Question: how to pass dependencies that change state forward across a non-output-changing rule about buck2

[zjturner]

What’s the point of rebuilding B if it’s just going to generate the same output every time?

[vindard]

What’s the point of rebuilding B if it’s just going to generate the same output every time?

It technically doesn't need to be rebuilt after its first build. But it needs to signal to other rules it's an input of, that its own dependencies have changed.

[zjturner]

What inputs actually influence the output of B? If it really never changes, then I think you should upload the bin file somewhere, and download it with http_archive(). It sounds like B should not have a dependency on anything, since nothing influences the nature of its output, and instead C should have a direct dependency on A as well as a dependency on B.

[vindard]

It sounds like B should not have a dependency on anything, since nothing influences the nature of its output, and instead C should have a direct dependency on A as well as a dependency on B.

Yup this is the approach we sort of took in GaloyMoney/galoy#4172 and now I'm thinking it's probably the correct one for best representing what we have. Closing for now based on this, thanks!