vitessio/vitess · error

errors loading package %s: %s

Error message

errors loading package %s: %s

What it means

This is a code-generation tool for vtctldclient that wraps the vtctldata proto service. When the Go package loader (golang.org/x/tools/go/packages) fails to load the target package, loadPackage aggregates all load errors into a single error prefixed with 'errors loading package <path>'. It joins each individual error so the developer sees the complete failure list at once.

Source

Thrown at go/vt/vtctl/vtctldclient/codegen/main.go:312

	pkgs, err := packages.Load(&packages.Config{
		Mode: packages.NeedTypes | packages.NeedSyntax | packages.NeedTypesInfo,
	}, source)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	if len(pkgs) != 1 {
		return nil, errors.New("must specify exactly one package")
	}

	pkg := pkgs[0]
	if len(pkg.Errors) > 0 {
		var err error

		for _, e := range pkg.Errors {
			switch err {
			case nil:
				err = fmt.Errorf("errors loading package %s: %s", source, e.Error())
			default:
				err = fmt.Errorf("%w; %s", err, e.Error())
			}
		}

		return nil, err
	}

	return pkg, nil
}

func extractSourceInterface(pkg *packages.Package, name string) (*types.Interface, error) {
	obj := pkg.Types.Scope().Lookup(name)
	if obj == nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no symbol found with name %s", name)
	}

	switch t := obj.Type().(type) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 01a25a7d17)

Solutions

1. Run 'go build ./<package-path>' on the failing package and fix the compile/type errors reported (they are the underlying causes joined into this message)
2. Run 'go mod tidy' to restore missing module/sum entries
3. Verify the package path/pattern passed to packages.Load matches an existing directory in the module
4. Regenerate proto bindings (make proto / make codegen) if generated files are stale or missing
5. Ensure you run the codegen from the repository root with a working Go toolchain

Example fix

// before: broken generated file causes package load failure
func (x *SomeType) Method() { return undefinedSymbol }
// after: regenerate the bindings
// make proto && go build ./vitess.io/vtctld...

// Pre-check the package compiles before running codegen
out, err := exec.Command("go", "build", "./go/vt/vtctl/vtctldclient/...").CombinedOutput()
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("package does not build, codegen will fail: %s", out)
}

if err != nil {
    var perr *packages.Error
    if errors.As(err, &perr) { /* inspect joined load errors */ }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running the codegen main (go run ./go/vt/vtctl/vtctldclient/codegen) when pkg.Errors is non-empty after packages.Load — e.g. the package path is wrong, files have syntax/type errors, or dependencies cannot be resolved.

Common situations: Typos in the package pattern passed to packages.Load; missing go.sum entries or unresolved module versions; editing proto-generated Go files and leaving broken syntax; running codegen outside the module (no go.mod context); toolchain/version mismatch breaking imports.

Related errors

• found %d error(s) when loading Go packages: %s
• error getting %s in %s: %w
• %w; %s
• package '%s' does not contain 'ast_format.go'
• generator failed for type %s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of vitessio/vitess@01a25a7d17 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e50eae379b1c1248. Report an issue: GitHub.