bazelbuild / bazel-blog

Content of the Bazel blog

Bazel blog

This repository hosts the content of the Bazel blog, available at https://blog.bazel.build/

Writing a new blog post

Send a Pull Request adding a file to https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-blog/tree/master/_posts using the following filename format: <year>-<month>-<day>-<title>.md This filename format is required by the Jekyll processor.

Begin your post with the following lines:

---
layout: posts
title: <whatever>
authors:
  - username1  # See _config.yml for the list of authors.
  - username2
---

If you omit the layout, the blog post will not be formatted properly. If you omit the title, it won't have a title.

Write the body of your post below the "---". If you have headers in your post, use H2 and smaller headers (in makedown H2 is denoted by ##).

Prerequisites

To build the site, you will need Jekyll version 2.5.3 or above. For instance, it can be installed with apt-get install jekyll on recent Ubuntu (tested on 16.10).

To deploy the site, you will need gsutil and to authenticate with gcloud auth login.

Using Docker container

Or you can run a Docker container to avoid setting up Jekyll locally:

docker run --rm -it --entrypoint bash -v <path-to-bazel-blog>:/opt -w /opt -p 4000:4000 gcr.io/bazel-public/docgen

Running the website locally

To stage the site, run bazel run //:site.

See the Jekyll site if you need more info.

Deploying the website

The website is deployed automatically after new commits are merged into the master branch. The update time is around 30 mins - ping ([email protected]) in case of problems.

bazel-blog's Issues

Update protobuf blog post

With proto_library marked as deprecated in Bazel 0.29 (https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/be/protocol-buffer.html#proto_library), we need to update this blog post: https://blog.bazel.build/2017/02/27/protocol-buffers.html

0.25 blog post on website has incorrectly handled underscores

The markdown https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-blog/blob/master/_posts/2019-05-01-bazel-0.25.md has the following:

[rules_foreign_cc](https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_foreign_cc)

On github (https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-blog/blob/master/_posts/2019-05-01-bazel-0.25.md) this link is rendered as:

<a href="https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_foreign_cc">rules_foreign_cc</a>

But on the blog site (https://blog.bazel.build/2019/05/01/bazel-0.25.html) it is rendered as:

<a href="https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_foreign_cc">rules<em>foreign</em>cc</a>

I believe that the site rendering is incorrect, and thus the tooling that is used to generate the blog site is broken. If it is not an incorrect interpretation of the markdown then it is an issue in the original markdown as the I'm fairly certain the intended text has the literal _s.

Bazel homebrew post outdated

The blog post of 2018-08-22 contains instructions for using brew tap-pin.
The homebrew-tap repo README states that this command has been deprecated.

Please update the blog post to reflect this.

broken recommendation re: well known protos in 2017/02/27/protocol-buffers.html

The FAQ at https://blog.bazel.build/2017/02/27/protocol-buffers.html has a broken recommendation regarding well known protos.

It says:

"Q: How does one use well-known types? (e.g., any.proto, descriptor.proto)
A: Once protocolbuffers/protobuf#2763 is resolved, the following should be added to a .proto file: import google/protobuf/any.proto and the following: @com_google_protobuf//:well_known_types_protos to one's proto_library rule."

However, with bazel 0.8.0 and a fresh clone of https://github.com/cgrushko/proto_library the referenced target does not exist:

$ bazel query @com_google_protobuf//:well_known_types_protos
ERROR: no such target '@com_google_protobuf//:well_known_types_protos': target 'well_known_types_protos' not declared in package '' defined by /home/erick/.cache/bazel/_bazel_erick/b1f9fa8319238652d95ee6d19999542c/external/com_google_protobuf/BUILD

I've sent a PR to close cgrushko/proto_library#10 - but the blog post should be updated with information that works with the cgrushko/proto_library repo

We don't use standard markdown, which makes github preview useless

On mobile: navigation menu does not appear on index page

On the index page, the navigation menu does not appear:

It appears on post pages:

bazel run //:site failed as mkdir .jekyll-cache failed for permission issues

Hi team,
I have forked this repo to get some ideas to setup my own blog site. When I tried to run bazel build //:site, the following errors occur:

story@story4t:/work/blog.git/bazel.blog$ bazel build //:site
INFO: Analyzed target //:site (0 packages loaded, 0 targets configured).
INFO: Found 1 target...
ERROR: /work/blog.git/bazel.blog/BUILD:85:13: Action site-build failed (Exit 1) jekyll failed: error executing command jekyll build -q -s bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-srcs -d bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-build

