Description
artifacts.bzl` declares what dependencies are allowed in a given repository and has allowed us to manage dependencies and versioning effectively.
Some dependencies declared there are only used in building and testing (eg., JUnit, Github library, Checkstyle, etc) whereas some others are used in production (ie., actually included in the distribution).
We should split the declaration in artifacts.bzl accordingly
productiondependencies (for dependencies used in the distribution)builddependencies (for dependencies used in build and test)
With this split, a library declared in production can be included in the distribution whereas a library declared in build cannot, and should only be used in assembly, deployment, or tests.
The workspace name for each dependencies should also clearly indicate whether they are production or a build dependency:
java_library(
...
deps = [
@production//google_or_tools
]
)
java_test(
...
deps = [
@build//junit_junit
]
)
We should also create a way to verify that there are no build dependency that is used in production:
bazel run //:dependency-test
ERROR: target //server:server depends on a build dependency '@build//junit_junit'
Being able to separate production and build dependencies will help us manage the dependency better - we can be strict in allowing what goes in production, while being more lenient for dependencies in build.