Add info about emitting lints and errors

Author: mark-i-m

src/SUMMARY.md

@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
     - [miri const evaluator](./miri.md)
 - [Parameter Environments](./param_env.md)
 - [Generating LLVM IR](./trans.md)
+- [Emitting Diagnostics](./diag.md)
 
 ---
 

src/appendix-code-index.md

@@ -8,11 +8,13 @@ Item            |  Kind    | Short description           | Chapter            |
 ----------------|----------|-----------------------------|--------------------|-------------------
 `CodeMap` | struct | The CodeMap maps the AST nodes to their source code | [The parser] | [src/libsyntax/codemap.rs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/syntax/codemap/struct.CodeMap.html)
 `CompileState` | struct | State that is passed to a callback at each compiler pass | [The Rustc Driver] | [src/librustc_driver/driver.rs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_driver/driver/struct.CompileState.html)
+`DiagnosticBuilder` | struct | A struct for building up compiler diagnostics, such as errors or lints | [Emitting Diagnostics] | [src/librustc_errors/diagnostic_builder.rs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_errors/struct.DiagnosticBuilder.html)
 `DocContext` | struct | A state container used by rustdoc when crawling through a crate to gather its documentation | [Rustdoc] | [src/librustdoc/core.rs](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/master/src/librustdoc/core.rs)
 `ast::Crate` | struct | Syntax-level representation of a parsed crate | [The parser] | [src/librustc/hir/mod.rs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/syntax/ast/struct.Crate.html)
 `hir::Crate` | struct | More abstract, compiler-friendly form of a crate's AST | [The Hir] | [src/librustc/hir/mod.rs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc/hir/struct.Crate.html)
 `ParseSess` | struct | This struct contains information about a parsing session | [the Parser] | [src/libsyntax/parse/mod.rs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/syntax/parse/struct.ParseSess.html)
 `Session` | struct | The data associated with a compilation session | [the Parser], [The Rustc Driver] | [src/librustc/session/mod.html](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc/session/struct.Session.html)
+`Span` | struct  | A location in the user's source code, used for error reporting primarily | [Emitting Diagnostics] | [src/libsyntax_pos/span_encoding.rs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/syntax_pos/struct.Span.html)
 `StringReader` | struct | This is the lexer used during parsing. It consumes characters from the raw source code being compiled and produces a series of tokens for use by the rest of the parser | [The parser] |  [src/libsyntax/parse/lexer/mod.rs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/syntax/parse/lexer/struct.StringReader.html)
 `TraitDef` | struct | This struct contains a trait's definition with type information | [The `ty` modules] |  [src/librustc/ty/trait_def.rs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc/ty/trait_def/struct.TraitDef.html)
 `Ty<'tcx>` | struct | This is the internal representation of a type used for type checking | [Type checking] | [src/librustc/ty/mod.rs](https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc/ty/type.Ty.html)
@@ -24,3 +26,4 @@ Item            |  Kind    | Short description           | Chapter            |
 [Type checking]: type-checking.html
 [The `ty` modules]: ty.html
 [Rustdoc]: rustdoc.html
+[Emitting Diagnostics]: diag.html

src/diag.md

@@ -0,0 +1,176 @@
+# Emitting Diagnostics
+
+A lot of effort has been put into making `rustc` have great error messages.
+This chapter is about how to emit compile errors and lints from the compiler.
+
+## `Span`
+
+`Span` is the primary data structure in `rustc` used to represent a location in
+the code being compiled. `Span`s are attached to most constructs in HIR and MIR,
+allowing for easier error reporting whenever an error comes up.
+
+A `Span` can be looked up in a `CodeMap` to get a "snippet" useful for
+displaying errors with [`span_to_snippet` and other similar methods][sptosnip]
+on the `CodeMap`.
+
+[sptosnip]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/syntax/codemap/struct.CodeMap.html#method.span_to_snippet
+
+## Error messages
+
+The [`rustc_errors`][errors] crate defines most of the utilities used for
+reporting errors.
+
+[errors]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_errors/index.html
+
+Most "session"-like types in the compiler (e.g. [`Session`][session]) have
+methods (or fields with methods) that allow reporting errors. These methods
+usually have names like `span_err` or `struct_span_err` or `span_warn`, etc...
+There are lots of them; they emit different types of "errors", such as
+warnings, errors, fatal errors, suggestions, etc.
+
+[session]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc/session/struct.Session.html
+
+In general, there are two class of such methods: ones that emit an error
+directly and ones that allow finer control over what to emit. For example,
+[`span_err`][spanerr] emits the given error message at the given `Span`, but
+[`struct_span_err`][strspanerr] instead returns a [`DiagnosticBuilder`][diagbuild].
+
+`DiagnosticBuilder` allows you to add related notes and suggestions to an error
+before emitting it by calling the [`emit`][emit] method. See the
+[docs][diagbuild] for more info on what you can do.
+
+[spanerr]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc/session/struct.Session.html#method.span_err
+[strspanerr]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc/session/struct.Session.html#method.struct_span_err
+[diagbuild]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_errors/diagnostic_builder/struct.DiagnosticBuilder.html
+[emit]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_errors/diagnostic_builder/struct.DiagnosticBuilder.html#method.emit
+
+For example, to add a help message to an error, one might do:
+
+```rust,ignore
+let snip = sess.codemap().span_to_snippet(sp);
+
+sess.struct_span_err(sp, "oh no! this is an error!")
+    .span_suggestion(other_sp, "try using a qux here", format!("qux {}", snip))
+    .emit();
+```
+
+This might emit an error like
+
+```console
+$ rustc mycode.rs 
+error[E0999]: oh no! this is an error!
+ --> mycode.rs:3:5
+  |
+3 |     sad()
+  |     ^ help: try using a qux here: `qux sad()`
+
+error: aborting due to previous error
+
+For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0999`.
+```
+
+## Lints
+
+The compiler linting infrastructure is defined in the [`rustc::lint`][rlint]
+module. 
+
+[rlint]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc/lint/index.html
+
+### Declaring a lint
+
+The built-in compiler lints are defined in the [`rustc_lint`][builtin]
+crate.
+
+[builtin]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_lint/index.html
+
+Each lint is defined as a `struct` that implements the `LintPass` `trait`. The
+trait implementation allows you to check certain syntactic constructs the
+linter walks the source code. You can then choose to emit lints in a very
+similar way to compile errors. Finally, you register the lint to actually get
+it to be run by the compiler by using the `declare_lint!` macro.
+
+For example, the following lint checks for uses
+of `while true { ... }` and suggests using `loop { ... }` instead.
+
+```rust,ignore
+// Declare a lint called `WHILE_TRUE`
+declare_lint! {
+    WHILE_TRUE,
+
+    // warn-by-default
+    Warn,
+
+    // This string is the lint description
+    "suggest using `loop { }` instead of `while true { }`"
+}
+
+// Define a struct and `impl LintPass` for it.
+#[derive(Copy, Clone)]
+pub struct WhileTrue;
+
+impl LintPass for WhileTrue {
+    fn get_lints(&self) -> LintArray {
+        lint_array!(WHILE_TRUE)
+    }
+}
+
+// LateLintPass has lots of methods. We only override the definition of
+// `check_expr` for this lint because that's all we need, but you could
+// override other methods for your own lint. See the rustc docs for a full
+// list of methods.
+impl<'a, 'tcx> LateLintPass<'a, 'tcx> for WhileTrue {
+    fn check_expr(&mut self, cx: &LateContext, e: &hir::Expr) {
+        if let hir::ExprWhile(ref cond, ..) = e.node {
+            if let hir::ExprLit(ref lit) = cond.node {
+                if let ast::LitKind::Bool(true) = lit.node {
+                    if lit.span.ctxt() == SyntaxContext::empty() {
+                        let msg = "denote infinite loops with `loop { ... }`";
+                        let condition_span = cx.tcx.sess.codemap().def_span(e.span);
+                        let mut err = cx.struct_span_lint(WHILE_TRUE, condition_span, msg);
+                        err.span_suggestion_short(condition_span, "use `loop`", "loop".to_owned());
+                        err.emit();
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+```
+
+### Edition Lints
+
+Sometimes we want to change the behavior of a lint in a new edition. To do this,
+we just add the transition to our invocation of `declare_lint!`:
+
+```rust,ignore
+declare_lint! {
+    pub ANONYMOUS_PARAMETERS,
+    Allow,
+    "detects anonymous parameters",
+    Edition::Edition2018 => Warn,
+}
+```
+
+This makes the `ANONYMOUS_PARAMETERS` lint allow-by-default in the 2015 edition
+but warn-by-default in the 2018 edition.
+
+### Lint Groups
+
+Lints can be turned on in groups. These groups are declared in the
+[`register_builtins`][rbuiltins] function in [`rustc_lint::lib`][builtin]. The
+`add_lint_group!` macro is used to declare a new group.
+
+[rbuiltins]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_lint/fn.register_builtins.html
+
+For example,
+
+```rust,ignore
+    add_lint_group!(sess,
+                    "nonstandard_style",
+                    NON_CAMEL_CASE_TYPES,
+                    NON_SNAKE_CASE,
+                    NON_UPPER_CASE_GLOBALS);
+```
+
+This defines the `nonstandard_style` group which turns on the listed lints. A user
+can turn on these lints by using `!#[warn(nonstandard_style)]`.