cmd/link: "corrupt input" fatal error with no further detail

[pwaller]

Version, Architecture: go1.6, linux/amd64

What did you do?

Interrupt a go build (possibly with SIGKILL), and then attempt to build again.

What did you expect to see?

A successful build, or an error message telling me where the problem is and what to do.

What did you see instead?

# go build -v my/package/name
my/package/name
# my/package/name
2016/03/29 09:56:49 corrupt input

Or, with -x:

# go build -x -v my/package/name
WORK=/tmp/go-build146923544
my/package/name
mkdir -p $WORK/my/package/name/_obj/
mkdir -p $WORK/my/package/name/_obj/exe/
cd /go/src/my/package/name
/usr/local/go/pkg/tool/linux_amd64/compile -o $WORK/my/package/name.a -trimpath $WORK -p main -complete -buildid 7ffdb0cebeafa80bed1d95717d6a97c933f6e933 -D _/go/src/my/package/name -I $WORK -I /go/pkg/linux_amd64 -pack ./main.go
cd .
/usr/local/go/pkg/tool/linux_amd64/link -o $WORK/my/package/name/_obj/exe/a.out -L $WORK -L /go/pkg/linux_amd64 -extld=gcc -buildmode=exe -buildid=7ffdb0cebeafa80bed1d95717d6a97c933f6e933 $WORK/my/package/name.a
# my/package/name
2016/03/29 10:02:35 corrupt input

---

In our build system that just showed up as "corrupt input", with no further context. I had to hunt for the message, it's coming from here. It was easy for me as an experienced developer to know that I should probably delete my $GOPATH/pkg directory, but others might not easily find where the error message is coming from and determine what to do.

Unfortunately I cannot provide the corrupted input, I cannot trivially determine which file is causing the problem and it is in private code. I will keep my corrupted pkg directory around for a few days in case anyone wants me to check anything, but otherwise I presume it is not useful.

[pwaller]

By the way, because of the origin of the error message I guess it could be that SIGKILL is not the root cause, I could genuinely be experiencing bit rot, or some other bug. I see that very few others have ever hit this message and reported it publicly.

I also note that the code is littered with Fatal and panic calls with no other context, so it may be that the fixing "this problem" (corruption causing error messages with no further context) would require substantial work.

[wab301]

I've trigging this errors, It may be your develop environment has changed so you should delete your $GOPATH/pkg and build again. I guess.

[bradfitz]

So much has changed since Go 1.6 that I'm going to close this bug. We never got reports of this from others and never saw it ourselves on our builders either.