golang/go

x/tools/gopls: support Go assembly files

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#71754 opened on Feb 14, 2025

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FeatureRequestToolsgoplshelp wanted

Description

Gopls already supports navigating from Go source to assembly files (use "Go to definition" on a func declaration with no body), but it wouldn't be hard for it to support navigation within assembly files, and from assembly files to Go files. The necessary parts are:

  • a new file.Kind for Asm (see https://go.dev/cl/649461 for sketch) and go.s LanguageID.
  • a basic parser for assembly files that can extract symbol names and control labels reliably.
  • recording of parsed assembly files in cache.Package, analogous to CompiledGoFiles.
  • augmentation of the xrefs index to include cross-package references from assembly files.
  • new implementations of the Definitions and References queries for file.Asm.
  • bonus: an implementation of Hover for assembly could provide all kinds of helpful information to make reading easier.
  • bonus: DocumentHighlight could show, for a given register, its def/use chains by making them temporarily bold.
  • go.s languageID support in eglot, vscode-go, neovim.

This is obviously not a high priority, but it's a fun little project.

@golang/compiler @golang/runtime

Contributor guide

Tech stack
go
Domain
backendtoolingdeveloper experience
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Go knowledgegopls architecturebasic assembly
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
45
Research direction
Review the existing CL at https://go.dev/cl/649461 for the Asm file.Kind and LanguageID. Examine how gopls caches files (cache.Package) and the xrefs index. Look at the current implementations of Definitions and References for Go source files to understand how to adapt them for assembly files. Also check the linked issues for editor support (eglot, vscode go) to understand the full scope.