[duplicate-code] Duplicate Code Pattern: Structural Duplication in Tracing Span Factory Functions

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Part of duplicate code analysis: #7509

Summary

The four Start*Span factory functions in internal/tracing/span_helpers.go share an identical structural skeleton — only the span name, log message, attributes, and span kind differ. This is 4 instances of the same ~10-line pattern, meeting the 3+ similar patterns threshold.

Duplication Details

Pattern: Repeated tracer.Start boilerplate across 4 span factory functions

• Severity: Low
• Occurrences: 4
• Locations: internal/tracing/span_helpers.go (lines 36-86)
• Code Sample:

// All four functions follow this identical skeleton:
func StartXxxSpan(ctx context.Context, tracer oteltrace.Tracer, <params>) (context.Context, oteltrace.Span) {
    logTracing.Printf("Starting X span: <fields>")
    return tracer.Start(ctx, "span.name",
        oteltrace.WithAttributes(<attrs>...),
        oteltrace.WithSpanKind(oteltrace.SpanKind<Kind>),
    )
}

Concrete instances:

• StartToolCallSpan (line 36) – SpanKindInternal, 4 attributes
• StartBackendExecuteSpan (line 51) – SpanKindClient, 2 attributes
• StartDIFCPipelineSpan (line 64) – SpanKindInternal, 2 attributes
• StartProxyForwardSpan (line 77) – SpanKindClient, 2 attributes

Impact Analysis

• Maintainability: Every new span type requires copy-pasting the same structure; easy to omit the logTracing.Printf call or misconfigure SpanKind
• Bug Risk: Low currently, but will increase as more span types are added
• Code Bloat: ~40 lines that could be reduced to ~10 with a shared private helper

Refactoring Recommendations

1. Extract a private startSpan helper

   // startSpan is the shared inner implementation used by all public Start*Span helpers.
   func startSpan(ctx context.Context, tracer oteltrace.Tracer, spanName string, kind oteltrace.SpanKind, attrs ...attribute.KeyValue) (context.Context, oteltrace.Span) {
       return tracer.Start(ctx, spanName,
           oteltrace.WithAttributes(attrs...),
           oteltrace.WithSpanKind(kind),
       )
   }

   Public wrappers then delegate to it, keeping their log lines and specific attribute construction.

2. Location: internal/tracing/span_helpers.go

3. Estimated effort: ~1 hour

4. Benefits: New span types become one-liners; SpanKind is harder to misconfigure; consistent log format

Implementation Checklist

• Add private startSpan helper in span_helpers.go
• Refactor the four Start*Span functions to delegate to it
• Verify existing tests still pass (make test)
• No behavioural change expected

Parent Issue

See parent analysis report: #7509
Related to #7509

Generated by Duplicate Code Detector · 1.9K AIC · ⊞ 35.7K · ◷

• expires on Jun 21, 2026, 3:49 AM UTC