[CT-3167] [Bug] resource_type selector method not returning expected results

[dave-connors-3]

Is this a new bug in dbt-core?

• I believe this is a new bug in dbt-core
• I have searched the existing issues, and I could not find an existing issue for this bug

Current Behavior

using dbt ls -s resource_type:source returns no results in a project with sources, while dbt ls --resource-type source properly returns expected results

Expected Behavior

each method should return all sources defined in my project

Steps To Reproduce

1. define a source
2. run dbt ls -s resource_type:source , see nothing
3. run dbt ls --resource-type source see source node

Relevant log output

No response

Environment

- OS:
- Python:
- dbt:

Which database adapter are you using with dbt?

snowflake

Additional Context

No response

[graciegoheen]

Thanks for opening Dave! I agree, according to our docs, this should work.

I think the next step is to check if the resource_type selector is working in earlier versions - is this also not working in 1.5? 1.4?

[dbeatty10]

I was able to reproduce that this doesn't work in dbt-core 1.6. Now we just need to see if it worked on 1.5 or 1.4.

[jtcohen6]

I am not sure if this actually ever worked!

It looks like the code was added multiple years ago, but the docs only very recently:

• Missing node selection methods docs.getdbt.com#3549
• Update methods.md docs.getdbt.com#3548

I agree it would be nice if it did work, within --select syntax, for all commands (even ones that don't support the --resource-type parameter).

[graciegoheen]

@jtcohen6 do you know why do we have both?

[jtcohen6]

@graciegoheen I think just history, and it's worth making this more consistent. In theory we support:

dbt ls --select source:*
dbt ls --resource-type source

I don't know if we've ever actually supported:

dbt ls --select resource_type:source

[dbeatty10]

Opened this issue to clarify what works currently and what doesn't:

• Select resources with the source resource_type docs.getdbt.com#4145

[dbeatty10]

Although this doesn't work in 1.5.9, it did for me using 1.6.5 and 1.7.8:

(dbt_1.5) $ dbt ls -s resource_type:source              

02:02:21  Running with dbt=1.5.9
02:02:21  Registered adapter: postgres=1.5.9
02:02:22  Found 2 models, 1 test, 1 snapshot, 1 analysis, 310 macros, 0 operations, 1 seed file, 1 source, 1 exposure, 0 metrics, 1 group
02:02:22  The selection criterion 'resource_type:source' does not match any nodes
02:02:22  No nodes selected!

(dbt_1.6) $ dbt ls -s resource_type:source

02:02:45  Running with dbt=1.6.5
02:02:45  Registered adapter: postgres=1.6.5
02:02:45  Unable to do partial parsing because of a version mismatch
02:02:46  Found 2 models, 1 snapshot, 1 analysis, 1 seed, 1 test, 1 source, 1 exposure, 0 metrics, 352 macros, 1 group, 0 semantic models
source:my_project.my_src.my_seed

(dbt_1.7) $ dbt ls -s resource_type:source

02:03:03  Running with dbt=1.7.8
02:03:03  Registered adapter: postgres=1.7.8
02:03:03  Unable to do partial parsing because of a version mismatch
02:03:04  Found 2 models, 1 snapshot, 1 analysis, 1 seed, 1 test, 1 source, 1 exposure, 0 metrics, 401 macros, 1 group, 0 semantic models
source:my_project.my_src.my_seed

Quickly scanning the changelogs for 1.6 and 1.7, I don't know what changed to cause this to work now though.

I'm going to close this as "magically resolved". If someone knows the right PR to link this to, please share! 🙏

Also opened dbt-labs/docs.getdbt.com#5003 to update the docs.

[graciegoheen]

@dbeatty10 We should make sure we have a test in place so that this doesn't "magical break" in the future!