For some background, the C++ program I am working on has the possibility to interoperate with some other applications that use various Protobuf versions. In the source code for my program, I have the compiled .pb.cc files from these other applications for the Protobuf interface. These .pb.cc files were compiled with a particular version of Protobuf, and I don't have any control over this. I am using Bazel to build, and I want to be able to specify a Bazel build configuration for my program, which will use a particular version of Protobuf which matches that of one of the possible other applications.
Originally, I wanted to put something in the .bazelrc file so that I can specify a particular version of Protobuf depending on the config, for example:
# in .bazelrc:
build:my_config --protobuf_version=3_20_1
build:my_other_config --protobuf_version=3_21_6
Then from the terminal, I could build with the command
bazel build --config=my_config //path/to/target:target
which would build as if I had typed
bazel build --protobuf_version=3_20_1 //path/to/target:target
At this point, I wanted to use the select() function, as detailed in the Bazel docs for Configurable Build Attributes, to use a particular Protobuf version during building. But, the Protobuf dependencies are all specified in the WORKSPACE file, which is more limited than a BUILD file, and this select() function cannot be used there. So then my idea was to pull in every version of the Protobuf library that I would possibly need, and give them different names in the WORKSPACE file, and then in the BUILD files, use a select() function to choose the correct version. But, the Bazel rule for compiling the proto_library is used as such:
proto_library(
name = "foo",
srcs = ["foo.proto"],
strip_import_prefix = "/foo/bar/baz",
)
I don't see of any opportunity to use a select() function here to specify which Protobuf version's proto_library rule should be used. The proto_library rule is also defined in from the WORKSPACE file with:
load("#rules_proto//proto:repositories.bzl", "rules_proto_dependencies", "rules_proto_toolchains")
rules_proto_dependencies()
rules_proto_toolchains()
Now, I would say that I am stuck. I don't see a way to specify on the command line which version of Protobuf should be used with the proto_library rule.
In the end, I would like a way to do the equivalent in the WORKSPACE file of
# in WORKSPACE
if my_config:
# specific protobuf version:
http_archive(
name = "com_google_protobuf",
sha256 = "8b28fdd45bab62d15db232ec404248901842e5340299a57765e48abe8a80d930",
strip_prefix = "protobuf-3.20.1",
urls = ["https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/archive/v3.20.1.tar.gz"],
)
elif my_other_config:
# same as above, but with different version
else:
# same as above, but with default version
According to some google groups discussion, this doesn't seem to be possible in the WORKSPACE file, so I would need to do it in a BUILD file, but the dependencies are specified in the WORKSPACE.
I figured out a way that works that seems to go against Bazel's philosophy, but most importantly does what I want.
The repository dependencies are loaded in the first of two steps, the first involving the WORKSPACE file, and the second involving the BUILD file. Command line flags for the build cannot be normally be directly passed to the WORKSPACE, but it is possible to get some information to the WORKSPACE by setting an environment variable and creating a repository_rule. In the WORKSPACE, this environment variable can be used, for example, to change the url argument to http_archive which specifies the dependency version.
This repository rule is created in a separate file .bzl file, which is then loaded in the WORKSPACE. As a generalized example of how get environment variable values into the WORKSPACE, the following file my_repository_rule.bzl could be created:
# in file my_repository_rule.bzl
def _my_repository_rule_impl(repository_ctx):
# read the particular environment variable we are interested in
config = repository_ctx.os.environ.get("MY_CONFIG_ENV_VAR", "")
# necessary to create empty BUILD file for this rule
# which will be located somewhere in the Bazel build files
repository_ctx.file("BUILD")
# some logic to do something based on the value of the environment variable passed in:
if config.lower() == "example_config_1":
ADDITIONAL_INFO = "foo"
elif config.lower() == "example_config_2":
ADDITIONAL_INFO = "bar"
else:
ADDITIONAL_INFO = "baz"
# create a temporary file called config.bzl to be loaded into WORKSPACE
# passing in any desired information from this rule implementation
repository_ctx.file("config.bzl", content = """
MY_CONFIG = {}
ADDITIONAL_INFO = {}
""".format(repr(config), repr(ADDITIONAL_INFO ))
)
my_repository_rule = repository_rule(
implementation=_my_repository_rule_impl,
environ = ["MY_CONFIG_ENV_VAR"]
)
This can be used in the WORKSPACE as such:
# in file WORKSPACE
load("//:my_repository_rule.bzl", "my_repository_rule ")
my_repository_rule(name = "local_my_repository_rule ")
load("#local_my_repository_rule //:config.bzl", "MY_CONFIG", "ADDITIONAL_INFO")
print("MY_CONFIG = {}".format(MY_CONFIG))
print("ADDITIONAL_INFO = {}".format(ADDITIONAL_INFO))
When a target is built with bazel build, the WORKSPACE will receive the value of the MY_CONFIG_ENV_VAR from the terminal and store it in the Starlark variable MY_CONFIG, and any other additional information determined in the implementation.