Use --sandbox_debug to see verbose messages from the sandbox
/usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/rubygems.rb:289:in `find_spec_for_exe': can't find gem jekyll (>= 0.a) with executable jekyll (Gem::GemNotFoundException)
        from /usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/rubygems.rb:308:in `activate_bin_path'
        from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/bin/jekyll:23:in `<main>'
Target //:site failed to build
Use --verbose_failures to see the command lines of failed build steps.
INFO: Elapsed time: 0.571s, Critical Path: 0.20s
INFO: 0 processes.
FAILED: Build did NOT complete successfully

story@story4t:/work/blog.git/bazel.blog$ bazel build //:site --verbose_failures
INFO: Analyzed target //:site (0 packages loaded, 0 targets configured).
INFO: Found 1 target...
ERROR: /work/blog.git/bazel.blog/BUILD:85:13: Action site-build failed (Exit 1): jekyll failed: error executing command 
  (cd /work/tmp/bazel/fc6a47d3d13ba4b858e8dbadfd206d7e/sandbox/linux-sandbox/14/execroot/build_bazel_blog && \
  exec env - \
    PATH=/work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/bin:/work/sysroot/bin:/work/sysroot/pkgs/go/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin \
  jekyll build -q -s bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-srcs -d bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-build)
Execution platform: @local_config_platform//:host

Use --sandbox_debug to see verbose messages from the sandbox jekyll failed: error executing command 
  (cd /work/tmp/bazel/fc6a47d3d13ba4b858e8dbadfd206d7e/sandbox/linux-sandbox/14/execroot/build_bazel_blog && \
  exec env - \
    PATH=/work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/bin:/work/sysroot/bin:/work/sysroot/pkgs/go/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin \
  jekyll build -q -s bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-srcs -d bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-build)
Execution platform: @local_config_platform//:host

Use --sandbox_debug to see verbose messages from the sandbox
/usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/rubygems.rb:289:in `find_spec_for_exe': can't find gem jekyll (>= 0.a) with executable jekyll (Gem::GemNotFoundException)
        from /usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/rubygems.rb:308:in `activate_bin_path'
        from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/bin/jekyll:23:in `<main>'
Target //:site failed to build
INFO: Elapsed time: 0.473s, Critical Path: 0.21s
INFO: 0 processes.
FAILED: Build did NOT complete successfully

story@story4t:/work/blog.git/bazel.blog$  jekyll build -q -s bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-srcs -d bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-build --trace
Traceback (most recent call last):
        25: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/bin/jekyll:23:in `<main>'
        24: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/bin/jekyll:23:in `load'
        23: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/exe/jekyll:15:in `<top (required)>'
        22: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary.rb:21:in `program'
        21: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/program.rb:44:in `go'
        20: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `execute'
        19: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `each'
        18: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `block in execute'
        17: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/build.rb:18:in `block (2 levels) in init_with_program'
        16: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `process_with_graceful_fail'
        15: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `each'
        14: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `block in process_with_graceful_fail'
        13: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/build.rb:30:in `process'
        12: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/build.rb:30:in `new'
        11: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:35:in `initialize'
        10: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:118:in `reset'
         9: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/cache.rb:45:in `clear_if_config_changed'
         8: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/cache.rb:101:in `[]='
         7: from /work/sysroot/pkgs/gems/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/cache.rb:184:in `dump'
         6: from /usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/fileutils.rb:193:in `mkdir_p'
         5: from /usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/fileutils.rb:193:in `each'
         4: from /usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/fileutils.rb:208:in `block in mkdir_p'
         3: from /usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/fileutils.rb:208:in `reverse_each'
         2: from /usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/fileutils.rb:210:in `block (2 levels) in mkdir_p'
         1: from /usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/fileutils.rb:232:in `fu_mkdir'
/usr/lib/ruby/2.5.0/fileutils.rb:232:in `mkdir': Permission denied @ dir_s_mkdir - /work/blog.git/bazel.blog/bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-srcs/.jekyll-cache (Errno::EACCES)

story@story4t:/work/blog.git/bazel.blog$  mkdir -p /work/blog.git/bazel.blog/bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-srcs/.jekyll-cache
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/work/blog.git/bazel.blog/bazel-out/aarch64-fastbuild/bin/site-srcs/.jekyll-cache’: Permission denied

I believe that I have installed Jekyll correctly, as the quick start instructions available at https://jekyllrb.com/ runs OK.
and I have tested another Jekyll based site locally, it also works fine.

