin to the front of your path.
[✓] Windows Version (Installed version of Windows is version 10 or higher)
[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 34.0.0)
[✓] Chrome - develop for the web
[✓] Visual Studio - develop Windows apps (Visual Studio Community 2022 17.7.4)
[✓] Android Studio (version 2022.3)
[✓] VS Code (version 1.85.2)
[✓] VS Code (version 1.86.0-insider)
[✓] Connected device (3 available)
[✓] Network resources

! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

[DanTup]

This is very odd... I can repro running from source and added some prints, and it seems like it is creating the file:

PS C:\Dev\Google\flutter\packages\flutter_tools> ../../bin/dart .\bin\flutter_tools.dart --version; ls ../..
Ensuring version file (_FlutterVersionGit)!
Inside _FlutterVersionGit.ensureVersionFile
Writing 3.19.0-13.0.pre.32 to LocalFile: 'C:\Dev\Google\flutter\version' using ErrorHandlingFileSystem
Calling LocalFile("C:\Dev\Google\flutter\version").writeAsStringSync()
Calling LocalFile("C:\Dev\Google\flutter\bin\cache\flutter.version.json").writeAsStringSync()
Flutter 3.19.0-13.0.pre.32 • channel master • git@github.com:DanTup/flutter.git
Framework • revision ccb2b4439a (5 hours ago) • 2024-01-30 14:59:24 +0800
Engine • revision 438e9b4d7d
Tools • Dart 3.4.0 (build 3.4.0-82.0.dev) • DevTools 2.31.0

And nothing in the delete calls prints, so it doesn't seem like it's being deleted.

I'll try to debug a bit more shortly... This could be a big issue if widespread, because VS Code uses this version to switch quite a bit of Dart-Code functionality.

[DanTup]

@christopherfujino here is the issue:

Inside _FlutterVersionGit.ensureVersionFile
Writing 3.19.0-13.0.pre.32 to LocalFile: 'C:\Dev\Google\flutter\version' using ErrorHandlingFileSystem
Calling LocalFile("C:\Dev\Google\flutter\version").writeAsStringSync()
Exists now? true
Calling LocalFile("C:\Dev\Google\flutter\bin\cache\flutter.version.json").writeAsStringSync()
Exists now? true
Deleting the new version file!!!!!!
Deleting the legacy version file!!!!!!

The files are being deleted by:

flutter/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/version.dart

Line 109 in ccb2b44

legacyVersionFile.deleteSync();

Stack trace is like:

#0      new FlutterVersion (package:flutter_tools/src/version.dart:111:26)
#1      FlutterVersion.fetchTagsAndGetVersion (package:flutter_tools/src/version.dart:178:12)
#2      FlutterCommandRunner.runCommand.<anonymous closure> (package:flutter_tools/src/runner/flutter_command_runner.dart:338:65)
<asynchronous suspension>
#3      AppContext.run.<anonymous closure> (package:flutter_tools/src/base/context.dart:153:19)
<asynchronous suspension>
#4      FlutterCommandRunner.runCommand (package:flutter_tools/src/runner/flutter_command_runner.dart:294:5)

It's created here on line 311 and then deleted because of the call on line 338:

Doesn't seem to affect beta, but I haven't yet figured out why, since most of the code seems the same.

[DanTup]

Ok, the reason this doesn't happen on beta is because of this early exit, which prevents the constructor running that deletes the file:

flutter/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/version.dart

Lines 172 to 174 in ccb2b44

	if (channel != 'master' && channel != 'main') {
	return this;
	}

So the issue is isolated to branches named master/main.

[darshankawar]

Thanks for the detailed report and analysis. Labeling this for tracking.

[eliasyishak]

@christopherfujino leaving to you for prioritizing

[DanTup]

Not sure if it's the same thing, but I just noticed that the GitHub actions are often failing the coverage step because the Flutter version is reported as 0.0.0-unknown:

Example: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/actions/runs/8999603670/job/24722091985

[christopherfujino]

Not sure if it's the same thing, but I just noticed that the GitHub actions are often failing the coverage step because the Flutter version is reported as 0.0.0-unknown:

Example: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/actions/runs/8999603670/job/24722091985

TIL we try to upload coverage from actions