tino415
Hello all,
I’m triing to integrate dialyzer/dialyxer into one project that is using cachex, but dialyzer keeps reporting some veird error with Cachex.start_link/2 function. I managed to destille minimal example:
defmodule Test do
def hello do
{:ok, _pid} = Cachex.start_link(__MODULE__, stats: true)
end
end
Dialyzer is complaining that
lib/test.ex:3:pattern_match
The pattern can never match the type.
Pattern:
{:ok, __pid}
Type:
:error | :ok | {:error, atom() | {:already_started, pid() | {_, _}}}
But when I tri to run function in iex, it returns {:ok, pid()}, also when I look at the code, typescpecs seems right and code also, so, how did dialyzer come up with return type :error | :ok | {:error, atom() | {:already_started, pid() | {_, _}}}? The code for Cachex.start_link/2 looks like this:
@spec start_link(atom | Keyword.t) :: { atom, pid }
def start_link(options) when is_list(options) do
with { :ok, name } <- Keyword.fetch(options, :name),
{ :ok, true } <- ensure_started(),
{ :ok, true } <- ensure_unused(name),
{ :ok, cache } <- setup_env(name, options),
{ :ok, pid } = Supervisor.start_link(__MODULE__, cache, [ name: name ]),
{ :ok, link } = Informant.link(cache),
^link <- Overseer.update(name, link),
do: { :ok, pid }
end
def start_link(name) when not is_atom(name),
do: error(:invalid_name)
def start_link(name),
do: start_link(name: name)
@doc false
@spec start_link(atom(), Keyword.t) :: { atom(), pid() }
def start_link(name, options),
do: start_link([name: name] ++ options)
Anybody have experience with similar problem and how to solve it?
Trending in Questions
I having some trouble figuring out if I have set myself too strict of standards for my production server. Currently I can handle 75% of r...
New
Hello,
I’m trying to build a basic Phoenix web-app, and I’d like to use Tailwind.
However, when I launch mix phx.server, I get an error...
New
I’m working on a small exercise involving update_in/3, and I came up with this solution:
data = %{
name: "Periodic Table",
category:...
New
I’ve got trouble wrapping my head around the order in which functions are called in this snippet (from Phoenix’s authentication):
toke...
New
Hello folks!
So at work, we are seeing some situations where we have to define some “fixed” strings that are used across the codebase in...
New
Is there any way to avoid the Hologram compiler running when using iex? It seems like the front-end code could potentially be disregarded...
New
** (ArgumentError) expected :max_attempts to be a positive integer, got: {:@, [line: 10, column: 19], [{:max_attempts, [line: 10, column:...
New
Other Trending Topics
Edit: 2026 May 15 - This post is archived.
Mob is alive!!
Main docs: mob v0.7.11 — Documentation
A bit of explanation for the slightly c...
New
I am happy to introduce the very α version of the new programming language compiled to BEAM.
Welcome Cure.
It has literally three kille...
New
Hobbes is a low-level distributed database for the Elixir programming language.
Hobbes provides a simple, safe, and scalable storage lay...
New
A little off-topic, but I feel like people here have a good head on their shoulders.
I used to be quite good at making software. Was luc...
New
Hey. Is there anyone here who creates agents in their apps? Not talking about using agents, but creating them. I’m finding it pretty diff...
New
ExRatatui lets you cook up rich terminal UIs in Elixir, powered by Rust’s ratatui via Rustler NIFs. Build interactive terminal applicatio...
New
Categories:
Sub Categories:
Forums
Popular Tags
- #ecto
- #liveview
- #troubleshooting
- #learning-elixir
- #library
- #deployment
- #erlang
- #testing
- #genserver
- #mix
- #absinthe
- #remote-other
- #otp
- #plug
- #how-to-question
- #macros
- #postgres
- #elixirconf
- #channels
- #exunit
- #discussion
- #code-sync
- #podcasts
- #javascript
- #onsite
- #dialyzer
- #docker
- #authentication
- #umbrella
- #full-time-contract
- #podcasts-by-brainlid
- #ai
- #ecto-query
- #elixirconf-us
- #blog-post
- #elixir-ls
- #phoenix_html
- #iex
- #graphql
- #genstage
- #websockets
- #supervisor
- #advent-of-code
- #distillery
- #processes
- #elixirconf-eu
- #api
- #forms
- #security
- #metaprogramming










Showing Posts 1 to 5- Show Best Posts
- Show All (oldest first)
- Show All (newest first)
ityonemo
if
Cachex.start_link/1returns anything besides{:ok, pid}, (for example:error, from one of thewithblock fallthroughs), then your hello function will crash due to match error, dialyzer is trying to tell you this.michallepicki
This seems to be a bug in specs in the sleeplocks library and should be fixed by Fix execute/2 spec by michallepicki · Pull Request #5 · whitfin/sleeplocks · GitHub
NobbZ
Which is fine, dialyzer assumes that it is exactly what the programer wants, in spirit of let-it-crash. It also is not what dialyzer complaints about here.
The error message of dialyzer says, that there will never be a
{:ok, _}value returned, as dialyzer only knows about the possibilities:ok,:error, and an:error-tuple`tino415
Thank you, when I override sleeplock dependenci in
mix.exs, it started to workmichallepicki
It’s possible that Cachex also has wrong specs, at least I think in many modules types referenced from specs won’t be found by Dialyzer, e.g. here: cachex/lib/cachex/services/overseer.ex at main · whitfin/cachex · GitHub Spec is used but Supervisor.Spec is aliased, not Cachex.Spec. But I may be wrong, and in that case Dialyzer is probably smart enough to ignore the spec.
Overall this is a common problem through the Elixir ecosystem, almost none of the libraries are running Dialyzer on the CI so specs just get outdated or invalid. I try to maintain Elixir itself working somehow with Dialyzer by running a check on it every day: GitHub - michallepicki/elixir-lang-dialyzer-runs: Daily Dialyzer checks on Elixir source code · GitHub but it won’t catch some issues because they may pop up when a function is called, not defined, and I am not analyzing Elixir test modules since they are .exs files.