Alright, let’s talk about wrestling with private codebases, specifically using what folks internally might know as Blaze, or you might know its public cousin, Bazel. It was quite the journey getting it all to play nice.
The Mess We Had
So, picture this: multiple teams, everyone’s got their own little code kingdom. Sharing code, especially private libraries, was a real pain. We were doing all sorts of weird stuff – copying files around, fighting with Git submodules that were always out of sync. Builds would break constantly because someone updated a shared private thing and didn’t tell anyone, or worse, checked in something that only worked on their machine. It was chaos, honestly.
Trying Something New: Enter Blaze/Bazel
I’d heard about how Blaze (or Bazel, same idea) handles dependencies really rigorously. The whole idea is defining exactly what you need and how to build it, hermetically. Sounded like a possible fix for our mess. So, I decided to spearhead trying it out on a smaller, new project first. Didn’t want to break everything at once, you know?
Getting started was… an experience. First step was just setting up the basic workspace, getting our main code to build with this new tool. That meant writing these BUILD files everywhere.
- Figuring out the right rules (`cc_library`, `java_binary`, etc.).
- Defining all the source files explicitly.
- Listing every single dependency, even internal ones within the project.
It felt tedious at first, very different from just running a simple make command or clicking ‘Build’ in an IDE.
Tackling the Private Repos
Okay, building our own code was one thing. The real test was pulling in that shared private library from another team’s Git repository. This was the core problem we wanted Blaze to solve.
I dug into the documentation, found ways to specify external repositories in the WORKSPACE file. Things like `git_repository` seemed promising. Looked simple enough: give it a name, the remote Git URL, and a commit hash or tag.
Then came the authentication hurdle. Naturally, the repo was private. Blaze needed credentials to clone it. My first few attempts failed miserably. Access denied, clone failed… the usual fun error messages.
I spent ages figuring this out. Turns out, Blaze doesn’t just magically use your system’s Git credentials sometimes. I had to make sure my SSH keys were set up correctly and accessible, or configure Git’s credential helper explicitly so Blaze could use it. There was a lot of trial and error, running build commands with extra verbose flags (`-s` or `–verbose_failures`) to see what was actually happening during the clone attempt.
Finally, that magical moment when the fetch worked! It successfully cloned the private dependency into the external workspace area. Felt like a huge victory.
The Aftermath and Build Files Again
But wait, there’s more! Just fetching the code wasn’t enough. The fetched private library also needed its own BUILD files so Blaze knew how to compile it and link against it. Luckily, the other team was starting to adopt Blaze too, so they had some basic files. But I still had to tweak things, sometimes adding missing definitions or adjusting paths to make it work seamlessly with my project’s build.
Was It Worth It?
So, after all that setup hassle, what’s the verdict? Honestly, it’s a mixed bag but leaning positive.
The good stuff:
- Dependency management is way more robust. We know exactly what version of the private code we’re using.
- Builds are more reliable and reproducible. Less “works on my machine” nonsense.
- Incremental builds feel faster once everything’s cached.
The not-so-good stuff:
- The learning curve is steep. Writing those BUILD files takes getting used to.
Setup, especially with private repos and authentication, can be fiddly.
It demands more discipline from everyone to maintain the build definitions.
Long story short, getting Blaze to handle our private code wasn’t a walk in the park. It took time, debugging, and head-scratching. But now that it’s working, it feels like a more solid foundation than the chaos we had before. It forces you to be explicit, which hurts initially but pays off in the long run for complex projects sharing private code. We’re slowly rolling it out further now.
