bazel repository_rule not getting executed - bazel

Question

I have this WORKSPACE file
workspace(name = "libedgetpu")
load(":workspace.bzl", "libedgetpu_dependencies")
libedgetpu_dependencies()
load("#org_tensorflow//tensorflow:workspace.bzl", "tf_workspace")
tf_workspace(tf_repo_name = "org_tensorflow")
#load("#coral_crosstool//:configure.bzl", "cc_crosstool")
#cc_crosstool(name = "crosstool")
local_repository(name = 'coral_crosstool1', path = 'coral_crosstool1')
load("#coral_crosstool1//:configure.bzl", "cc_crosstool1")
cc_crosstool1(name = "crosstool")
I am trying to load my local repository coral_crosstool1 which it loads (becaue I see it printing the ####1, but does not run the repository rule. How can I get the rule to execute?
def _impl(repository_ctx):
dir_labels = repository_ctx.attr.additional_system_include_directories
additional_include_dirs = ", ".join([
'"%s"' % repository_ctx.path(dir_label.relative("BUILD")).dirname
for dir_label in dir_labels
])
print("#############################2")
gcc_version = repository_ctx.execute(["/bin/bash", "-c", "gcc -dumpversion | cut -f1 -d."]).stdout
bcm2708_toolchain_root = repository_ctx.os.environ.get("BCM2708_TOOLCHAIN_ROOT", "/tools/arm-bcm2708")
repository_ctx.symlink(Label("//:BUILD.tpl"), "BUILD")
repository_ctx.template(
"cc_toolchain_config.bzl",
Label("//:cc_toolchain_config.bzl.tpl"),
{
"%{gcc_version}%": gcc_version,
"%{c_version}%": repository_ctx.attr.c_version,
"%{cpp_version}%": repository_ctx.attr.cpp_version,
"%{bcm2708_toolchain_root}%": bcm2708_toolchain_root,
"%{additional_system_include_directories}%": additional_include_dirs,
},
)
cc_crosstool1 = repository_rule(
environ = [
"BCM2708_TOOLCHAIN_ROOT",
],
attrs = {
# Consult https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/C-Dialect-Options.html for
# valid c_version and cpp_version values (-std option).
"c_version": attr.string(default = "c99"),
"cpp_version": attr.string(default = "c++11"),
"additional_system_include_directories": attr.label_list(allow_files = True),
},
implementation = _impl,
local = True,
)
print("#############################1")
My directory tree looks like this:
edgetpu
+- WORKSPACE //shown above
+- BUILD
+- coral_crosstool1
+- BUILD //this is empty
+- WORKSPACE // also empty
+- configure.bzl //shown above
+- cc_toolchain_config.bzl.tpl
+- BUILD.tpl
I need the rule to execute so it can generate the cc_toolchain_config.bzl from cc_toolchain_config.bzl.tpl
I have at this for many days. Any help will be appreciated!
This is the output
bazel build --sandbox_debug --subcommands --experimental_repo_remote_exec --compilation_mode=opt --define darwinn_portable=1 --action_env PYTHON_BIN_PATH=/usr/bin/python3 --cpu=armv6 --embed_label='TENSORFLOW_COMMIT=f394a768719a55b5c351ed1ecab2ec6f16f99dd4' --stamp -s --crosstool_top=#coral_crosstool1//:toolchains --cpu=armv6 --compiler=gcc --linkopt=-L/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/ //tflite/public:libedgetpu_direct_all.so
DEBUG: /home/dev/.cache/bazel/_bazel_dev/770af56a999066d501f5c33777691c07/external/coral_crosstool1/configure.bzl:53:6: #############################1
ERROR: /home/dev/oosman/.leila/lib/edgetpu/tflite/public/BUILD:95:21: every rule of type cc_binary implicitly depends upon the target '#coral_crosstool1//:toolchains', but this target could not be found because of: no such target '#coral_crosstool1//:toolchains': target 'toolchains' not declared in package '' defined by /home/dev/.cache/bazel/_bazel_dev/770af56a999066d501f5c33777691c07/external/coral_crosstool1/BUILD
ERROR: Analysis of target '//tflite/public:libedgetpu_direct_all.so' failed; build aborted: Analysis failed

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure your problem is in the regular rules/targets generated by the repository rule, not the repository rule itself. That missing label is coming from the --crosstool_top=#coral_crosstool1//:toolchains in your command line. coral_crosstool1/BUILD is empty, so it definitely doesn't have that target. Maybe you want --crosstool_top=#crosstool//:toolchains instead? Or to load and call a function from #crosstool//:cc_toolchain_config.bzl? It's hard to say without understanding what your repository rule is intended to do.
In general, I debug repository rules by looking at the resulting external repository folder. It should be at bazel-out/../../../external/coral_crosstool1, or you can find it with find $(bazel info output_base) -name coral_crosstool1 (although that will pick up your source folder too, so be careful which one you look at). That folder is the generated repository. Sometimes it's helpful to copy the whole thing somewhere else, replace your repository rule with local_repository in your WORKSPACE, and edit things to be the way you want them without worrying about how to write a repository rule to generate them. Then, you can work on the repository rule until it generates those same files.