#18183 `experimental_shell_command` with non-matching `output_files` leads to weird downstream errors Issue created by huonw Describe the bug When someone specifies explicit

output_files

or

output_directories

in

experimental_shell_command

(

esc

) that don't match, this is probably an error in the specification of

esc

(either command or outputs), but this isn't directly caught, and may only pop-up as downstream errors and/or confusion. Example: https://gist.github.com/huonw/c95933eeb581cdb669324d12a0edd3b2

experimental_shell_command(
    name="missing-output",
    command="true",
    tools=[],
    output_files=["doesnt-exist.txt"]
)
archive(name="archive", files=[":missing-output"], format="zip")
experimental_run_shell_command(
    name="run",
    command="ls -l $CHROOT",
    execution_dependencies=[":missing-output"],
)

Running

git clone <https://gist.github.com/huonw/c95933eeb581cdb669324d12a0edd3b2>
cd c95933eeb581cdb669324d12a0edd3b2

pants version 
#> ...
#> 2.16.0.dev6

# packaging fails with a fairly obtuse error
pants package //:archive
#> ...
#> ProcessExecutionFailure: Process 'Create archive.zip' failed with exit code 12.
#> stdout:
#>
#> zip error: Nothing to do! (archive.zip)
#> ...

# running doesn't have the expected files (something more interesting than `ls` would likely 'explode')
pants run //:run
#> total 0

Some ideas (for cacheable

esc

, where filesystem output is all that's relevant, this may not apply for non-cacheable ones, if/when they exist), all the examples are against `output_files=["foo.txt", "*.log"]`: 1. be loose: at least one element of

output_files

and

output_directories

matches (so that the output is non-empty). For example: just having

bar.log

would be okay. 2. be strict: and require that every element of

output_files

and

output_directories

match at least one element. For example: having both

foo.txt

and

bar.log

would be okay. 3. something in the middle, like requiring that non-globs match, but globs can match zero. For example: just having

foo.txt

would be okay. The same presumably applies to

output_directories

but there's an additional question: is having only an empty directory acceptable? (For example:

output_directories=["dir/"], output_files=[]

and

dir/

is empty.) Pants version 2.16.0.dev6 OS macOS Additional info N/A pantsbuild/pants