fix(tracker-client): improve error message when JSON config is not well-formatted (#1042)

console/tracker-client/Cargo.toml

@@ -37,3 +37,6 @@ url = { version = "2", features = [ "serde" ] }
 
 [package.metadata.cargo-machete]
 ignored = [ "serde_bytes" ]
+
+[dev-dependencies]
+tempfile = "3"

console/tracker-client/src/bin/tracker_checker.rs

@@ -3,5 +3,9 @@ use torrust_tracker_client::console::clients::checker::app;
 
 #[tokio::main]
 async fn main() {
-    app::run().await.expect("Some checks fail");
+    if let Err(e) = app::run().await {
+        let (json, exit_code) = e.to_stderr_json_and_exit_code();
+        eprintln!("{json}");
+        std::process::exit(exit_code);
+    }
 }

console/tracker-client/src/console/clients/checker/app.rs

@@ -59,12 +59,12 @@
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
-use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use clap::Parser;
 use tracing::level_filters::LevelFilter;
 
 use super::config::Configuration;
 use super::console::Console;
+use super::error::{AppError, ConfigSource};
 use super::service::{CheckResult, Service};
 use crate::console::clients::checker::config::parse_from_json;
 
@@ -82,8 +82,9 @@ struct Args {
 
 /// # Errors
 ///
-/// Will return an error if the configuration was not provided.
-pub async fn run() -> Result<Vec<CheckResult>> {
+/// Will return an `AppError::InvalidConfig` if the configuration cannot be parsed,
+/// or an `AppError::Runtime` if the checks fail to execute.
+pub async fn run() -> Result<Vec<CheckResult>, AppError> {
     tracing_stdout_init(LevelFilter::INFO);
 
     let args = Args::parse();
@@ -97,24 +98,36 @@ pub async fn run() -> Result<Vec<CheckResult>> {
         console: console_printer,
     };
 
-    service.run_checks().await.context("it should run the check tasks")
+    service.run_checks().await.map_err(|e| AppError::Runtime(e.to_string()))
 }
 
 fn tracing_stdout_init(filter: LevelFilter) {
     tracing_subscriber::fmt().with_max_level(filter).init();
     tracing::debug!("Logging initialized");
 }
 
-fn setup_config(args: Args) -> Result<Configuration> {
+fn setup_config(args: Args) -> Result<Configuration, AppError> {
     match (args.config_path, args.config_content) {
         (Some(config_path), _) => load_config_from_file(&config_path),
-        (_, Some(config_content)) => parse_from_json(&config_content).context("invalid config format"),
-        _ => Err(anyhow::anyhow!("no configuration provided")),
+        (_, Some(config_content)) => parse_from_json(&config_content).map_err(|e| AppError::InvalidConfig {
+            source: ConfigSource::EnvVar("TORRUST_CHECKER_CONFIG"),
+            message: e.to_string(),
+        }),
+        _ => Err(AppError::InvalidConfig {
+            source: ConfigSource::EnvVar("TORRUST_CHECKER_CONFIG"),
+            message: "no configuration provided".to_string(),
+        }),
     }
 }
 
-fn load_config_from_file(path: &PathBuf) -> Result<Configuration> {
-    let file_content = std::fs::read_to_string(path).with_context(|| format!("can't read config file {}", path.display()))?;
+fn load_config_from_file(path: &PathBuf) -> Result<Configuration, AppError> {
+    let file_content = std::fs::read_to_string(path).map_err(|e| AppError::InvalidConfig {
+        source: ConfigSource::File(path.clone()),
+        message: format!("can't read config file {}: {e}", path.display()),
+    })?;
 
