From 370545997f25e30721973463194778cb52bf4665 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: sneak <sneak@sneak.berlin>
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2026 17:01:16 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] test: explicit null config values must abort startup (PR #53
 rework)

An explicitly-null key (port: null, bare port:, debug: ~, and every
other config key including metrics subkeys) is a SET value under the
no-silent-fallback rule and must abort startup naming the key, instead
of silently taking the default as it does today. All 13 subtests fail
against the current behavior; the fix follows.
---
 internal/config/config_validation_test.go | 100 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 100 insertions(+)

diff --git a/internal/config/config_validation_test.go b/internal/config/config_validation_test.go
index 8b1ef87..f1a58f6 100644
--- a/internal/config/config_validation_test.go
+++ b/internal/config/config_validation_test.go
@@ -295,6 +295,106 @@ func TestSetButInvalidValueAbortsStartup(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestExplicitNullValueAbortsStartup verifies that a key explicitly
+// set to null (including the bare "key:" form and the "~" alias) aborts
+// startup naming the key. An explicit null is a SET value: it must
+// never silently fall back to the default the way an omitted key does.
+func TestExplicitNullValueAbortsStartup(t *testing.T) {
+	signingKeyLine := "signing_key: " + validTestSigningKey + "\n"
+
+	cases := []struct {
+		name string
+		yaml string
+		// wantErrSubstrings must all appear in the error message.
+		wantErrSubstrings []string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:              "port explicit null",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "port: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"port", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "port bare key no value",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "port:\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"port", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "debug tilde null",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "debug: ~\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"debug", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "maintenance_mode null",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "maintenance_mode: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"maintenance_mode", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "allow_http null",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "allow_http: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"allow_http", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "state_dir null",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "state_dir: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"state_dir", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "db_url null",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "db_url: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"db_url", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "sentry_dsn null",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "sentry_dsn: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"sentry_dsn", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "upstream_connections_per_host null",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "upstream_connections_per_host: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"upstream_connections_per_host", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "allowlist_hosts null",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "allowlist_hosts: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"allowlist_hosts", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "signing_key null",
+			yaml:              "signing_key: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"signing_key", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:              "metrics null",
+			yaml:              signingKeyLine + "metrics: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{"metrics", "null"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "metrics subkeys null",
+			yaml: signingKeyLine + "metrics:\n  username: null\n  password: null\n",
+			wantErrSubstrings: []string{
+				"metrics.username", "metrics.password", "null",
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			c, err := configFromYAML(t, tc.yaml)
+			if err == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("config with %s must abort startup, got config: %+v", tc.name, c)
+			}
+
+			t.Logf("got expected error: %v", err)
+
+			for _, want := range tc.wantErrSubstrings {
+				if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), want) {
+					t.Errorf("error %q does not mention %q", err.Error(), want)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestUnknownTopLevelKeyAbortsStartup(t *testing.T) {
 	yamlContent := `signing_key: ` + validTestSigningKey + `
 whitelist_hosts: