bazel-contrib / bazel-contrib/rules_python
`runfiles` module name conflicts with PyCharm
- Dominant language
- Starlark
- Stars
- 688
- Forks
- 721
- Avg merge
- 15h 7m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 76
Description
# 🐞 bug report
### Affected Rule
`runfiles`
### Is this a regression?
No
### Description
PyCharm's Python console adds some stuff to the import path including a `runfiles` module. So when users open a project that supports both Bazel and virtual environments using this console, they run into errors like
```
>>> import mytest
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 1, in
File "/Applications/PyCharm.app/Contents/plugins/python-ce/helpers/pydev/_pydev_bundle/pydev_import_hook.py", line 21, in do_import
module = self._system_import(name, *args, **kwargs)
File "/tmp/PythonProject/mytest/__init__.py", line 1, in
from runfiles import Runfiles
ImportError: cannot import name 'Runfiles' from 'runfiles' (/Applications/PyCharm.app/Contents/plugins/python-ce/helpers/pydev/runfiles.py)
```
There doesn't seem to be any way around this other than wrapping `from runfiles import Runfiles` in some `try/except` or similar, which is unfortunate.
What if we had the `bazel-runfiles` package ship its implementation in a `bazel_runfiles` module instead, with `runfiles` remaining and serving as a simple proxy? This would allow affected environments to use
```
from bazel_runfiles import Runfiles
```
which should avoid any naming conflicts.
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by locating the bazel-runfiles Python package and its packaging entry points. Confirm how the implementation can be exposed through bazel_runfiles while preserving runfiles as a proxy, then verify that the proposed import avoids the PyCharm conflict without breaking existing users.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- tooling
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100