I've used a different approach to this: there's no real need to modify the compiled binary code because Go compiles everything from source, so you can patch the functions at the source level instead: https://github.com/YuriyNasretdinov/golang-soft-mocks
The way it works is that at the start of every function it adds an if statement that atomically checks whether or not the function has been intercepted, and if it did, then executes the replacement function instead.
My tool no longer works since it was rewriting GOPATH, and Go since effectively switched to Go Modules, but if you're persistent enough you can make it work with Go modules too — all you need to do is rewrite the Go module cache instead of GOPATH and you're good to go.
This is all possible and quite neat to dive into the specifics, but if you really want to be able swap a std lib call, just turn it into a variable and change it.
// code.go
var now = time.Now
// code_test.go
func TestCode(t *testing.T) {
nowSwap := now
t.Cleanup (func() {
now = nowSwap
}
now = func() time.Time {
return time.Date(...)
}
}
That is a useful pattern, though I was unclear on why `t.Cleanup` and not `defer`. In case others are curious, too:
> Parallel subtestsWith t.Run(..., func(t testing.T) { t.Parallel(); ... }), the parent test function can return (and thus run its defers) before parallel subtests actually finish.*
I suspect that using a build tag (say `test`) and two function definitions (one that directly calls `time.Now()` and one test-only one that uses a mutable var) will optimize out to zero cost in the non-test case - last I fiddled with that, it was pretty good at consistently inlining trivial wrapper funcs like that.
The way it works is that at the start of every function it adds an if statement that atomically checks whether or not the function has been intercepted, and if it did, then executes the replacement function instead.
My tool no longer works since it was rewriting GOPATH, and Go since effectively switched to Go Modules, but if you're persistent enough you can make it work with Go modules too — all you need to do is rewrite the Go module cache instead of GOPATH and you're good to go.
> Parallel subtestsWith t.Run(..., func(t testing.T) { t.Parallel(); ... }), the parent test function can return (and thus run its defers) before parallel subtests actually finish.*