How to use plugins while building the binary?

[deepjyoti30]

Hey there! We have a repo where we are using multiple plugins that we compile into the final archive during the build. We use a makefile to build all the plugins and then we build the final binary which then uses these plugins when it runs.

I looked through go-releaser docs but could not find any mention of how to support plugin builds.

One possible solution at the top of my mind is using multiple builders for each plugin, however I am not sure if that is an efficient way of doing it. Is there a better approach that I was unable to find in the docs?

Can anyone point me in the right direction of how I can support plugins being built?

For instance, this is the makefile we are using for building the plugins

[caarlos0]

by plugins you mean what exactly?

glancing at the makefile, you seem to just build multiple binaries which are elasticsearch plugins? If so, you just need multiple builds in your .goreleaser.yaml:

builds:
- id: plugin1
  main: .
  ldflags: [etc]
- id: plugin2
  main: .
  ldflags: [etc]

https://goreleaser.com/customization/build/

[deepjyoti30]

by plugins you mean what exactly?

I mean go plugins that can be built with the --buildmode=plugin as stated here option and can later be used in the main go file using the path of the built plugins. I am not sure if they are binaries since the built plugins have a .so extension.

glancing at the makefile, you seem to just build multiple binaries which are elasticsearch plugins? If so, you just need multiple builds in your .goreleaser.yaml

I am trying this approach out to see if this works based on the requirements, I essentially want to dynamically build all the plugins in the plugins directory.

[caarlos0]

And the import path should be an option in the build struct as well.

[deepjyoti30]

Hey @caarlos0 thanks for the inputs. I am still getting an error even after making the changes that you suggested. Following is my updated build defined:

- id: plugin_pipelines
    binary: auth.so
    flags:
      - --buildmode=plugin
      - github.com/appbaseio/reactivesearch-api/plugins/auth/main
    goos:
      - linux

Error I am getting is the following:

 error=failed to build for linux_amd64_v1: exit status 1: malformed import path "-ldflags=-s -w -X main.version=8.8.2-next -X main.commit=6a57029d4fb7e081abc9554f2c21613581c51ef7 -X main.date=2023-01-18T17:25:12Z -X main.builtBy=goreleaser": leading dash
malformed import path "-o": leading dash

stat /Users/deepjyoti30/git/reactivesearch/dist/plugin_pipelines_linux_amd64_v1/pipelines.so: directory not found

I am not sure how the -o is getting passed as I have already removed it from the yaml as you can see above.

Also, why is the directory error being thrown? I am not specifying any custom directory except the binary name.

[caarlos0]

please take a look at https://goreleaser.com/customization/build/?h=c+shared#building-shared-or-static-libraries

your config should probably be something like:

- id: plugin_pipelines
  binary: auth.so
  main: ./plugins/auth/main
  buildmode: plugin
  goos:
  - linux

[deepjyoti30]

@caarlos0 Thanks for the config. This works. I was not aware that buildmode was a direct supported key. However, now I get an error that indicates that there is no main

error=build for auth does not contain a main function
Learn more at https://goreleaser.com/errors/no-main

I think the above is expected because a main() function is not defined for the plugin. Here's the file that I am using and as you can see, it does not have a main() function.

Is there a way to bypass this error?

PS: I also tried with the main value set to ./plugins/auth/main as well as ./plugins/auth/main/auth.go

[caarlos0]

yes: https://goreleaser.com/customization/build/?h=no_main_check