bazelbuild / bazelbuild/bazel

Better handling for caches in skyfunctions

Open
#23,101 7 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
P2 team-Core type: feature request
Dominant language
Java
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Description

We have several caches used currently in skyfunction implementations, with many specifically, used directly or indirectly from `ConfiguredTargetFunction`. Some examples are:
- [`StarlarkTransitionCache`](https://cs.opensource.google/bazel/bazel/+/master:src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/analysis/config/StarlarkTransitionCache.java?ss=bazel&q=caffeine&start=31)
- [`BuildConfigurationKeyCache`](https://cs.opensource.google/bazel/bazel/+/master:src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/analysis/producers/BuildConfigurationKeyCache.java?ss=bazel&q=caffeine&start=41)
- [`PlatformMappingValue.parserCache`](https://cs.opensource.google/bazel/bazel/+/master:src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/skyframe/config/PlatformMappingValue.java;drc=0803ad3770155be411a703950502dc71743017bd;l=152?ss=bazel&q=caffeine&start=21)
- [`StarlarkDefinedConfigTransition.ruleTransitionCache`](https://cs.opensource.google/bazel/bazel/+/master:src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/analysis/config/StarlarkDefinedConfigTransition.java?q=symbol%3A%5Cbcom.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.config.StarlarkDefinedConfigTransition.ruleTransitionCache%5Cb%20case%3Ayes)

Each of these are used to cache expansive computations that may be repeated multiple times in the same build (ie, in one `bazel build` call). Each of these would ideally also persist from build to build in case the same computation is needed across builds.

We've also seen several classes of error arising from the files used to determine cache values being changed between builds, but the cache not being invalidated:
- https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/issues/22995 - Flags from `platform` weren't re-computed when the underlying BUILD file changed
- https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/issues/23097 - Transitions weren't re-computed when the underlying bzl file changed.

There may well be more of these.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by comparing cache ownership and invalidation in StarlarkTransitionCache.java, BuildConfigurationKeyCache.java, PlatformMappingValue.java, and StarlarkDefinedConfigTransition.java, focusing on uses from ConfiguredTargetFunction. Review issues 22995 and 23097 for failure cases. Done should define a consistent approach for persistence and invalidation across the identified caches, including changes to the underlying files.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
build-system, performance
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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