Unify doctor checks and code that locates binary artifacts (executables, sdks)

A lot of the tool presence/version checks we perform in flutter doctor would be useful to perform before steps that involve invocation of those tools.

Examples from the iOS side include checking Xcode and CocoaPods presence/version and presence of the Python six module before iOS build/run.

One option would be to factor out a tool class that has the ability to check presence/version of the tool and how to run it, then use this in the build step and in doctor.

@johnmccutchan

/cc @johnmccutchan

@cbracken

@cbracken I strongly support this. I have started a sketch of ArtifactLocator. In addition to providing the kind of structure you are getting at, a locator will also keep an exhaustive history of how and where flutter_tools searched for the tool (this is mostly useful for diagnostics and debugging). WDYT?

/// Each artifact used by flutter_tools will have an ArtifactLocator class which can find the artifact's path and version.
abstract class ArtifactLocator {
  // For a given artifact (e.g. Android SDK), the list of locations.
  List<ArtifactLocation> locations;
  // The preferred version (highest version or based on some other policy)
  ArtifactLocation preferred;

  // The list of locations searched.
  List<ArtifactLocatorCheck> checks;

  // Locates tool. Reports location if artifact was successfully located. 
  Future<ArtifactLocation> locate([Version minimumVersion]);
}

/// The version and location of an artifact.
class ArtifactLocation {
  final Version version;
  final Uri location;
}

/// Used for diagnostics. 
class ArtifactLocatorCheck {
  // Location checked.
  final Uri location;
  // Version found or null (if nothing was present).
  final Version version;
  // A message. e.g. [Checked $JAVA_HOME environment variable].
  final String message;
}

SGTM - I like it. Extending this to all artifacts allows us to use it for local vs shipping engine etc.

I'm dropping the 'doctor' label because this issue goes far beyond the 'doctor' and will actually affect all sub-tool finding / launching in flutter_tools.

4abf1d8 Revert "Revert "Use track-widget-creation transformer include…

Closing as non-specific, some of this was done over the years, if there are particular places we should consolidate or refactor further, let's file specific issues.

This thread has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. If you are still experiencing a similar issue, please open a new bug, including the output of flutter doctor -v and a minimal reproduction of the issue.

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Unify doctor checks and code that locates binary artifacts (executables, sdks) #9134

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Unify doctor checks and code that locates binary artifacts (executables, sdks) #9134

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cbracken commented on Mar 31, 2017

johnmccutchan commented on Apr 2, 2017

cbracken commented on Apr 10, 2017

johnmccutchan commented on Apr 17, 2017

matanlurey commented on Jun 27, 2025

github-actions commented on Jul 11, 2025

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