-    parse_from_json(&file_content).context("invalid config format")
+    parse_from_json(&file_content).map_err(|e| AppError::InvalidConfig {
+        source: ConfigSource::File(path.clone()),
+        message: e.to_string(),
+    })
 }

console/tracker-client/src/console/clients/checker/config.rs

@@ -279,4 +279,72 @@ mod tests {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    mod parsing_from_json {
+        use crate::console::clients::checker::config::parse_from_json;
+
+        #[test]
+        fn it_should_succeed_with_valid_json() {
+            let json = r#"{"udp_trackers":[],"http_trackers":[],"health_checks":[]}"#;
+            assert!(parse_from_json(json).is_ok());
+        }
+
+        #[test]
+        fn it_should_fail_with_trailing_comma_and_include_serde_detail_in_error() {
+            let json = r#"{
+                "udp_trackers": [],
+                "http_trackers": [
+                    "http://127.0.0.1:7070",
+                ],
+                "health_checks": []
+            }"#;
+
+            let err = parse_from_json(json).err().expect("Expected a parse error");
+            let message = err.to_string();
+
+            // The specific serde_json detail must be present, not just "invalid config format"
+            assert!(
+                message.contains("trailing comma"),
+                "Expected 'trailing comma' in error message, got: {message}"
+            );
+        }
+
+        #[test]
+        fn it_should_fail_with_missing_field_and_include_serde_detail_in_error() {
+            // Missing required fields entirely
+            let json = r#"{"udp_trackers":[]}"#;
+
+            let err = parse_from_json(json)
+                .err()
+                .expect("Expected a parse error for missing fields");
+            let message = err.to_string();
+
+            assert!(!message.is_empty(), "Expected a non-empty error message, got empty string");
+        }
+
+        #[test]
+        fn it_should_fail_with_malformed_json_and_include_serde_detail_in_error() {
+            let json = r"not json at all";
+
+            let err = parse_from_json(json)
+                .err()
+                .expect("Expected a parse error for malformed JSON");
+            let message = err.to_string();
+
+            assert!(
+                message.contains("JSON parse error"),
+                "Expected 'JSON parse error' prefix in error message, got: {message}"
+            );
+        }
+
+        #[test]
+        fn it_should_fail_with_invalid_url_and_include_detail_in_error() {
+            let json = r#"{"udp_trackers":["not a url"],"http_trackers":[],"health_checks":[]}"#;
+
+            let err = parse_from_json(json).err().expect("Expected an error for an invalid URL");
+            let message = err.to_string();
+
+            assert!(!message.is_empty(), "Expected a non-empty error message");
+        }
+    }
 }

