Make Help strings optional

This is in line with
https://prometheus.io/docs/instrumenting/writing_clientlibs/#metric-description-and-help

Since the zero value of a string in Go is `""`, we cannot distinguish
between a Help string not set and an empty Help string. Thus, we just
make it formally optional here with an encouragement to set it in the
doc comment.

In v0.10, the Help string will probably become a "normal" argument of
the constructor rather than a field in an Opts struct.

Signed-off-by: beorn7 <beorn@soundcloud.com>

prometheus/desc.go

@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ type Desc struct {
 
 // NewDesc allocates and initializes a new Desc. Errors are recorded in the Desc
 // and will be reported on registration time. variableLabels and constLabels can
-// be nil if no such labels should be set. fqName and help must not be empty.
+// be nil if no such labels should be set. fqName must not be empty.
 //
 // variableLabels only contain the label names. Their label values are variable
 // and therefore not part of the Desc. (They are managed within the Metric.)
@@ -80,10 +80,6 @@ func NewDesc(fqName, help string, variableLabels []string, constLabels Labels) *
 		help:           help,
 		variableLabels: variableLabels,
 	}
-	if help == "" {
-		d.err = errors.New("empty help string")
-		return d
-	}
 	if !model.IsValidMetricName(model.LabelValue(fqName)) {
 		d.err = fmt.Errorf("%q is not a valid metric name", fqName)
 		return d

prometheus/examples_test.go

@@ -89,37 +89,6 @@ func ExampleGaugeFunc() {
 	// GaugeFunc 'goroutines_count' registered.
 }
 
-func ExampleCounter() {
-	pushCounter := prometheus.NewCounter(prometheus.CounterOpts{
-		Name: "repository_pushes", // Note: No help string...
-	})
-	err := prometheus.Register(pushCounter) // ... so this will return an error.
-	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Push counter couldn't be registered, no counting will happen:", err)
-		return
-	}
-
-	// Try it once more, this time with a help string.
-	pushCounter = prometheus.NewCounter(prometheus.CounterOpts{
-		Name: "repository_pushes",
-		Help: "Number of pushes to external repository.",
-	})
-	err = prometheus.Register(pushCounter)
-	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Println("Push counter couldn't be registered AGAIN, no counting will happen:", err)
-		return
-	}
-
-	pushComplete := make(chan struct{})
-	// TODO: Start a goroutine that performs repository pushes and reports
-	// each completion via the channel.
-	for range pushComplete {
-		pushCounter.Inc()
-	}
-	// Output:
-	// Push counter couldn't be registered, no counting will happen: descriptor Desc{fqName: "repository_pushes", help: "", constLabels: {}, variableLabels: []} is invalid: empty help string
-}
-
 func ExampleCounterVec() {
 	httpReqs := prometheus.NewCounterVec(
 		prometheus.CounterOpts{

prometheus/histogram.go

@@ -110,8 +110,9 @@ func ExponentialBuckets(start, factor float64, count int) []float64 {
 }
 
 // HistogramOpts bundles the options for creating a Histogram metric. It is
-// mandatory to set Name and Help to a non-empty string. All other fields are
-// optional and can safely be left at their zero value.
+// mandatory to set Name to a non-empty string. All other fields are optional
+// and can safely be left at their zero value, although it is strongly
+// encouraged to set a Help string.
 type HistogramOpts struct {
 	// Namespace, Subsystem, and Name are components of the fully-qualified
 	// name of the Histogram (created by joining these components with
@@ -122,7 +123,7 @@ type HistogramOpts struct {
 	Subsystem string
 	Name      string
 
-	// Help provides information about this Histogram. Mandatory!
+	// Help provides information about this Histogram.
 	//
 	// Metrics with the same fully-qualified name must have the same Help
 	// string.

prometheus/metric.go

@@ -59,8 +59,9 @@ type Metric interface {
 // implementation XXX has its own XXXOpts type, but in most cases, it is just be
 // an alias of this type (which might change when the requirement arises.)
 //
-// It is mandatory to set Name and Help to a non-empty string. All other fields
-// are optional and can safely be left at their zero value.
+// It is mandatory to set Name to a non-empty string. All other fields are
+// optional and can safely be left at their zero value, although it is strongly
+// encouraged to set a Help string.
 type Opts struct {
 	// Namespace, Subsystem, and Name are components of the fully-qualified
 	// name of the Metric (created by joining these components with
@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ type Opts struct {
 	Subsystem string
 	Name      string
 
-	// Help provides information about this metric. Mandatory!
+	// Help provides information about this metric.
 	//
 	// Metrics with the same fully-qualified name must have the same Help
 	// string.

prometheus/summary.go

@@ -81,10 +81,10 @@ const (
 )
 
 // SummaryOpts bundles the options for creating a Summary metric. It is
-// mandatory to set Name and Help to a non-empty string. While all other fields
-// are optional and can safely be left at their zero value, it is recommended to
-// explicitly set the Objectives field to the desired value as the default value
-// will change in the upcoming v0.10 of the library.
+// mandatory to set Name to a non-empty string. While all other fields are
+// optional and can safely be left at their zero value, it is recommended to set
+// a help string and to explicitly set the Objectives field to the desired value
+// as the default value will change in the upcoming v0.10 of the library.
 type SummaryOpts struct {
 	// Namespace, Subsystem, and Name are components of the fully-qualified
 	// name of the Summary (created by joining these components with
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ type SummaryOpts struct {
 	Subsystem string
 	Name      string
 
-	// Help provides information about this Summary. Mandatory!
+	// Help provides information about this Summary.
 	//
 	// Metrics with the same fully-qualified name must have the same Help
 	// string.