The environment variable can be passed by normal means, such as typing in a bash shell, for example:
MY_CONFIG_ENV_VAR=example_config_1 bazel build //path/to/target:target
It can also be passed as a flag with the --repo_env flag. This flag sends an extra environment variable to be available to the repository rules, meaning the following is equivalent:
bazel build --repo_env=MY_CONFIG_ENV_VAR=example_config_1 //path/to/target:target
This can be made easier to switch between by including the following in the .bazelrc file:
# in file .bazelrc
build:my_config_1 --repo_env=MY_CONFIG_ENV_VAR=example_config_1
build:my_config_2 --repo_env=MY_CONFIG_ENV_VAR=example_config_2
So running bazel build --config=my_config_1 //path/to/target:target will show the debug output from the print statements in WORKSPACE as the following:
MY_CONFIG = example_config_1
ADDITIONAL_INFO = foo
If ADDITIONAL_INFO in the rule implementation (in the file my_repository_rule.bzl) were set to a version number such as "3.20.1", then the WORKSPACE could, for example, use this in an http_archive call to pull the desired version of the dependency.
# in file WORKSPACE
if ADDITIONAL_INFO == "3.20.1":
sha256 = "8b28fdd45bab62d15db232ec404248901842e5340299a57765e48abe8a80d930"
http_archive(
name = "com_google_protobuf",
sha256 = sha256,
strip_prefix = "protobuf-{}".format(ADDITIONAL_INFO),
urls = ["https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/archive/v{}.tar.gz".format(ADDITIONAL_INFO)],
)
Of course, the value of the sha256 kwarg could also be passed in from the repository rule as a separate string variable, or as part of a dictionary, for example.
Related
I'm currently messing around with Google's Mediapipe, which uses Bazel as a build tool. The folder has the following structure:
mediapipe
├ mediapipe
| └ examples
| └ desktop
| └ hand_tracking
| └ BUILD
├ calculators
| └ tensor
| └ tensor_to_landmarks_calculator.cc
| └ BUILD
└ WORKSPACE
There are a bunch of other files in there as well, but they are rather irrelevant to this problem. They can be found in the git repo linked above if you need them.
I'm at a stage where I can build and run the hand_tracking example without any problems. Now, I want to include the cereal library to the build, so that I can use #include <cereal/archives/binary.hpp> from within tensors_to_landmarks_calculator.cc. The cereal library is located at C:\\cereal, but can be moved to other locations if it simplifies the process.
Basically, I'm looking for the Bazel equivalent of adding a path to Additional Include Directories in Visual Studio.
How would I need to modify the WORKSPACE and BUILD files in order to include the library in my project, assuming they are in a default state?
Unfortunately, this official doc page only covers one-file libraries, and other implementations kept giving me File could not be found errors at build time.
Thanks in advance!
First you have to tell Bazel about the code living "outside" the
workspace area. It needs to know how to find it, how to build it, and
what to call it, etc. These are known as remote repositories. They
can be local to your disk (outside the Bazel workspace area), or
actually remote on another machine or server, like github. The
important thing is it must be described to Bazel with enough
information that it can use.
As most third party code does not come with BUILD.bazel files, you may
need to provide one yourself and tell Bazel "use this as if it was a
build file found in that code."
