Command-actions with subcommands do not receive initialized context

[nicerobot]

my urfave/cli version is

github.com/urfave/cli/v2 v2.3.0

Checklist

• Are you running the latest v2 release? The list of releases is here.
• Did you check the manual for your release? The v2 manual is here
• Did you perform a search about this problem? Here's the Github guide about searching.
  • Nothing jumping out at me with this search. Maybe add context.Context to cli.Context #840

Dependency Management

• My project is using go modules.
• My project is using vendoring.
• My project is automatically downloading the latest version.
• I am unsure of what my dependency management setup is.

Describe the bug

Calling commands that have subcommands does not pass an initialized context to the action.

To reproduce

Run this Playground Example

package main

import (
	"fmt"

	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
)

//
func main() {
	action := func(ctx *cli.Context) error {
		fmt.Printf("%#v\n", ctx.Command)
		return nil
	}
	sub := cli.Commands{{Name: "sub", Action: action}}
	withsub := &cli.Command{Name: "withsub", Action: action, Subcommands: sub}
	withoutsub := &cli.Command{Name: "withoutsub", Action: action}
	app := &cli.App{Commands: cli.Commands{withsub, withoutsub}}

	// These two work fine
	_ = app.Run([]string{"play", "withsub", "sub"})
	_ = app.Run([]string{"play", "withoutsub"})

	// This one does not pass a properly initialized context
	fmt.Println("Notice the Command.Name is empty:")
	_ = app.Run([]string{"play", "withsub"})

	// It calls this:            https://github.com/urfave/cli/blob/master/command.go#L94
	// without first doing this: https://github.com/urfave/cli/blob/master/command.go#L162
}

Observed behavior

&cli.Command{Name:"sub", Aliases:[]string(nil), Usage:"", UsageText:"", Description:"", ArgsUsage:"", Category:"", BashComplete:(cli.BashCompleteFunc)(nil), Before:(cli.BeforeFunc)(nil), After:(cli.AfterFunc)(nil), Action:(cli.ActionFunc)(0x58d640), OnUsageError:(cli.OnUsageErrorFunc)(nil), Subcommands:[]*cli.Command(nil), Flags:[]cli.Flag{(*cli.BoolFlag)(0x71b060)}, SkipFlagParsing:false, HideHelp:false, HideHelpCommand:false, Hidden:false, UseShortOptionHandling:false, HelpName:"play withsub sub", commandNamePath:[]string{"withsub", "sub"}, CustomHelpTemplate:""}
&cli.Command{Name:"withoutsub", Aliases:[]string(nil), Usage:"", UsageText:"", Description:"", ArgsUsage:"", Category:"", BashComplete:(cli.BashCompleteFunc)(nil), Before:(cli.BeforeFunc)(nil), After:(cli.AfterFunc)(nil), Action:(cli.ActionFunc)(0x58d640), OnUsageError:(cli.OnUsageErrorFunc)(nil), Subcommands:[]*cli.Command(nil), Flags:[]cli.Flag{(*cli.BoolFlag)(0x71b060)}, SkipFlagParsing:false, HideHelp:false, HideHelpCommand:false, Hidden:false, UseShortOptionHandling:false, HelpName:"play withoutsub", commandNamePath:[]string(nil), CustomHelpTemplate:""}
Notice the Command.Name is empty:
&cli.Command{Name:"", Aliases:[]string(nil), Usage:"", UsageText:"", Description:"", ArgsUsage:"", Category:"", BashComplete:(cli.BashCompleteFunc)(nil), Before:(cli.BeforeFunc)(nil), After:(cli.AfterFunc)(nil), Action:(cli.ActionFunc)(nil), OnUsageError:(cli.OnUsageErrorFunc)(nil), Subcommands:[]*cli.Command(nil), Flags:[]cli.Flag(nil), SkipFlagParsing:false, HideHelp:false, HideHelpCommand:false, Hidden:false, UseShortOptionHandling:false, HelpName:"", commandNamePath:[]string(nil), CustomHelpTemplate:""}

Expected behavior

When a command is called that has a subcommand but the subcommand is not on the command-line, the action receives a context initialized with the right command.

Want to fix this yourself?

