A `file://` registry URI missing a slash leads the "domain" being used as the error message
- Dominant language
- Java
- Stars
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Description
### Description of the bug:
It is very easy to neglect adding the extra slash required to produce a valid `file://` URI.
For example;
```
--registry=file://home/coder/work/bazel-central-registry
```
At a glance this looks right, but at runtime you'll end up with an error like the following.
```
ERROR: Error accessing registry file://home/coder/work/bazel-central-registry: Failed to fetch registry file file://home/coder/work/bazel-central-registry/modules/protobuf/25.3/MODULE.bazel: home. Type 'bazel help mod' for syntax and help.
```
The only hint as to the cause is the first path segment being the error message, otherwise this is a poor error message that doesn't actually explain what went wrong.
The correct argument would have been;
```
--registry=file:///home/coder/work/bazel-central-registry
^
```
### Which category does this issue belong to?
Documentation, External Dependency
### What's the simplest, easiest way to reproduce this bug? Please provide a minimal example if possible.
_No response_
### Which operating system are you running Bazel on?
Linux (Ubuntu)
### What is the output of `bazel info release`?
release 7.4.1
### If `bazel info release` returns `development version` or `(@non-git)`, tell us how you built Bazel.
_No response_
### What's the output of `git remote get-url origin; git rev-parse HEAD` ?
_No response_
### If this is a regression, please try to identify the Bazel commit where the bug was introduced with bazelisk --bisect.
_No response_
### Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?
_No response_
### Any other information, logs, or outputs that you want to share?
_No response_
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by reproducing the error with the --registry=file://home/coder/work/bazel-central-registry argument and compare it with the corrected file:/// form. Trace Bazel's registry URI handling used by bazel help mod; done means the malformed URI produces a clear explanation instead of reporting "home" as the error message.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- java
- Domain
- build-system, cli
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100