feat: warn when a matcher property is an empty list

docs/gossfile.md

@@ -187,6 +187,10 @@ command:
     command produced no error output. Use `[]` only where you deliberately want
     no assertion at all.
 
+    `goss validate` prints a warning to stderr for each empty list it finds. The
+    check is still skipped and still passes — the warning only tells you that the
+    line asserts nothing.
+
 The `exec` attribute is the command to run; this defaults to the name of
 the hash for backwards compatibility
 
@@ -300,6 +304,10 @@ file:
     but it does not check that the file is empty. To assert emptiness, use
     `contents: ""`.
 
+    `goss validate` warns on stderr about each one, so a gossfile generated by
+    `goss add file` produces one warning per file until you replace or remove
+    the `contents` line.
+
 ### gossfile
 
 Import other gossfiles from this one. This is the best way to maintain a large number of tests, and/or create profiles.

resource/command.go

@@ -61,10 +61,10 @@ func (c *Command) Validate(sys *system.System) []TestResult {
 
 	cExitStatus := deprecateAtoI(c.ExitStatus, fmt.Sprintf("%s: command.exit-status", c.ID()))
 	results = append(results, ValidateValue(c, "exit-status", cExitStatus, sysCommand.ExitStatus, skip))
-	if isSet(c.Stdout) {
+	if isSetWarnEmpty(c.Stdout, fmt.Sprintf("%s: command.stdout", c.ID())) {
 		results = append(results, ValidateValue(c, "stdout", c.Stdout, sysCommand.Stdout, skip))
 	}
-	if isSet(c.Stderr) {
+	if isSetWarnEmpty(c.Stderr, fmt.Sprintf("%s: command.stderr", c.ID())) {
 		results = append(results, ValidateValue(c, "stderr", c.Stderr, sysCommand.Stderr, skip))
 	}
 	return results

resource/file.go

@@ -91,11 +91,11 @@ func (f *File) Validate(sys *system.System) []TestResult {
 	if f.Filetype != nil {
 		results = append(results, ValidateValue(f, "filetype", f.Filetype, sysFile.Filetype, skip))
 	}
-	if isSet(f.Contains) {
+	if isSetWarnEmpty(f.Contains, fmt.Sprintf("%s: file.contains", f.ID())) {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "DEPRECATION WARNING: file.contains has been renamed to file.contents\n")
 		results = append(results, ValidateValue(f, "contains", f.Contains, sysFile.Contents, skip))
 	}
-	if isSet(f.Contents) {
+	if isSetWarnEmpty(f.Contents, fmt.Sprintf("%s: file.contents", f.ID())) {
 		results = append(results, ValidateValue(f, "contents", f.Contents, sysFile.Contents, skip))
 	}
 	if f.Size != nil {

resource/http.go

@@ -85,10 +85,10 @@ func (u *HTTP) Validate(sys *system.System) []TestResult {
 	if shouldSkip(results) {
 		skip = true
 	}
-	if isSet(u.Headers) {
+	if isSetWarnEmpty(u.Headers, fmt.Sprintf("%s: http.headers", u.ID())) {
 		results = append(results, ValidateValue(u, "Headers", u.Headers, sysHTTP.Headers, skip))
 	}
-	if isSet(u.Body) {
+	if isSetWarnEmpty(u.Body, fmt.Sprintf("%s: http.body", u.ID())) {
 		results = append(results, ValidateValue(u, "Body", u.Body, sysHTTP.Body, skip))
 	}
 

resource/resource.go

@@ -82,3 +82,20 @@ func isSet(i interface{}) bool {
 		return i != nil
 	}
 }
+
+// isSetWarnEmpty reports whether a matcher property holds at least one
+// condition, warning first when it holds a list written out as empty.
+//
+// A list of patterns is a list of conditions that must all hold, so an empty
+// list is zero conditions: the property is skipped and always passes, which is
+// rarely what someone writing it out by hand intends. The behaviour is
+// deliberately left alone — goss add file emits contents: [] to record that it
+// captured no expectation, and erroring would invalidate every gossfile it has
+// ever generated. desc follows the same "<id>: <type>.<property>" shape as the
+// deprecation warnings.
+func isSetWarnEmpty(i interface{}, desc string) bool {
+	if v, ok := i.([]interface{}); ok && len(v) == 0 {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "WARNING: %s is an empty list, which asserts nothing and always passes. Use \"\" to assert empty content, or remove it.\n", desc)
+	}
+	return isSet(i)
+}

resource/resource_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+package resource
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// captureStderr runs fn with os.Stderr redirected and returns what it wrote.
+func captureStderr(t *testing.T, fn func()) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	orig := os.Stderr
+	r, w, err := os.Pipe()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer func() {
+		os.Stderr = orig
+		_ = w.Close()
+		_ = r.Close()
+	}()
+
+	os.Stderr = w
+	fn()
+	_ = w.Close()
+	os.Stderr = orig
+
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	if _, err := io.Copy(&buf, r); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return buf.String()
+}
+
+func TestIsSet(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name string
+		in   any
+		want bool
+	}{
+		{"nil is unset", nil, false},
+		{"empty list is unset", []any{}, false},
+		{"list with one entry is set", []any{"foo"}, true},
+		{"empty string is set", "", true},
+		{"string is set", "foo", true},
+		{"false is set", false, true},
+	}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			if got := isSet(c.in); got != c.want {
+				t.Errorf("isSet(%#v) = %v, want %v", c.in, got, c.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// TestIsSetWarnEmpty pins both halves of the contract: the warning fires only
+// for a list written out as empty, and the set/unset answer is byte-for-byte
+// what isSet already returned, so no matcher changes outcome.
+func TestIsSetWarnEmpty(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name     string
+		in       any
+		wantWarn bool
+	}{
+		{"empty list warns", []any{}, true},
+		{"list with one entry does not warn", []any{"foo"}, false},
+		{"nil does not warn", nil, false},
+		{"empty string does not warn", "", false},
+		{"string does not warn", "foo", false},
+		{"empty map does not warn", map[string]any{}, false},
+	}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var got bool
+			out := captureStderr(t, func() {
+				got = isSetWarnEmpty(c.in, "/some/id: file.contents")
+			})
+
+			if want := isSet(c.in); got != want {
+				t.Errorf("isSetWarnEmpty(%#v) = %v, want isSet's %v", c.in, got, want)
+			}
+
+			warned := strings.Contains(out, "WARNING:")
+			if warned != c.wantWarn {
+				t.Errorf("isSetWarnEmpty(%#v) warned = %v, want %v (output %q)", c.in, warned, c.wantWarn, out)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestIsSetWarnEmptyNamesTheProperty(t *testing.T) {
+	out := captureStderr(t, func() {
+		isSetWarnEmpty([]any{}, "sh -c 'echo boom >&2': command.stderr")
+	})
+
+	for _, want := range []string{
+		"WARNING:",
+		"sh -c 'echo boom >&2': command.stderr",
+		"empty list",
+		"always passes",
+		`use "" to assert empty content`,
+	} {
+		if !strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(out), strings.ToLower(want)) {
+			t.Errorf("warning %q is missing %q", out, want)
+		}
+	}
+	if n := strings.Count(out, "\n"); n != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected exactly one warning line, got %d in %q", n, out)
+	}
+}