19-filesystem-and-os

19 - Filesystem and OS (Correct IO and Portability)

Filesystem code is where “works on my machine” bugs are born. In Go, most IO is explicit and low-level — which is good, but you must be disciplined.

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Mental model

• Always handle errors.
• Always close resources.
• Design for portability (Windows vs Unix differences).

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1) io/fs and testability

io/fs enables abstraction over real filesystems.

Benefits:

• can test using fstest.MapFS
• can run logic against embedded filesystems

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2) Atomic writes

Common safe pattern:

• write to temp file
• fsync if required
• rename over target

Pitfalls:

• rename semantics differ across platforms
• atomicity is per-filesystem boundary

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3) Path handling

• Use path/filepath for OS paths.
• Use path for slash-separated paths (URLs).

Pitfall:

• hardcoding / breaks on Windows.

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4) Permissions

Be explicit about file modes and ownership assumptions.

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5) Signals (design for testability)

Instead of calling signal.Notify everywhere:

• isolate signal handling in one place
• inject a channel into components

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Common interview traps

• Forgetting to close files
• Not handling partial writes
• Using path instead of filepath

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Production checklist

• Use atomic write patterns for configs/state
• Keep path handling portable
• Use io/fs abstractions for testability
• Avoid leaking file descriptors

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Exercises

These exercises validate:

• atomic write semantics
• portable path behavior
• filesystem abstraction via io/fs
• signal-aware shutdown patterns with injected channels