I find this a bit unfortunate that field validation is done

Question

I find this a bit unfortunate that field validation is done lazily thread

curved-television-6568 · Answer

```$ pants package 14 35 21 61 ERROR 1 Exception encountered InvalidFieldException Unrecognized field `repositories= pypi ` in target src underpants dist Valid fields for the target type `python distribution` dependencies description entry points generate setup provides sdist sdist config settings tags wheel wheel config settings $ pants publish $``` That is the `publish` goal was a no op where as package correctly informed me there s a configuration issue missing the `pants backend experimental python` backend even update build files fails to notice this issue cc < hundreds father 404> any thoughts how to best address this

hundreds-father-404 · Answer

Where is this error being created Most validation happens when creating Target which is pretty eager Even `list` should do the trick But it s possible to raise InvalidFieldExceptiob inside a rule rather than via target API which is lazy

curved-television-6568 · Answer

The stacktrace for `list` is ```Engine traceback in select in pants backend project info list targets list targets in pants engine internals graph resolve addresses from specs in pants engine internals build files addresses from address specs in pants engine internals graph resolve unexpanded targets in pants engine internals graph resolve target src underpants dist Traceback most recent call last File Users aadt cache pants setup bootstrap Darwin x86 64 pants 7zfHJF install lib python3 9 site packages pants engine internals selectors py line 705 in native engine generator send res = func send arg File Users aadt cache pants setup bootstrap Darwin x86 64 pants 7zfHJF install lib python3 9 site packages pants engine internals graph py line 191 in resolve target target = target type target adaptor kwargs address union membership File Users aadt cache pants setup bootstrap Darwin x86 64 pants 7zfHJF install lib python3 9 site packages pants util meta py line 188 in new init prev init self args kwargs File Users aadt cache pants setup bootstrap Darwin x86 64 pants 7zfHJF install lib python3 9 site packages pants engine target py line 339 in init self field values = self calculate field values unhydrated values address File Users aadt cache pants setup bootstrap Darwin x86 64 pants 7zfHJF install lib python3 9 site packages pants engine target py line 356 in calculate field values raise InvalidFieldException pants engine target InvalidFieldException Unrecognized field `repositories= pypi ` in target src underpants dist Valid fields for the target type `python distribution` dependencies description entry points generate setup provides sdist sdist config settings tags wheel wheel config settings ``` And similar for `package`

curved-television-6568 · Answer

The issue then would be that `publish` doesn t create the target as it s not considered as the backend that would consider it is not active

curved-television-6568 · Answer

Perhaps such a corner case that it s not really worth exploring

hundreds-father-404 · Answer

Weird that `publish` doesn t create the `Target` given that it calls `package` under the hood

curved-television-6568 · Answer

Well no I guess it isn t as it ll will only call `package` for targets that also has a `publish` field set And with that backend missing there isn t one for `python distribution`

hundreds-father-404 · Answer

Ah ha cool Then this is all expected slightly smiling face

curved-television-6568 · Answer

So the unfortunate bit is perhaps more that there isn t a validate all my targets goal you only get that as a side effect of using your targets

curved-television-6568 · Answer

But now that all this is clearer to me it s less and less important to do anything about for me but could potentially be confusing for new unexperienced users

hundreds-father-404 · Answer

gt that there isn t a validate all my targets goal The fastest way to do that is ` pants list gt dev null`

curved-television-6568 · Answer

Right ``` cli alias validate targets = list ``` but there s no redirection support there thinking face

hundreds-father-404 · Answer

You could easily create a plugin goal based on `list targets py` if you were motivated enough Don t have it write to `Console` I think it literally would do nothing more than request `Targets` in the rule signature

hundreds-father-404 · Answer

Actually you could have the goal request `AllTargets` so that you don t need to specify CLI specs

curved-television-6568 · Answer

Haha yeah true slightly smiling face

curved-television-6568 · Answer

Not 100 sure if there s a big enough motivation for implementing it tho

hundreds-father-404 · Answer

Depends how useful it is to your org I personally would instead use ` pants list gt dev null Validate all targets` in my CI and wouldn t even bother with creating a ` cli alias` because I wouldn t expect users to be running it daily

curved-television-6568 · Answer

no true and I wouldn t be running this in CI oh wait maybe that s a neat idea actually to pre emptively check that all targets are well defined

curved-television-6568 · Answer

but indeed I d stick with `list` and a comment then too

curved-television-6568 · Answer

my issue I ran into was during local development and that I missed that the publish goal I was after was in an experimental backend I hadn t yet added

curved-television-6568 · Answer

tripped me up for a minute stuck out tongue