bazelbuild/bazel

BulkTransferException hides underlying cause

Open

#29029 opened on Mar 19, 2026

View on GitHub
 (3 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)Java (25,384 stars) (4,465 forks)batch import
help wantedteam-Remote-Exectype: bug

Description

Description of the bug:

We are looking into a customer issue that looks like this:

Failed to fetch blobs because of a remote cache error.: 29 errors during bulk transfer:
java.io.IOException: io.grpc.StatusRuntimeException: UNAVAILABLE: io exception
java.io.IOException: (repeated 28x)

(nitpick: there is ".:" in the message)

it would be helpful if we could see the entire IOException, rather than 29 copies of the same message.

This was with bazel 7.7.1, but according to https://cs.opensource.google/bazel/bazel/+/master:src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/common/BulkTransferException.java;l=43;bpv=0;bpt=1 HEAD has the same problem.

Which category does this issue belong to?

Remote execution

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

if we had a reproducer, we wouldn't need more details in the error message.

Which operating system are you running Bazel on?

Linux

What is the output of bazel info release?

this is with bazel 7.7.1

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/issues/14985 is related.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javagrpc
Domain
build systembackend
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.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Javaexception handlinggRPC
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60
Research direction
Examine the BulkTransferException class in src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/common/BulkTransferException.java. The getMessage() method currently echoes the same message for each failure. The fix should capture the distinct exception details, possibly using getSuppressed() or a custom structure. Review the related issue #14985 for prior context.