Linter precision: migrate the 3 remaining CI-enforced linters that match stdlib packages by identifier name to astutil.IsPkgSele [Content truncated due to length]

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Summary

Three CI-enforced custom linters still identify standard-library package calls by the syntactic identifier name (ident.Name == "<pkg>") instead of by package identity via pass.TypesInfo. The canonical helper astutil.IsPkgSelector(pass, sel, pkgPath) already exists (pkg/linters/internal/astutil/astutil.go:75-94) and is already proven in production — rawloginlib was migrated to it (pkg/linters/rawloginlib/rawloginlib.go:58). Only three holdouts remain; migrating them closes a recurring false-positive/false-negative class across the enforced suite.

The holdouts

Linter	Location	Current code
osexitinlibrary	pkg/linters/osexitinlibrary/osexitinlibrary.go:59	ident.Name == "os" && sel.Sel.Name == "Exit"
fprintlnsprintf	pkg/linters/fprintlnsprintf/fprintlnsprintf.go:144	ident.Name == "fmt" && sel.Sel.Name == name
errstringmatch	pkg/linters/errstringmatch/errstringmatch.go:85	ident.Name == "strings" && sel.Sel.Name == "Contains"

All three are part of the 14 CI-enforced linters (.github/workflows/cgo.yml LINTER_FLAGS), so any false positive is a build-blocker and any false negative silently lets the targeted anti-pattern ship.

Why syntactic matching is wrong (two failure modes)

1. Alias-import false negative. import str "strings" then str.Contains(err.Error(), "x") — ident.Name is "str", so the call escapes the linter. Same for import xos "os" / import xfmt "fmt".
2. Shadowing false positive (build-blocker). A local variable/parameter/field named os, fmt, or strings with a matching method/field name (e.g. os.Exit) matches by name even though it is not the stdlib package. CI-enforced ⇒ a spurious diagnostic fails the build.

The established correct approach resolves the selector base to a *types.PkgName and compares the imported path:

obj := pass.TypesInfo.ObjectOf(pkgIdent)
pkgName, ok := obj.(*types.PkgName)
return ok && pkgName.Imported().Path() == pkgPath

This is exactly what astutil.IsPkgSelector (and astutil.IsFmtErrorf, astutil.go:51-73) already do.

Current impact

Latent today (no aliased strings/os/fmt imports in pkg/, and these identifiers are rarely shadowed), but this is the same class already accepted and fixed for sortslice (#38029, landed), rawloginlib (#39981, fix landed in code), and regexpcompileinfunction (#39733). The helper and precedent now exist, so finishing the migration is cheap and removes the class entirely.

Recommendation

Replace each syntactic check with the existing helper, mirroring rawloginlib.go:58:

• osexitinlibrary.go:59

if astutil.IsPkgSelector(pass, sel, "os") && sel.Sel.Name == "Exit" {

• fprintlnsprintf.go:144 (isFmtFunc)

return astutil.IsPkgSelector(pass, sel, "fmt") && sel.Sel.Name == name

• errstringmatch.go:85 (isStringsContains)

return astutil.IsPkgSelector(pass, sel, "strings") && sel.Sel.Name == "Contains"

Validation checklist

• Add a testdata case per linter for an aliased import (e.g. str "strings") — confirm it is now flagged (FN closed).
• Add a testdata case with a shadowing local named os/fmt/strings — confirm it is NOT flagged (FP closed).
• Existing testdata expectations unchanged for the normal os.Exit / fmt.Fprintln / strings.Contains cases.
• go test ./pkg/linters/... green; CI linter pass over pkg/ produces no new diagnostics.

Effort

Small — one-line change per linter plus two testdata cases each; the helper already exists. Single PR.

Related

Same syntactic-package-identity class: #38029 (sortslice, landed), #39981 (rawloginlib, landed in code), #39733 (regexpcompileinfunction), #38789 (ctxbackground). This issue finishes the migration for the last three holdouts.

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• expires on Jun 25, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC-08:00

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This issue was automatically closed because it expired on 2026-06-26T05:36:30.238Z.

Closed by Workflow