staticcheck: Fails with Go 1.24: internal error in importing ... (unsupported version: 2)

[stefanb]

While testing Go 1.24 (rc1 and rc2) in

• go 1.24rc2, [email protected] 1.23.5 (new formula) Homebrew/homebrew-core#201070

I noticed staticcheck is failing with a simple test from homebrew formula staticcheck.rb, reproduced below:

$ go1.24rc2 version
go version go1.24rc2 darwin/arm64

$ go1.24rc2 run honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@latest .
-: internal error in importing "internal/byteorder" (unsupported version: 2); please report an issue (compile)
-: internal error in importing "internal/cpu" (unsupported version: 2); please report an issue (compile)
-: internal error in importing "internal/goarch" (unsupported version: 2); please report an issue (compile)
-: internal error in importing "internal/goos" (unsupported version: 2); please report an issue (compile)
-: internal error in importing "math/bits" (unsupported version: 2); please report an issue (compile)
exit status 1

$ go1.24rc2 run honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@latest -debug.version
staticcheck 2024.1.1 (0.5.1)

Compiled with Go version: go1.24rc2
Main module:
        honnef.co/go/[email protected] (sum: h1:4bH5o3b5ZULQ4UrBmP+63W9r7qIkqJClEA9ko5YKx+I=)
Dependencies:
        github.com/BurntSushi/[email protected] (sum: h1:pxW6RcqyfI9/kWtOwnv/G+AzdKuy2ZrqINhenH4HyNs=)
        golang.org/x/exp/[email protected] (sum: h1:1P7xPZEwZMoBoz0Yze5Nx2/4pxj6nw9ZqHWXqP0iRgQ=)
        golang.org/x/[email protected] (sum: h1:zY54UmvipHiNd+pm+m0x9KhZ9hl1/7QNMyxXbc6ICqA=)
        golang.org/x/[email protected] (sum: h1:YsImfSBoP9QPYL0xyKJPq0gcaJdG3rInoqxTWbfQu9M=)
        golang.org/x/[email protected] (sum: h1:SHq4Rl+B7WvyM4XODon1LXtP7gcG49+7Jubt1gWWswY=)

Same test with go 1.23 works fine:

$ go version
go version go1.23.5 darwin/arm64

$ go run honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@latest .
main.go:6:2: should merge variable declaration with assignment on next line (S1021)
exit status 1

$ go run honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@latest -debug.version
staticcheck 2024.1.1 (0.5.1)

Compiled with Go version: go1.23.5
Main module:
        honnef.co/go/[email protected] (sum: h1:4bH5o3b5ZULQ4UrBmP+63W9r7qIkqJClEA9ko5YKx+I=)
Dependencies:
        github.com/BurntSushi/[email protected] (sum: h1:pxW6RcqyfI9/kWtOwnv/G+AzdKuy2ZrqINhenH4HyNs=)
        golang.org/x/exp/[email protected] (sum: h1:1P7xPZEwZMoBoz0Yze5Nx2/4pxj6nw9ZqHWXqP0iRgQ=)
        golang.org/x/[email protected] (sum: h1:zY54UmvipHiNd+pm+m0x9KhZ9hl1/7QNMyxXbc6ICqA=)
        golang.org/x/[email protected] (sum: h1:YsImfSBoP9QPYL0xyKJPq0gcaJdG3rInoqxTWbfQu9M=)
        golang.org/x/[email protected] (sum: h1:SHq4Rl+B7WvyM4XODon1LXtP7gcG49+7Jubt1gWWswY=)

[stefanb]

It seems that it was already fixed on master in v0.5.1...master

$ go1.24rc2 run honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@master .
main.go:6:2: should merge variable declaration with assignment on next line (S1021)
exit status 1

$ go1.24rc2 run honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@master -debug.version
staticcheck (devel, v0.6.0-0.dev.0.20250112185414-21df14b396f6)

Compiled with Go version: go1.24rc2
Main module:
        honnef.co/go/[email protected] (sum: h1:V0zVc5mjXZdaUSO26gkYCmjBSju5zKVkHY0O7K4TxLg=)
Dependencies:
        github.com/BurntSushi/[email protected] (sum: h1:pxW6RcqyfI9/kWtOwnv/G+AzdKuy2ZrqINhenH4HyNs=)
        golang.org/x/exp/[email protected] (sum: h1:1P7xPZEwZMoBoz0Yze5Nx2/4pxj6nw9ZqHWXqP0iRgQ=)
        golang.org/x/[email protected] (sum: h1:vvrHzRwRfVKSiLrG+d4FMl/Qi4ukBCE6kZlTUkDYRT0=)
        golang.org/x/[email protected] (sum: h1:3NFvSEYkUoMifnESzZl15y791HH1qU2xm6eCJU5ZPXQ=)
        golang.org/x/[email protected] (sum: h1:oFU9pkj/iJgs+0DT+VMHrx+oBKs/LJMV+Uvg78sl+fE=)

So it likely just needs a new release.

[dominikh]

The next release of Staticcheck will coincide with the Go 1.24 release.

[timothy-king]

-: internal error in importing "internal/byteorder" (unsupported version: 2); please report an issue (compile) means the export data when generated with GOEXPERIMENT=aliastypeparams. This is on by default for 1.24 (and off for <=1.23).

[Edit: none of the following makes sense for the error message. Apologies.] I very strongly suspect this is golang/go#69772. staticcheck's go.mod is 1.22. So to handle 1.24 code with a 1.24 toolchain and a 1.22 language version, one needs to explicitly set GODEBUG gotypesalias=1 (but only do this when the toolchain is >=1.23 [because 1.22 toolchain support is just not good enough]) or bump the go.mod to >= 1.23 to bump the language version. Example fixes in https://go.dev/cl/619395. This adds this slightly cryptic file to each package main:

//go:build go1.23

//go:debug gotypesalias=1

package main

This is all awful tech debt caused by needing go/types to be backwards compatible with non-materialized aliases.

[dominikh]

As this works on master but not with the latest release of Staticcheck, I believe this is actually caused by using an old version of golang.org/x/tools/go/gcexportdata.

[timothy-king]

As this works on master but not with the latest release of Staticcheck, I believe this is actually caused by using an old version of golang.org/x/tools/go/gcexportdata.

Yes. This makes more sense.