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We’ve been using it to build and deploy a ~500k loc JavaScript monorepo and I have an unpopular opinion about it. While I see the benefits of it for google scal

by tbrock 7y ago

We’ve been using it to build and deploy a ~500k loc JavaScript monorepo and I have an unpopular opinion about it. While I see the benefits of it for google scale, for us it’s just been one headache after another. Reimplementation of python for build file language? No thanks. Reimplementation of package managers? No thanks. Reimplementation of Docker? No thanks. It’s just another thing to learn, worry about, and discover bugs in rather than something that just works. I already know how docker, yarn, and python work and that stuff works well, why are we boiling the oceans recreating and relearning all of this just to do it the “Bazel” way? What a waste of time and energy!

elteto 7y ago
Man, I'm sorry to hear about your experience :( I've used bazel in a different environment (C++) and it has been amazing (compared with other C++ build systems). Another comment below mentioned to stay away from bazel for anything else other than C++ (and maybe Java).
- novok 7y ago
  Bazel is also the build system to use if you have large iOS swift applications, with it's networked HTTP build cache and so on. I've also seen it used with java android apps.
- tbrock 7y ago
  Thanks! As you probably know, c++ is definitely unique in that there is no built in way to manage dependencies and no de facto package manager. I would definitely use it for a cpp project.
kinkrtyavimoodh 7y ago
Could you talk a bit about your experience? The two points you mentioned feel more like theoretical / principled opinions rather than on the ground experience / issues
- tbrock 7y ago
  Everything feels beta. It crashes on about 10% of our builds with an inscrutable java error deep in the bowels of bazel. The solution, according to the bazel authors, is to rebuild, which works so our ci pipeline has an auto retry mechanism because bazel is so buggy. I’m not joking. On top of a that, everyone on my team had to learn skylark, their rules for docker, their rules for node, their... I’m exhausted just thinking about it... Why bother unless you’ve got google size? It’s good software written by smart people, but I know I made a mistake in choosing it for our build solution.
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
    Would it be possible for you to link to the GitHub issue for that crash?

by tbrock 7y ago

elteto 7y ago

Man, I'm sorry to hear about your experience :( I've used bazel in a different environment (C++) and it has been amazing (compared with other C++ build systems). Another comment below mentioned to stay away from bazel for anything else other than C++ (and maybe Java).

novok 7y ago
Bazel is also the build system to use if you have large iOS swift applications, with it's networked HTTP build cache and so on. I've also seen it used with java android apps.
tbrock 7y ago
Thanks! As you probably know, c++ is definitely unique in that there is no built in way to manage dependencies and no de facto package manager. I would definitely use it for a cpp project.

kinkrtyavimoodh 7y ago

Could you talk a bit about your experience? The two points you mentioned feel more like theoretical / principled opinions rather than on the ground experience / issues

tbrock 7y ago
Everything feels beta. It crashes on about 10% of our builds with an inscrutable java error deep in the bowels of bazel. The solution, according to the bazel authors, is to rebuild, which works so our ci pipeline has an auto retry mechanism because bazel is so buggy. I’m not joking. On top of a that, everyone on my team had to learn skylark, their rules for docker, their rules for node, their... I’m exhausted just thinking about it... Why bother unless you’ve got google size? It’s good software written by smart people, but I know I made a mistake in choosing it for our build solution.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  Would it be possible for you to link to the GitHub issue for that crash?