Use slices and cmp packages instead of sort (#4951)

## Summary

Migrate from the `sort` package to the `slices` and `cmp` packages
across the codebase.

The `slices` package (stable since Go 1.21, extended in Go 1.23)
provides type-safe, generic alternatives to `sort`. Go 1.23 added
`slices.Sorted` and `slices.SortedFunc`, making the full migration more
compelling since the `sort` import can often be dropped entirely.

Key replacements:
- `sort.Strings` → `slices.Sort`
- `sort.Slice` → `slices.SortFunc`
- `sort.SliceStable` → `slices.SortStableFunc`

The original prompt identified ~25 `sort.Strings` call sites and ~3
`sort.SliceStable` call sites across ~46 files importing `sort`. This is
a low-risk, mechanical migration.

The `.golangci.yaml` configuration is updated to flag any new usage of
the `sort` package.

## Test plan

- [x] Existing unit tests pass (`make test`)
- [x] Linter passes (`make lint`)

This pull request was AI-assisted by Isaac.

Author: pietern

.golangci.yaml

@@ -50,6 +50,16 @@ linters:
           msg: Use env.UserHomeDir(ctx) from libs/env instead.
         - pattern: 'os\.Getenv'
           msg: Use env.Get(ctx) from the libs/env package instead of os.Getenv.
+        - pattern: 'sort\.Slice'
+          msg: Use slices.SortFunc from the standard library instead.
+        - pattern: 'sort\.SliceStable'
+          msg: Use slices.SortStableFunc from the standard library instead.
+        - pattern: 'sort\.Strings'
+          msg: Use slices.Sort from the standard library instead.
+        - pattern: 'sort\.Ints'
+          msg: Use slices.Sort from the standard library instead.
+        - pattern: 'sort\.Float64s'
+          msg: Use slices.Sort from the standard library instead.
       analyze-types: true
     copyloopvar:
       check-alias: true

acceptance/acceptance_test.go

@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ import (
 	"regexp"
 	"runtime"
 	"slices"
-	"sort"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -486,7 +485,7 @@ func getTests(t *testing.T) []string {
 	})
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
-	sort.Strings(testDirs)
+	slices.Sort(testDirs)
 	return testDirs
 }
 

acceptance/internal/config.go

@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"reflect"
 	"slices"
-	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -350,7 +349,7 @@ func ExpandEnvMatrix(matrix, exclude map[string][]string, extraVars []string) []
 	for key := range filteredMatrix {
 		keys = append(keys, key)
 	}
-	sort.Strings(keys)
+	slices.Sort(keys)
 
 	// Build an expansion of all combinations.
 	// At each step we look at a given key and append each possible value to each

bundle/config/loader/process_include.go

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 package loader
 
 import (
+	"cmp"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"slices"
-	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle"
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ func validateSingleResourceDefined(configRoot dyn.Value, ext, typ string) diag.D
 		lines = append(lines, fmt.Sprintf("  - %s (%s)\n", r.key, r.typ))
 	}
 	// Sort the lines to print to make the output deterministic.
-	sort.Strings(lines)
+	slices.Sort(lines)
 	// Compact the lines before writing them to the message to remove any duplicate lines.
 	// This is needed because we do not dedup earlier when gathering the resources
 	// and it's valid to define the same resource in both the resources and targets block.
@@ -114,11 +114,11 @@ func validateSingleResourceDefined(configRoot dyn.Value, ext, typ string) diag.D
 		paths = append(paths, rr.path)
 	}
 	// Sort the locations and paths to make the output deterministic.
-	sort.Slice(locations, func(i, j int) bool {
-		return locations[i].String() < locations[j].String()
+	slices.SortFunc(locations, func(a, b dyn.Location) int {
+		return cmp.Compare(a.String(), b.String())
 	})
-	sort.Slice(paths, func(i, j int) bool {
-		return paths[i].String() < paths[j].String()
+	slices.SortFunc(paths, func(a, b dyn.Path) int {
+		return cmp.Compare(a.String(), b.String())
 	})
 
 	return diag.Diagnostics{

bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/apply_presets.go

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 package resourcemutator
 
 import (
+	"cmp"
 	"context"
 	"path"
 	"slices"
-	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle"
@@ -315,8 +315,8 @@ func toTagArray(tags map[string]string) []Tag {
 	for key, value := range tags {
 		tagArray = append(tagArray, Tag{Key: key, Value: value})
 	}
-	sort.Slice(tagArray, func(i, j int) bool {
-		return tagArray[i].Key < tagArray[j].Key
+	slices.SortFunc(tagArray, func(a, b Tag) int {
+		return cmp.Compare(a.Key, b.Key)
 	})
 	return tagArray
 }

bundle/config/validate/enum.go

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 package validate
 
 import (
+	"cmp"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"slices"
-	"sort"
 