I don't think I have misused ROOT account or performed sudo operations.

I have also tested this on Ubuntu 20.04.1(x86_64) and Ubuntu 18.04(Aarch64, Jetson Xavier), the same issue persists.

My bazel version is 3.5.0, downloaded from https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases.

Any idea/suggestion is appreciated.

Rename 'master' branch to 'main'

Transition RSS feed

Today, we have an RSS feed at https://bazel.build/blog/feed.xml
With the new blog, we will host it at https://blogbazel.build/feed.xml

How can we make a smooth transition?

Unable to subscribe to blog

I'm unable to enter an email and subscribe on https://blog.bazel.build/:

400. That’s an error.

The server cannot process the request because it is malformed. It should not be retried. That’s all we know.

Additional details (only visible to internal users!):
[redacted]

Happy to share the detailed (internal) error message if needed - let me know. But it can be easily/consistently replicated.

cc @fweikert @radvani13

Protocol buffer blog post has unescaped underscores.

https://blog.bazel.build/2017/02/27/protocol-buffers.html

In the actual blog engine the fragment:

the collection of transitive descriptor sets is available through the 'proto.transitive_descriptor_sets'

is not rendered correctly.

Instead the underscores turn 'descriptor' into italics. It looks like github parses the markdown differently and keeps the raw underscores, so there are differences in these markdown engines.

Write a blog post about GSoC

We should write a blog post about GSoC results. I wanted to do it, but I haven't found the time yet.
cc @laszlocsomor, @rongjiecomputer, @Quarz0

https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/projects/?sp-search=bazel#5320645678727168

Support Twitter Cards

This will prevent blog.bazel.build links from showing up as just a plain link. With cards, rich media will show up along with the tweet: https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/tweets/optimize-with-cards/overview/abouts-cards

To fix in HTML, in <head />, add <meta name="twitter:card" value="summary" />.

Search does not work when initiated from blog

I get a 404 after starting a search query: http://blog.bazel.build/search.html?cx=012346921571893344015%3Axv_nfgpzbu4&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=query

Post comments aren't showing up

..even though they're all enabled as of bdc24f6

Interestingly, performing a manual push fixes this.

RE-API Test Suite Blog

Hi everyone,

Myself and some colleagues over at Codethink (with some contributions from others as well) have been working on a test suite for the Remote Execution API. I'm planning to write a blog about our progress and planned next steps, and inviting / encouraging any interested parties to contribute.

Our Roadmap has full details of what we've done and what we want to do next.

Do you think this would be of interest to the Bazel blog? I'd like to get a draft done soon, which I could raise as an PR for review.

As for signing the CLA, this should be fine: Codethink already has a few folks signed up.

Thanks,
Laurence

Backfill recent blog posts

We published a few blog posts on https://bazel.build/blog/index.html

We need to copy them to this repo for them to appear on https://blog.bazel.build/

Make sure we see have a process in place to monitor incoming Pull Requests on this repo

Links to Bazel documentation stopped working in blog posts

See https://blog.bazel.build/2016/03/31/autoconfiguration.html for examples (I am afraid it is pervasive in older blog posts as well):

• since we have moved to blog.bazel.build, all relative links to docs started to point to a file under that hostname instead of bazel.build

RSS feed returns invalid xml

Hi, just wanted to add the bazel blog to my blog accumulator,

The problem is, the java script rss parser I use can not handle the returned xml from https://blog.bazel.build/feed.xml

error: Error: Invalid character in entity name
Line: 9
Column: 32

also, a browser has problems displaying the content of the rss feed

It would be awesome if this could be fixed, so I do not miss any blogs in future, and the bazel blog can be part of the SwedenCpp C++ blog feed.
Thank you!

Bazelize plugin blog post

Hi, myself and some others at Codethink have been working on improving interaction between Bazel and BuildStream. As part of this there is a new kind of element plugin for Buildstream (bazelize) which can provide some level of automatic Bazel packaging for BuildStream projects.

I've written a blog post describing how this plugin can be used to integrate third party packages into existing Bazel projects. I think this will be of interest to other Bazel users so I'd like to send it as a PR here.

0.28 release page has 'dead' link for '--auto_output_filter'

Page:
https://blog.bazel.build/2019/07/10/bazel-0.28.html

The link goes to:
https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/user-manual.html#flag--auto_output_filter

But nothing on that page mentions --auto_output_filter.

The closest is https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/user-manual.html#flag--output_filter, but that doesn't seem to be what is being discussed in the blog post.

Add to README instructions about how to serve the blog locally