We'd love to have more contributors on this project! If the fix for this bug is easily explained and very small, free free to create a pull request for it.

Run go version and paste its output here

go version go1.15.6 darwin/amd64

Run go env and paste its output here

GO111MODULE="on"
GOARCH="amd64"
GOBIN=""
GOCACHE="REDACTED/Library/Caches/go-build"
GOENV="REDACTED/Library/Application Support/go/env"
GOEXE=""
GOFLAGS=""
GOHOSTARCH="amd64"
GOHOSTOS="darwin"
GOINSECURE=""
GOMODCACHE="REDACTED/go/pkg/mod"
GONOPROXY="REDACTED"
GONOSUMDB="REDACTED"
GOOS="darwin"
GOPATH="REDACTED/go"
GOPRIVATE="REDACTED"
GOPROXY="https://proxy.golang.org,direct"
GOROOT="/usr/local/Cellar/go/1.15.6/libexec"
GOSUMDB="sum.golang.org"
GOTMPDIR=""
GOTOOLDIR="/usr/local/Cellar/go/1.15.6/libexec/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64"
GCCGO="gccgo"
AR="ar"
CC="clang"
CXX="clang++"
CGO_ENABLED="1"
GOMOD="REDACTED/src/go/sub/go.mod"
CGO_CFLAGS="-g -O2"
CGO_CPPFLAGS=""
CGO_CXXFLAGS="-g -O2"
CGO_FFLAGS="-g -O2"
CGO_LDFLAGS="-g -O2"
PKG_CONFIG="pkg-config"
GOGCCFLAGS="-fPIC -m64 -pthread -fno-caret-diagnostics -Qunused-arguments -fmessage-length=0 -fdebug-prefix-map=/var/folders/lq/0w5qv41s33g8hzgcwqxqfrjmfw3hpz/T/go-build005396178=/tmp/go-build -gno-record-gcc-switches -fno-common"

[stale]

This issue or PR has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. Please add a comment bumping this if you're still interested in it's resolution! Thanks for your help, please let us know if you need anything else.

[nicerobot]

This bug persists. Please keep the bug open.

[stale]

This issue or PR has been bumped and is no longer marked as stale! Feel free to bump it again in the future, if it's still relevant.

[stale]

This issue or PR has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. Please add a comment bumping this if you're still interested in it's resolution! Thanks for your help, please let us know if you need anything else.

[nicerobot]

Please s not close this.

[stale]

This issue or PR has been bumped and is no longer marked as stale! Feel free to bump it again in the future, if it's still relevant.

[jalavosus]

@nicerobot try implementing a(n essentially empty) After() on your new cli.App. After() fires off, well, after the context is initialized but before commands are actually run. It might provide the right little bit of whatever to make your context work.

[nicerobot]

No luck

Run this updated Playground Example

package main

import (
	"fmt"

	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
)

//
func main() {
	before := func(ctx *cli.Context) error {
		fmt.Printf("\nbefore %#v\n", ctx.Command)
		return nil
	}
	action := func(ctx *cli.Context) error {
		fmt.Printf("action %#v\n", ctx.Command)
		return nil
	}
	after := func(ctx *cli.Context) error {
		fmt.Printf("after  %#v\n", ctx.Command)
		return nil
	}
	sub := cli.Commands{{Name: "sub", Usage: "sub", Action: action, After: after, Before: before}}
	withsub := &cli.Command{Name: "withsub", Usage: "withsub", Action: action, After: after, Before: before, Subcommands: sub}
	withoutsub := &cli.Command{Name: "withoutsub", Usage: "withoutsub", Action: action, After: after, Before: before}
	app := &cli.App{Commands: cli.Commands{withsub, withoutsub}}

	// These two work fine
	_ = app.Run([]string{"play", "withsub", "sub"})
	_ = app.Run([]string{"play", "withoutsub"})

	// This one does not pass a properly initialized context
	fmt.Println("Notice the Command.Name is empty:")
	_ = app.Run([]string{"play", "withsub"})

	// It calls this:            https://github.com/urfave/cli/blob/master/command.go#L94
	// without first doing this: https://github.com/urfave/cli/blob/master/command.go#L162
}

[dearchap]

@nicerobot The latest release which optimizes the app/cmd code actually fixed this. Can you test ?