feat: simplify error handling by using string messages directly in external error macros

Author: Ian Lai

datafusion-cli/src/print_options.rs

@@ -143,11 +143,7 @@ impl PrintOptions {
         format_options: &FormatOptions,
     ) -> Result<()> {
         if self.format == PrintFormat::Table {
-            let err = std::io::Error::new(
-                std::io::ErrorKind::Other,
-                "PrintFormat::Table is not implemented",
-            );
-            return external_err!(err);
+            return external_err!("PrintFormat::Table is not implemented");
         };
 
         let stdout = std::io::stdout();

datafusion/common/src/error.rs

@@ -671,6 +671,20 @@ impl DataFusionError {
         queue.push_back(self);
         ErrorIterator { queue }
     }
+
+    /// Converts input to a [`GenericError`],
+    /// handling both regular values and pre-boxed errors to avoid double-boxing.
+    ///
+    /// The input must implement [`Into<GenericError>`], which includes:
+    /// [`Error`] types (implementing `std::error::Error + Send + Sync + 'static`)
+    /// [`String`] and &str (automatically converted to errors)
+    /// [`Box<dyn Error + Send + Sync>`] (passed through without additional boxing)
+    pub fn box_error_if_needed<E>(err: E) -> GenericError
+    where
+        E: Into<GenericError>,
+    {
+        err.into()
+    }
 }
 
 /// A builder for [`DataFusionError`]
@@ -922,9 +936,10 @@ macro_rules! schema_err {
 // Exposes a macro to create `DataFusionError::External` with optional backtrace
 #[macro_export]
 macro_rules! external_datafusion_err {
-    ($ERR:expr $(; diagnostic = $DIAG:expr)?) => {{
+    ($CONVERTIBLE_TO_ERR:expr $(; diagnostic = $DIAG:expr)?) => {{
+        let boxed_err = $crate::DataFusionError::box_error_if_needed($CONVERTIBLE_TO_ERR);
         let err = $crate::error::DataFusionError::External(
-            Box::new($ERR),
+            boxed_err,
             Some($crate::error::DataFusionError::get_back_trace())
         );
         $(

datafusion/datasource/src/url.rs

@@ -128,11 +128,7 @@ impl ListingTableUrl {
         };
 
         let url = url_from_filesystem_path(path).ok_or_else(|| {
-            let err = std::io::Error::new(
-                std::io::ErrorKind::Other,
-                format!("Failed to convert path to URL: {path}"),
-            );
-            external_datafusion_err!(err)
+            external_datafusion_err!(format!("Failed to convert path to URL: {path}"))
         })?;
 
         Self::try_new(url, glob)

datafusion/sqllogictest/bin/sqllogictests.rs

@@ -271,8 +271,7 @@ async fn run_file_in_runner<D: AsyncDB, M: MakeConnection<Conn = D>>(
             }
             msg.push_str(&format!("{}. {err}\n\n", i + 1));
         }
-        let err = std::io::Error::new(std::io::ErrorKind::Other, msg);
-        return external_err!(err);
+        return external_err!(msg);
     }
 
     Ok(())