bazelbuild/bazel

Repo failure can cause false credential helper error/warning messages

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#24,039 opened on Oct 21, 2024

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 (1 comment) (1 reaction) (1 assignee)Java (25,384 stars) (4,465 forks)batch import
P2bad error messaginghelp wantedteam-ExternalDepstype: bug

Description

Description of the bug:

If a repo rule fails whilst credential helpers are executing, the result is multiple credential helper warnings that can appear both before and after the repo rule error. The result is that the user is diverted to investigating credential helper issues that are not real.

It appears that when bazel aborts credential helper invokations after a repo failure in different thread, warning messages are emitted. These can include:

  • credential helper timeout
  • credential helper parse error
  • attempting to fetch X despite credential helper issue
  • failed to fetch X, due to 401 error (because credential helper was stopped)

After an error, threads that are forced to stop should not generate warning or error messages after the force stop.

This happens even with --experimental_worker_for_repo_fetching=off

Which category does this issue belong to?

External Dependency

What's the simplest, easiest way to reproduce this bug? Please provide a minimal example if possible.

No response

Which operating system are you running Bazel on?

Windows

What is the output of bazel info release?

7.4.0rc2

If bazel info release returns development version or (@non-git), tell us how you built Bazel.

No response

What's the output of git remote get-url origin; git rev-parse HEAD ?

No response

If this is a regression, please try to identify the Bazel commit where the bug was introduced with bazelisk --bisect.

No response

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

No response

Any other information, logs, or outputs that you want to share?

No response

Contributor guide

Tech stack
java
Domain
build system
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
blocked
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Understanding of Bazel's credential helperJava knowledgeConcurrency/threading concepts
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
25
Research direction
Investigate the credential helper implementation in Bazel. Look at files such as `src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/repository/downloader/CredentialHelper.java` and related thread management. The issue mentions that after a repo failure, credential helper threads are aborted and produce warnings. Suggest improving the thread lifecycle to suppress warnings after a forced stop. Review recent changes to thread handling and consider adding a flag to mute post abort messages.