cmd/vet: doesn't work when importing a package which is not yet installed

[MichaelTJones]

What steps will reproduce the problem?

my main.go imports a local package:

import (
    "flag"
    "fmt"
    "grid"
    "thing/v36/thing"
    "log"
    "os"
...

which works perfectly forever in go run, go fmt, go ... but recently I ran go vet and
get:

mtj$ go vet main.go
vet: main.go:8:2: could not import thing/v36/thing (can't find import: thing/v36/thing)
exit status 1

(No, it's not really called 'thing' but I'm not prepared to disclose the actual name.)


Which compiler are you using (5g, 6g, 8g, gccgo)?

8g

Which operating system are you using?

Mac OS X

Which version are you using?  (run 'go version')

tip, but this is not new in the tip...has been true for a few days at least

go version devel +655b43c97d76 Sun Feb 24 22:47:22 2013 +0800 darwin/amd64


Please provide any additional information below.

[remyoudompheng]

Comment 1:

A recent modification to vet requires the existence of compiled packages: you can run
"go install thing/v36/thing" to work temporarily around the issue.

[minux]

Comment 2:

see also issue #4889, perhaps it makes sense to make cmd/vet do a "go build -work
<arguments>"
before type-checking the package.

[MichaelTJones]

Comment 3:

Indeed, works perfectly now. Thank you!

[rsc]

Comment 4:

It would definitely be nice for 'go vet' to be able to run in degraded mode. I ran it on
a large uncompiled tree over the weekend and was pretty annoyed by all the import
messages.
Also annoying, and harder to fix: 'go vet' complains about not being able to import "C"
when analyzing cgo programs.
We need to decide what the model is. My suggestion is that 'go vet' uses as much
information as it has, but doesn't complain that it needs more.

Status changed to Accepted.

[robpike]

Comment 5:

This issue was closed by revision 78b3ef2.

Status changed to Fixed.