`repository_ctx.download*` does not use URL as default canonical ID about bazel

[fmeum]

Prior to Bazel v7, .download and .download_and_extract were beholden to the flag --experimental_repository_cache_urls_as_default_canonical_id...

This is correct. As of Bazel 7, the flag is now a no-op and the repo rules you listed have been updated to use this logic by default.

... which in Bazel v6 (and possibly earlier) was enabled by default.

This is not correct, the flag wasn't enabled by default in previous versions of Bazel:
https://cs.opensource.google/bazel/bazel/+/release-6.5.0:src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/repository/RepositoryOptions.java;l=243

If you are using rctx.download or rctx.download_and_extract in a custom repo rule and were previously using the --experimental_repository_cache_urls_as_default_canonical_id flag to set a default canonical ID, you would have to update the logic to manually pass URLs into the canonical ID field. You can use the new public helper function get_default_canonical_id in @bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:cache.bzl if you want to match the behavior of the special-cased rules.

[Silic0nS0ldier]

Ah, my mistake. Perhaps the flag had been in use in our repo, or perhaps I had simply made a bad assumption.

In this case I have some suggestions;

• rctx.download* documentation should be updated to include what the default canonical_id is.
• rctx.download* documentation should include examples for common patterns (such as using get_default_canonical_id).
• Co-ordinate with ruleset authors so API usage uses an appropriate canonical_id (not having it set is probably a good signal that the behaviour hasn't been considered).

Some extra context for my request which I neglected to include in the OP. Due to the default behaviour, a TypeScript version upgrade was merged in a broken state due to an overlooked integrity hash.

load("@aspect_rules_ts//ts:repositories.bzl", "rules_ts_dependencies")
rules_ts_dependencies(
    ts_version_from = "//:package.json", # 5.4.2 -> 5.4.5
-   ts_integrity = "sha512-+2/g0Fds1ERlP6JsakQQDXjZdZMM+rqpamFZJEKh4kwTIn3iDkgKtby0CeNd5ATNZ4Ry1ax15TMx0W2V+miizQ==",
+   ts_integrity = "sha512-vcI4UpRgg81oIRUFwR0WSIHKt11nJ7SAVlYNIu+QpqeyXP+gpQJy/Z4+F0aGxSE4MqwjyXvW/TzgkLAx2AGHwQ==",
)

This specific instance of the issue should not reoccur as we've updated usage to automatically pick up the hash.

rules_ts_dependencies(
    ts_version_from = "@pnpm//:typescript/resolved.json",
)

[Silic0nS0ldier]

I looked into using @bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:cache.bzl in an internal repo rule, without success. The helper has visibility("private") preventing usage, it is not currently part of the public API.