#error-handling #exit-code #exit #error #process-program

explicit-error-exit

Explicit concrete Error type to manage errors that end a process/program

2 releases

Uses new Rust 2024

new 0.1.2 May 22, 2025
0.1.0 May 22, 2025

#962 in Rust patterns

Apache-2.0

58KB
456 lines

Explicit error exit

crates.io docs.rs build status

Built on top of explicit-error, it provides idiomatic tools to manage errors that ends a process/program. Based on the explicit-error crate, its chore tenet is to favor explicitness by inlining the error output while remaining concise.

The key features are:

  • Explicitly mark any error wrapped in a [Result] as a [Bug], a backtrace is captured.
  • Inline transformation of any errors wrapped in a [Result] into an [Error].
  • A derive macro ExitError to easily declare how enum or struct errors transform into an [Error].
  • Add context to errors to help debug.

A tour of explicit-error-bin

The cornerstone of the library is the [Error] type. Use Result<T, explicit_error_http::Error>, or equivalently explicit_error_bin::Result<T>, as the return type of any faillible function returning errors that can end the program.

Inline

In the body of the function you can explicitly turn errors as exit errors using [ExitError] or marking them as [Bug].

use explicit_error_exit::{prelude::*, ExitError, Result, Bug};
use std::process::ExitCode;
// Import the prelude to enable functions on std::result::Result

fn business_logic() -> Result<()> {
    Err("error message").bug()?;

    Err(std::io::Error::new(std::io::ErrorKind::Other, "oh no!"))
        .bug_with_source()?; // Same behavior as bug() but capture the wrapped std::error::Error as a source

    if 1 > 2 {
        Err(Bug::new()
            .with_context("Usefull context to help debug."))?;
    }

    Err(42).map_err(|e|
        ExitError::new(
            "Something went wrong because ..",
            ExitCode::from(e)
        )
    )?;

    Ok(())
}

Enum and struct

Domain errors are often represented as enum or struct as they are raised in different places. To easily enable the conversion to [Error] use the ExitError derive and implement From<&MyError> for ExitError.

use explicit_error_exit::{prelude::*, ExitError, Result, derive::ExitError};
use std::process::ExitCode;

#[derive(ExitError, Debug)]
enum MyError {
    Foo,
}

impl From<&MyError> for ExitError {
    fn from(value: &MyError) -> Self {
        match value {
            MyError::Foo => ExitError::new(
                    "Something went wrong because ..",
                    ExitCode::from(42)
                ),
        }
    }
}

fn business_logic() -> Result<()> {
    Err(MyError::Foo)?;

    Ok(())
}

Note: The ExitError derive implements the conversion to [Error], the impl of Display and std::error::Error.

Pattern matching

One of the drawbacks of using one and only one return type for different domain functions is that callers loose the ability to pattern match on the returned error. A solution is provided using try_map_on_source on any Result<T, Error>, or equivalently explicit_error_exit::Result<T>.

use explicit_error_exit::{prelude::*, ExitError, Result, derive::ExitError};
use std::process::ExitCode;

#[derive(ExitError, Debug)]
enum MyError {
    Foo,
    Bar
}

fn business_logic() -> Result<()> {
    let err: Result<()> = Err(MyError::Foo)?;

    // Do the map if the source's type of the Error is MyError
    err.try_map_on_source(|e| {
        match e {
            MyError::Foo => ExitError::new(
                "Foo",
                ExitCode::SUCCESS),
            MyError::Bar => ExitError::new(
                "Bar",
                ExitCode::FAILURE),
        }
    })?;

    Ok(())
}

Note: under the hood try_map_on_source perform some downcasting.

Dependencies

~0.3–0.9MB
~20K SLoC