Proposal Details

Delve, the Go debugger, is important for providing robust debugging capabilities for Go users. It is deeply integrated with the Go team-maintained VS Code Go extension. However, Delve is currently excluded from Go telemetry, which limits insights into debug feature usage and trends.

Proposal

Expand Go telemetry to include Delve, enabling valuable insights into debugging behavior within VS Code Go and beyond, ultimately improving the user debugging experience. This involves

1. Updating the Go telemetry documentation to reflect the inclusion of Delve.

Current

Go telemetry is a way for Go toolchain programs to collect data about their performance and usage. Here “Go toolchain” means developer tools maintained by the Go team, including the go command and supplemental tools such as the Go language server gopls or Go security tool govulncheck. Go telemetry is only intended for use in programs maintained by the Go team. …

Proposed update

Go telemetry is a way for Go toolchain programs to collect data about their performance and usage. Here “Go toolchain” means developer tools maintained by the Go team, including the go command and supplemental tools such as the Go language server gopls, the Go security tool govulncheck, or the Visual Studio Go extension vscode-go and other tools used by vscode-go. Go telemetry is only intended for use in programs maintained by the Go team and their selected dependencies like delve. ….

2. Adding telemetry in Delve using the golang.org/x/telemetry/counter API. The API will record the measured counters to the files on the local computer. The Delve team decides what and how to measure. The Go team and other Delve integrators can propose addition of new metrics by filing feature requests in the delve issue tracker.

3. Adding Delve’s counters in the telemetry upload config, following the official telemetry proposal process. Once added, the Go command will find the counters from the files on the local computer and upload them to telemetry.go.dev.

Example metrics

• Usage by GOOS/GOARCH, Go/Delve versions
• Usage by Delve subcommands, DAP mode, RPC versions, flags
• Performance metrics (latency)
• Crash monitor (This needs dependency on the golang.org/x/telemetry API)

Alternatives considered

• Monitoring from VS Code Go: while VS Code Go can collect some usage and performance metrics by watching DAP communication, this is insufficient as a standalone solution. Server-side monitoring in Delve is necessary for accurate latency breakdowns, remote debugging metrics, crash counters, and insights into usage by other Delve clients.
• Building Delve’s own telemetry: the cost and effort required to build and maintain a privacy-preserving telemetry infrastructure for Delve are disproportionate to the benefits for its small team of maintainers.
• Using other telemetry frameworks: the choice of transparent, privacy-preserving telemetry solution is currently very limited or non-existent.

Rationale

1. Deep Integration with VS Code Go: VS Code Go relies heavily on Delve for debugging, much like it relies on gopls for language intellisense. We have witnessed the positive impact of telemetry data on improving gopls stability and decision-making. We expect similar benefits for debugging, leading to an enhanced UX around debugging functionalities. And
2. Collaborative Development: The Go team and the Delve team have a long history of collaboration to improve Go’s debugging capabilities. Expanding telemetry to include Delve would foster this collaboration by providing shared insights into user behavior and pain points.
3. Better Debugging UX: Delve is not only used by VS Code Go, but also by other editor integrations. Telemetry data from Delve would provide insights that benefit the broader Go community.

cc @derekparker @aarzilli @golang/tools-team @rsc