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle"
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle/internal/validation/generated"
@@ -86,16 +86,14 @@ func (f *enum) Apply(ctx context.Context, b *bundle.Bundle) diag.Diagnostics {
 	}
 
 	// Sort diagnostics to make them deterministic
-	sort.Slice(diags, func(i, j int) bool {
+	slices.SortFunc(diags, func(a, b diag.Diagnostic) int {
 		// First sort by summary
-		if diags[i].Summary != diags[j].Summary {
-			return diags[i].Summary < diags[j].Summary
+		if n := cmp.Compare(a.Summary, b.Summary); n != 0 {
+			return n
 		}
 
 		// Then sort by locations as a tie breaker if summaries are the same.
-		iLocs := fmt.Sprintf("%v", diags[i].Locations)
-		jLocs := fmt.Sprintf("%v", diags[j].Locations)
-		return iLocs < jLocs
+		return cmp.Compare(fmt.Sprintf("%v", a.Locations), fmt.Sprintf("%v", b.Locations))
 	})
 
 	return diags

bundle/config/validate/required.go

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 package validate
 
 import (
+	"cmp"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"slices"
-	"sort"
 
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle"
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle/internal/validation/generated"
@@ -69,16 +69,14 @@ func warnForMissingFields(ctx context.Context, b *bundle.Bundle) diag.Diagnostic
 	}
 
 	// Sort diagnostics to make them deterministic
-	sort.Slice(diags, func(i, j int) bool {
+	slices.SortFunc(diags, func(a, b diag.Diagnostic) int {
 		// First sort by summary
-		if diags[i].Summary != diags[j].Summary {
-			return diags[i].Summary < diags[j].Summary
+		if n := cmp.Compare(a.Summary, b.Summary); n != 0 {
+			return n
 		}
 
 		// Finally sort by locations as a tie breaker if summaries are the same.
-		iLocs := fmt.Sprintf("%v", diags[i].Locations)
-		jLocs := fmt.Sprintf("%v", diags[j].Locations)
-		return iLocs < jLocs
+		return cmp.Compare(fmt.Sprintf("%v", a.Locations), fmt.Sprintf("%v", b.Locations))
 	})
 
 	return diags

bundle/config/validate/unique_resource_keys.go

@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 package validate
 
 import (
+	"cmp"
 	"context"
-	"sort"
+	"slices"
 
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle"
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/libs/diag"
@@ -99,20 +100,17 @@ func (m *uniqueResourceKeys) Apply(ctx context.Context, b *bundle.Bundle) diag.D
 
 		// Sort the locations and paths for consistent error messages. This helps
 		// with unit testing.
-		sort.Slice(v.locations, func(i, j int) bool {
-			l1 := v.locations[i]
-			l2 := v.locations[j]
-
-			if l1.File != l2.File {
-				return l1.File < l2.File
+		slices.SortFunc(v.locations, func(a, b dyn.Location) int {
+			if n := cmp.Compare(a.File, b.File); n != 0 {
+				return n
 			}
-			if l1.Line != l2.Line {
-				return l1.Line < l2.Line
+			if n := cmp.Compare(a.Line, b.Line); n != 0 {
+				return n
 			}
-			return l1.Column < l2.Column
+			return cmp.Compare(a.Column, b.Column)
 		})
-		sort.Slice(v.paths, func(i, j int) bool {
-			return v.paths[i].String() < v.paths[j].String()
+		slices.SortFunc(v.paths, func(a, b dyn.Path) int {
+			return cmp.Compare(a.String(), b.String())
 		})
 
 		// If there are multiple resources with the same key, report an error.

bundle/configsync/format.go

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package configsync
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"sort"
+	"slices"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ func FormatTextOutput(changes Changes) string {
 	for key := range changes {
 		resourceKeys = append(resourceKeys, key)
 	}
-	sort.Strings(resourceKeys)
+	slices.Sort(resourceKeys)
 
 	for _, resourceKey := range resourceKeys {
 		resourceChanges := changes[resourceKey]
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ func FormatTextOutput(changes Changes) string {
 		for path := range resourceChanges {
 			paths = append(paths, path)
 		}
-		sort.Strings(paths)
+		slices.Sort(paths)
 
 		for _, path := range paths {
 			configChange := resourceChanges[path]

bundle/configsync/patch.go

@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@ package configsync
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"cmp"
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"regexp"
-	"sort"
+	"slices"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -62,8 +63,8 @@ func ApplyChangesToYAML(ctx context.Context, b *bundle.Bundle, fieldChanges []Fi
 		})
 	}
 
-	sort.Slice(result, func(i, j int) bool {
-		return result[i].Path < result[j].Path
+	slices.SortFunc(result, func(a, b FileChange) int {
+		return cmp.Compare(a.Path, b.Path)
 	})
 
 	return result, nil