---
id: "bug-1895"
status: "fixed"
status_updated: "2026-09-30"
status_note: ""
component: "build"
severity: "wrong-result"
timestamp: "2026-09-30T04:23:48Z"
last_seen: "2026-09-30T04:23:48Z"
occurrences: 1
files: ["src/tools/xce-build.sh (apiserver and all test steps)"]
tags: ["build", "xce-build", "go", "tests", "set-e"]
related: ["bug-1894"]
fix_commits: ["4e484629"]
---

# bug-1895: xce-build.sh apiserver/all: a failing apiserver Go test does not fail the build

## Description
**Observed:** `bash src/tools/xce-build.sh apiserver asan <dir> --incremental` exited 0 although its Go unit tests failed:
```
FAIL	apiserver/backend [build failed]
FAIL	apiserver/store [build failed]
... exit=0
```
**Expected:** a failing unit test fails the build (non-zero exit), as for every C suite.
**Impact:** apiserver Go test failures are silently ignored by /xce-build (and by `all`); a regression in apiserver/store, utils, controllers or backend can pass the build unnoticed. xcecli's tests are unaffected when they are the ones failing, but are skipped entirely when the apiserver tests fail.
**Found by:** review of the build output while doing bug-1894's RED step, 2026-09-29.

## Environment
- OS: no /etc/os-release; Docker container; NixOS kernel; kernel Linux 6.18.33 x86_64
- libc: glibc 2.42-47 (the nix dev shell's bash running xce-build.sh; the Go tests themselves run CGO_ENABLED=0)
- Toolchain: gcc (GCC) 15.2.0, meson 1.9.1
- Build: asan profile (apiserver component, --incremental), src/xce.build.bug1871
- Code: scheduler-framework @ 141ac22c-dirty
- Deployment: n/a -- local build script

## Reproduction
1. Make any apiserver Go test fail (e.g. reference an undefined symbol in a _test.go under src/frontend/apiserver/backend).
2. `bash src/tools/xce-build.sh apiserver asan <dir> --incremental; echo $?` -> prints the FAIL lines, then exits 0.
- Frequency: deterministic -- 1/1, 2026-09-29 (bug-1894's RED run)
- Evidence: the mechanism is in src/tools/xce-build.sh lines ~390 and ~437: `cd frontend/apiserver && go test ... && cd ../xcecli && go test ...` under `set -euo pipefail`; bash's errexit ignores a failure of any command in an && list except the last, so a failing apiserver `go test` just short-circuits the list and the script carries on to exit 0

## Root cause
src/tools/xce-build.sh ran the frontend Go tests for the apiserver and all components as a single && list: `cd frontend/apiserver && go test ... && cd ../xcecli && go test ...`, under `set -euo pipefail`. Bash's errexit does not apply to a failing command in an && list unless it is the last one, so a failing apiserver `go test` merely short-circuited the list: the xcecli tests were skipped, the script carried on, and it exited 0 with `=== Done`. Only an xcecli failure (the list's last command) failed the build.

## Fix
src/tools/xce-build.sh: in the apiserver and all components, each Go suite now runs as its own command in a subshell -- `(cd frontend/apiserver && go test ...)` then `(cd frontend/xcecli && go test ...)` -- so a failure of either exits the script under set -e, and the cd no longer changes the script's working directory. The xcecli component's single suite got the same subshell for consistency.

## Verification
- Test: live probe -- a temporary failing test (TestBug1895DeliberateFailure, t.Fatal) dropped into src/frontend/apiserver/utils/ and, separately, src/frontend/xcecli/cmd/, then `xce-build.sh apiserver asan <dir> --incremental`. RED before the fix: `FAIL apiserver/utils` yet exit 0 with `=== Done` and no xcecli tests run. GREEN after: apiserver probe -> exit 1, no Done line; xcecli probe -> exit 1; clean tree -> exit 0 with all 10 xcecli packages tested. The probe files were removed (never committed)
- Suites: n/a -- build-script change; `bash -n` clean
- Live: n/a -- the three builds above are the end-to-end check

## References
- Fix commit: 4e484629
- Related: bug-1894 (found during its RED step)