For a local directory outside your bazel project
Add a repository rule like this to your WORKSPACE file:
# This could go in your WORKSPACE file
# (But prefer the http_archive solution below)
new_local_repository(
name = "cereal",
build_file = "//third_party:cereal.BUILD.bazel",
path = "<path-to-directory>",
)
("new_local_repository" is built-in to bazel)
Somewhere under your Bazel WORKSPACE area you'll also need to make a
cereal.BUILD.bazel file and export it from the package. I choose a directory called //third_party, but you can put it anywhere
else, and name it anything else, as long as the repository rule
provides a proper bazel label for it.) The contents might look like
this:
# contents of //third_party/cereal.BUILD.bazel
cc_library(
name = "cereal-lib",
srcs = glob(["**/*.hpp"]),
includes = ["include"],
visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
)
Bazel will pretend this was the BUILD file that "came with" the remote
repository, even though it's actually local to your repo. When Bazel fetches this remote repostiory code it copies it, and the BUILD file you provide, into its external area for caching, building, etc.
To make //third_party:cereal.BUILD.bazel a valid target in your directory, add a BUILD.bazel file to that directory:
# contents of //third_party/BUILD.bazel
exports_files = [
"cereal.BUILD.bazel",
]
Without exporting it, you won't be able to refer to the buildfile from your repository rule.
Local disk repositories aren't very portable since people may have
different versions installed and it's not very hermetic (making it
hard to share caches of builds with others), and it requires they put
them in the same place, and that kind of setup can be problematic. It
also will fail when you mix operating systems, etc, if you refer to it as "C:..."
Downloading a tarball of the library from github, for example
A better way is to download a fixed version from github, for example,
and let Bazel manage it for you in its external area:
http_archive(
name = "cereal",
sha256 = "329ea3e3130b026c03a4acc50e168e7daff4e6e661bc6a7dfec0d77b570851d5",
urls =
["https://github.com/USCiLab/cereal/archive/refs/tags/v1.3.0.tar.gz"],
build_file = "//third_party:cereal.BUILD.bazel",
)
The sha256 is important, since it downloads and computes it, compares to what you specified, and can cache it. In the future, it won't re-download it if the local file's sha matches.
Notice, it again says build_file = //third_party:cereal.BUILD.bazel., all
the same things from new_local_repository above apply here. Make sure you provide the build file for it to use, and export it from where you put it.
*To test that the remote repository is setup ok
on the command line issue
bazel fetch #cereal//:cereal-lib
I sometimes have to clear it out to make it try again, if my rule isn't quite right, but the "bad" version sticks around.
bazel clean --expunge
will remove it, but might be overkill.
Finally
We have:
defined a remote repository called #cereal
defined a target in it called cereal-lib
the target is thus #cereal//:cereal-lib
To use it
Go to the package where you would like to include cereal, and add a
dependency on this repository to the rule that builds the c++ code that would like to use cereal. That is, in your case, the BUILD rule that causes tensor_to_landmarks_calculator.cc to get built, add:
deps = [
"#cereal//:cereal-lib",
...
]
And then in your c++ code:
#include "cereal/cereal.hpp"
That should do it.
I have the following directory structure:
my_dir
|
--> src
| |
| --> foo.cc
| --> BUILD
|
--> WORKSPACE
|
--> bazel-out/ (symlink)
|
| ...
src/BUILD contains the following code:
cc_binary(
name = "foo",
srcs = ["foo.cc"]
)
The file foo.cc creates a file named bar.txt using the regular way with <fstream> utilities.
However, when I invoke Bazel with bazel run //src:foo the file bar.txt is created and placed in bazel-out/darwin-fastbuild/bin/src/foo.runfiles/foo/bar.txt instead of my_dir/src/bar.txt, where the original source is.
I tried adding an outs field to the foo rule, but Bazel complained that outs is not a recognized attribute for cc_binary.
I also thought of creating a filegroup rule, but there is no deps field where I can declare foo as a dependency for those files.
How can I make sure that the files generated by running the cc_binary rule are placed in my_dir/src/bar.txt instead of bazel-out/...?
Bazel doesn't allow you to modify the state of your workspace, by design.
