Proposal Details

Description

Currently, several test files across the codebase use reflect.DeepEqual to compare errors. This is not the recommended way to compare errors in Go, as it can be both inefficient and potentially fragile. We should replace these comparisons with proper error comparison methods.

Affected Files

At least the following:

• src/strconv/atof_test.go
• src/strconv/atoi_test.go
• src/errors/join_test.go
• src/fmt/errors_test.go
• src/net/iprawsock_test.go
• src/net/mac_test.go
• src/net/tcpsock_test.go
• src/net/udpsock_test.go
• src/encoding/asn1/asn1_test.go
• src/encoding/base64/base64_test.go
• src/go/build/build_test.go

Proposed Solution

Replace reflect.DeepEqual error comparisons with either:

1. Direct error string comparison using err.Error() for simple cases
2. Custom error comparison functions that handle nil cases and string comparison
3. Use of errors.Is() where appropriate

Implementation Plan

The changes will be submitted as separate PRs grouped by package to make reviews more manageable.

Each PR will:

• Remove usage of reflect.DeepEqual for error comparisons
• Add appropriate error comparison functions where needed
• Maintain existing test coverage and functionality
• Include only the changes related to error comparison

Benefits

• More idiomatic error comparison in tests
• More maintainable and clearer error comparison logic