console/tracker-client/src/console/clients/checker/error.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+//! Application-level errors for the tracker checker binary.
+//!
+//! This module separates two concerns:
+//! - **Delivery mechanism**: how the configuration was provided (env var, file path, …)
+//! - **Error presentation**: what structured JSON the binary emits on stderr
+//!
+//! `ConfigSource` captures the delivery mechanism so that error messages can
+//! reference it without coupling the parsing layer to delivery specifics.
+//!
+//! The JSON envelope emitted to stderr follows the Tracker CLI I/O Contract:
+//!
+//! ```json
+//! { "error": { "kind": "...", "source": "...", "message": "..." } }
+//! ```
+use std::fmt;
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+/// Where the configuration content was delivered from.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub enum ConfigSource {
+    /// Configuration delivered via an environment variable (stores the variable name).
+    EnvVar(&'static str),
+    /// Configuration delivered via a file (stores the file path).
+    File(PathBuf),
+}
+
+impl fmt::Display for ConfigSource {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            ConfigSource::EnvVar(name) => write!(f, "{name}"),
+            ConfigSource::File(path) => write!(f, "{}", path.display()),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Top-level application errors for the tracker checker.
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub enum AppError {
+    /// The provided configuration was invalid (bad JSON, invalid URLs, etc.).
+    InvalidConfig {
+        /// How the configuration was delivered (env var or file path).
+        source: ConfigSource,
+        /// Human-readable detail from the underlying parse error.
+        message: String,
+    },
+    /// An unexpected runtime failure occurred after configuration was accepted.
+    Runtime(String),
+}
+
+impl AppError {
+    /// Serializes the error to the contract JSON envelope and returns the
+    /// appropriate process exit code.
+    ///
+    /// Exit codes:
+    /// - `2` — configuration error
+    /// - `1` — generic runtime failure
+    #[must_use]
+    pub fn to_stderr_json_and_exit_code(&self) -> (String, i32) {
+        match self {
+            AppError::InvalidConfig { source, message } => {
+                let json = serde_json::json!({
+                    "error": {
+                        "kind": "invalid_configuration",
+                        "source": source.to_string(),
+                        "message": message,
+                    }
+                })
+                .to_string();
+                (json, 2)
+            }
+            AppError::Runtime(message) => {
+                let json = serde_json::json!({
+                    "error": {
+                        "kind": "runtime_failure",
+                        "source": "runtime",
+                        "message": message,
+                    }
+                })
+                .to_string();
+                (json, 1)
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl fmt::Display for AppError {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            AppError::InvalidConfig { source, message } => {
+                write!(f, "invalid configuration from {source}: {message}")
+            }
+            AppError::Runtime(msg) => write!(f, "runtime failure: {msg}"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn config_source_env_var_displays_as_variable_name() {
+        let source = ConfigSource::EnvVar("TORRUST_CHECKER_CONFIG");
+        assert_eq!(source.to_string(), "TORRUST_CHECKER_CONFIG");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn config_source_file_displays_as_path() {
+        let source = ConfigSource::File(PathBuf::from("/etc/tracker/config.json"));
+        assert_eq!(source.to_string(), "/etc/tracker/config.json");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn invalid_config_error_produces_exit_code_2() {
+        let error = AppError::InvalidConfig {
+            source: ConfigSource::EnvVar("TORRUST_CHECKER_CONFIG"),
+            message: "JSON parse error: trailing comma at line 7 column 5".to_string(),
+        };
+        let (_, exit_code) = error.to_stderr_json_and_exit_code();
+        assert_eq!(exit_code, 2);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn runtime_error_produces_exit_code_1() {
+        let error = AppError::Runtime("failed to bind socket".to_string());
+        let (_, exit_code) = error.to_stderr_json_and_exit_code();
+        assert_eq!(exit_code, 1);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn invalid_config_error_json_contains_expected_fields() {
+        let error = AppError::InvalidConfig {
+            source: ConfigSource::EnvVar("TORRUST_CHECKER_CONFIG"),
+            message: "JSON parse error: trailing comma at line 7 column 5".to_string(),
+        };
+        let (json, _) = error.to_stderr_json_and_exit_code();
+        let parsed: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&json).expect("Error JSON should be valid JSON");
+
+        assert_eq!(parsed["error"]["kind"], "invalid_configuration");
+        assert_eq!(parsed["error"]["source"], "TORRUST_CHECKER_CONFIG");
+        assert_eq!(
+            parsed["error"]["message"],
+            "JSON parse error: trailing comma at line 7 column 5"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn runtime_error_json_contains_expected_fields() {
+        let error = AppError::Runtime("failed to bind socket".to_string());
+        let (json, _) = error.to_stderr_json_and_exit_code();
+        let parsed: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&json).expect("Error JSON should be valid JSON");
+
+        assert_eq!(parsed["error"]["kind"], "runtime_failure");
+        assert_eq!(parsed["error"]["source"], "runtime");
+        assert_eq!(parsed["error"]["message"], "failed to bind socket");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn invalid_config_error_from_file_includes_path_in_json() {
+        let error = AppError::InvalidConfig {
+            source: ConfigSource::File(PathBuf::from("/etc/tracker/config.json")),
+            message: "JSON parse error: trailing comma at line 3 column 1".to_string(),
+        };
+        let (json, _) = error.to_stderr_json_and_exit_code();
+        let parsed: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&json).expect("Error JSON should be valid JSON");
+
+        assert_eq!(parsed["error"]["source"], "/etc/tracker/config.json");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn invalid_config_error_json_escapes_special_characters() {
+        let source_path = r"C:\tracker\config\broken.json";
+        let message = "JSON parse error: unexpected '\"' on line 2\nCheck C:\\temp\\config.json";
+
+        let error = AppError::InvalidConfig {
+            source: ConfigSource::File(PathBuf::from(source_path)),
+            message: message.to_string(),
+        };
+        let (json, _) = error.to_stderr_json_and_exit_code();
+        let parsed: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&json).expect("Error JSON should be valid JSON");
+
+        assert_eq!(parsed["error"]["kind"], "invalid_configuration");
+        assert_eq!(parsed["error"]["source"], source_path);
+        assert_eq!(parsed["error"]["message"], message);
+    }
+}

console/tracker-client/src/console/clients/checker/mod.rs

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ pub mod app;
 pub mod checks;
 pub mod config;
 pub mod console;
+pub mod error;
 pub mod logger;
 pub mod printer;
 pub mod service;