The short answer is that you don't want the results of the past builds to modify the state of your workspace, hence potentially modifying the results of the future builds. It'll violate reproducibility if running Bazel multiple times on the same workspace results in different outputs.
Given your example: imagine calling bazel run //src:foo which inserts
#define true false
#define false true
at the top of the src/foo.cc. What happens if you call bazel run //src:foo again?
The long answer: https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/rule-challenges.html#assumption-aim-for-correctness-throughput-ease-of-use-latency
Here's more information on the output directory: https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/output_directories.html#documentation-of-the-current-bazel-output-directory-layout
There could be a workaround to use genrule. Below is an example that I use genrule to copy a file to the .git folder.
genrule(
name = "precommit",
srcs = glob(["git/**"]),
outs = ["precommit.txt"],
# folder contain this BUILD.bazel file is tool which will be symbol linked, we use cd -P to get to the physical path
cmd = "echo 'setup pre-commit.sh' > $(OUTS) && cd -P tools && ./path/to/your-script.sh",
local = 1, # required
)
If you're passing the name of the output file in when running, you can simply use absolute paths. To make this easier, you can use the realpath utility if you're in linux. If you're on a mac, it is included in brew install coreutils. Then running it looks something like:
bazel run my_app_dir:binary_target -- --output_file=`realpath relative/path/to.output
This has been discussed and explained in a Bazel issue. Recommendation is to use a tool external to Bazel:
As I understand the use-case, this is out-of-scope for building and in the scope of, perhaps, workspace configuration. What I'm sure of is that an external tool would be both easier and safer to write for this purpose, than to introduce such a deep design change to Bazel.
The tool would copy the files from the output tree into the source tree, and update a manifest file (also in the source tree) that lists the path-digest pairs. The sources and the manifest file would all be versioned. A genrule or a sh_test would depend on the file-generating genrules, as well as on this manifest file, and compare the file-generating genrules' outputs' digests (in the output tree) to those in the manifest file, and would fail if there's a mismatch. In that case the user would need to run the external tool, thus update the source tree and the manifest, then rerun the build, which is the same workflow as you described, except you'd run this tool instead of bazel regenerate-autogenerated-sources.
I am trying to create an automated process with Waf to optimize, minify, etc. the source files of a website based on the HTML5 boilerplate's ANT build script. Part of this includes running all the PNG's in the img directory through two utilities, optipng and advpng.
This is my current best attempt at these tasks:
def build(ctx):
ctx(
rule = '${OPTIPNG} -quiet -o5 -i 1 -out ${TGT} ${SRC}',
source = 'img1.png',
target = 'img1-opt.png'
)
ctx(
rule = '${ADVPNG} -z -1 ${SRC}',
source = SOMETHING,
target = SOMETHING ELSE
)
I first run optipng on img1, where my first problem arises. I would like the output file to have the same name as the input file. However, setting target to the same name results in Waf detecting a deadlock. So, I moved ahead by appending a suffix.
advpng is a bit strange in that it doesn't create a new output file: it modifies the input file in place. So, I now need a way to access the output of optipng, which now resides in the build's output directory.
What is the proper way of accomplishing this task?
The first problem is addressed in part by the waf book section 6.3. That is about copying, so you have to tweak it. Part of section 11 on Providing arbitrary configuration files is somewhat relevant, as well.
You have to write some Python to resolve the target file in the build directory. This script works:
top = '.'
out = 'build'
def configure(ctx):
pass
def build(ctx):
txt = ctx.srcnode.find_node('text.txt')
ctx(
rule = 'cp ${SRC} ${TGT}',
source = txt,
target = txt.get_bld() # Or: ctx.bldnode.make_node('text.txt')
)
ctx(
rule = 'wc ${SRC} > ${TGT}',
source = 'text.txt', # Or: txt.get_bld(),
target = 'count.txt'
)
For the second step, waf seemed to resolve the literal source file name in the build directory, but you could also use the bld node from step 1 to resolve it explicitly.
I am trying to generate the C files from my .proto.
I was able to do it but they are generated in the same folder. After this i need to move the .h file into my include directory.
