--build.full_bin appears to be ignored in favor of --build.bin

[jwarner112]

Hey there,

I just stumbled upon this project ~20 minutes ago and it sounds fantastic. Unfortunately I'm having trouble getting mine to work. I'm skipping the TOML file for the moment in favor of a raw CLI invocation and it seems to ignore --build.full_bin. For context, I'm building an admin panel in my app that uses templ and HTMX, and want to regenerate and rehost the app easily. My command is something like:

$ air --build.pre_cmd "go generate ./..." --build.cmd "go build -o ./my-app -a -tags netgo -ldflags '-w' ./cmd/my-app" --build.full_bin "ENVAR_A=A ENVAR_B=B ENVAR_C=C ./my-app admin"

And I see air spin up and watch the files, invokes go generate ./..., builds the binary, then a bit later tries to run it using the default ./tmp/main path:

  __    _   ___
 / /\  | | | |_)
/_/--\ |_| |_| \_ v1.61.7, built with Go go1.23.5

watching .

...
(watching many files, omitted)
...

!exclude tmp
> go generate ./...
(✓) Complete [ updates=17 duration=17.799542ms ]
building...
admin/docs_templ.go has changed
running...
/bin/sh: /path/to/my/repo/tmp/main: No such file or directory
^Ccleaning...
see you again~

Am I misunderstanding the docs in how to use --build.full_bin? Is it meant to complement --build.bin in some way? The docs had me thinking it was one or the other.

[alex-dna-tech]

Seems full_bin option not working at all.
If i try to use full_bin as a single set option air trying execute bin default value:

user@host:env$ cat <<EOF > main.go
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	fmt.Println("Print env ENV:")
	fmt.Println(os.Getenv("ENV"))
}
EOF
user@host:env$  air --build.cmd "go build -o main main.go" --build.full_bin "ENV=test ./main" --build.include_file "main.go"

  __    _   ___
 / /\  | | | |_)
/_/--\ |_| |_| \_ v1.61.7, built with Go go1.23.5

watching .
watching main.go
!exclude tmp
building...
running...
/bin/sh: /home/user/testdir/env/tmp/main: No such file or directory
^Ccleaning...
see you again~
user@host:env$ ENV=test-env ./main
Print env ENV:
test-env

[alex-dna-tech]

So, if you try to use both options, we know the winner:

user@host:env$ air --build.cmd "go build -o main main.go" --build.full_bin "ENV=test-full_bin ./main" --build.bin "ENV=test-bin ./main" --build.include_file "main.go"

  __    _   ___
 / /\  | | | |_)
/_/--\ |_| |_| \_ v1.61.7, built with Go go1.23.5

watching .
watching main.go
!exclude tmp
building...
running...
Print env ENV:
test-bin
Process Exit with Code 0

FYI bin option works exactly as full_bin in air_example.toml documentation file.

Is full_bin just dead code?

[jwarner112]

To get this working I can indeed switch to the TOML file; glad to know I'm not crazy.

[alex-dna-tech]

Ok. Lets make test of TOML configuration:
main.go file

user@host:env$ cat <<EOF > main.go
package main

import (
        "fmt"
        "os"
)

func main() {
        fmt.Println("Print env ENV:")
        fmt.Println(os.Getenv("ENV"))
        fmt.Println("Print ARGS:")
        fmt.Printf("%+v\n", os.Args[1:])
}
EOF

.air.toml

user@host:env$ cat <<EOF > .air.toml
root = "."
testdata_dir = "testdata"
tmp_dir = "tmp"

[build]
  args_bin = ["args","-","bin"]
  bin = "./main test-cli-arg-bin"
  cmd = "go build -o ./main main.go"
  delay = 1000
  exclude_dir = ["assets", "tmp", "vendor", "testdata"]
  exclude_file = []
  exclude_regex = ["_test.go"]
  exclude_unchanged = false
  follow_symlink = false
  full_bin = "ENV=test-Full_bin ./main test-arg-cli-full_bin"
  include_dir = []
  include_ext = ["go", "tpl", "tmpl", "html"]
  include_file = []
  kill_delay = "0s"
  log = "build-errors.log"
  poll = false
  poll_interval = 0
  post_cmd = []
  pre_cmd = []
  rerun = false
  rerun_delay = 500
  send_interrupt = false
  stop_on_error = false

[color]
  app = ""
  build = "yellow"
  main = "magenta"
  runner = "green"
  watcher = "cyan"

[log]
  main_only = false
  silent = false
  time = false

[misc]
  clean_on_exit = false

[proxy]
  app_port = 0
  enabled = false
  proxy_port = 0

[screen]
  clear_on_rebuild = false
  keep_scroll = true
EOF

user@host:env$ air

  __    _   ___
 / /\  | | | |_)
/_/--\ |_| |_| \_ v1.61.7, built with Go go1.23.5

watching .
!exclude tmp
building...
running...
Print env ENV:
test-Full_bin
Print ARGS:
[test-arg-cli-full_bin args - bin]
Process Exit with Code 0

Seems full_bin option has priority in this case and work as documented and expected.

[alex-dna-tech]

We can use bin option with CLI by split env+bin execution in bin option and move args to args_bin option:

user@host:env$ air --build.cmd "go build -o main main.go" --build.bin "ENV=test-bin ./main" --build.args_bin "test-ar-cli-bin" --build.include_file "main.go"

  __    _   ___
 / /\  | | | |_)
/_/--\ |_| |_| \_ v1.61.7, built with Go go1.23.5

watching .
watching main.go
!exclude tmp
building...
running...
Print env ENV:
test-bin
Print ARGS:
[test-ar-cli-bin]
Process Exit with Code 0
^Ccleaning...
see you again~

[alex-dna-tech]

Another way to use bin option is execute shell scripts or make targets: as in engine_test.go file

[jwarner112]

Excellent, thanks for the alternative options. Much appreciated!