At this moment i am using the ProtoC Builder but there is no option to deliver the .h into a different folder. So i tried to do a Command Move after something like:
proto_files = localenv.Protoc(
[],
protoList,
PROTOCPROTOPATH=[builddir],
PROTOCPYTHONOUTDIR=None, # set to None to not generate python
PROTOCOUTDIR = builddir, # defaults to same directory as .proto
# PROTOCCPPOUTFLAGS = "dllexport_decl=PROTOCONFIG_EXPORT:", too
)
localenv.Command(proto_files[1], proto_files[1],
[
Move("$SRC",incFolder+"/$TARGET"),
])
but when i run scons i have the following error:
scons: * Two environments with different actions were specified for
the same target:
Any idea?
You can't have a Command (or any Builder) with the target and source being the same. How would SCons know whether it was up to date, i.e. whether that builder needs to run or not?
Maybe try:
tgt = localenv.Command(os.path.join(incFolder, proto_files[1]), proto_files[1],
[
Move("$SRC","$TARGET"),
])
If that doesn't work, please add the full error message (this time include the target name).
How can I add a include path to wscript?
I know I can declare which files from which folders I want to include per any cpp file, like:
def build(bld):
bld(features='c cxx cxxprogram',
includes='include',
source='main.cpp',
target='app',
use=['M','mylib'],
lib=['dl'])
but I do not want to set it per every file. I want to add a path to "global includes" so it will be included everytime any file will be compiled.
I've found an answer. You have to simply set the value of 'INCLUDES' to list of paths you want.
Do not forget to run waf configure again :)
def configure(cfg):
cfg.env.append_value('INCLUDES', ['include'])
I spent some time working out a good way to do this using the "use" option in bld.program() methods. Working with the boost libraries as an example, I came up with the following. I hope it helps!
'''
run waf with -v option and look at the command line arguments given
to the compiler for the three cases.
you may need to include the boost tool into waf to test this script.
'''
def options(opt):
opt.load('compiler_cxx boost')
def configure(cfg):
cfg.load('compiler_cxx boost')
cfg.check_boost()
cfg.env.DEFINES_BOOST = ['NDEBUG']
### the following line would be very convenient
### cfg.env.USE_MYCONFIG = ['BOOST']
### but this works too:
def copy_config(cfg, name, new_name):
i = '_'+name
o = '_'+new_name
l = len(i)
d = {}
for key in cfg.env.keys():
if key[-l:] == i:
d[key.replace(i,o)] = cfg.env[key]
cfg.env.update(d)
copy_config(cfg, 'BOOST', 'MYCONFIG')
# now modify the new env/configuration
# this adds the appropriate "boost_" to the beginning
# of the library and the "-mt" to the end if needed
cfg.env.LIB_MYCONFIG = cfg.boost_get_libs('filesystem system')[-1]
def build(bld):
# basic boost (no libraries)
bld.program(target='test-boost2', source='test-boost.cpp',
use='BOOST')
# myconfig: boost with two libraries
bld.program(target='test-boost', source='test-boost.cpp',
use='MYCONFIG')
# warning:
# notice the NDEBUG shows up twice in the compilation
# because MYCONFIG already includes everything in BOOST
bld.program(target='test-boost3', source='test-boost.cpp',
use='BOOST MYCONFIG')
I figured this out and the steps are as follows:
Added following check in the configure function in wscript file. This tells the script to check for the given library file (libmongoclient in this case), and we store the results of this check in MONGOCLIENT.
conf.check_cfg(package='libmongoclient', args=['--cflags', '--libs'], uselib_store='MONGOCLIENT', mandatory=True)
After this step, we need to add a package configuration file (.pc) into /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig path. This is the file where we specify the paths to lib and headers. Pasting the content of this file below.
prefix=/usr/local
libdir=/usr/local/lib
includedir=/usr/local/include/mongo
Name: libmongoclient
Description: Mongodb C++ driver
Version: 0.2
Libs: -L${libdir} -lmongoclient
Cflags: -I${includedir}
Added the dependency into the build function of the sepcific program which depends on the above library (i.e. MongoClient). Below is an example.
mobility = bld( target='bin/mobility', features='cxx cxxprogram', source='src/main.cpp', use='mob-objects MONGOCLIENT', )
After this, run the configure again, and build your code.