bazelbuild / bazelbuild/bazel

A Pack/Unpack Command for Vendor Mode to Improve Portability

Open
#27,630 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
P4 team-ExternalDeps type: feature request
Dominant language
Java
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

### Description of the feature request:

Would it be possible to add a new feature to the vendor mode that allows users to:
1. **Pack:** Bundle the entire vendor directory into a single, compressed archive (e.g., a `.zip` or `.tar.gz` file).
2. **Unpack:** Extract a compressed archive to correctly set up the vendor directory with all its dependencies.

**Problem Description & Context:**

I'm proposing this because I'm facing a recurring issue with my current workflow. I frequently get an error message stating that my "resources have expired" or are out of date.

My process is as follows:
1. I download the dependencies on a primary Windows computer.
2. I then transfer the `vendor` directory to a different machine using `rsync`.
3. I'm careful to configure `rsync` to sync the actual file contents, not just shortcuts or symbolic links.

### Which category does this issue belong to?

Core

### What underlying problem are you trying to solve with this feature?

_No response_

### Which operating system are you running Bazel on?

windows

### What is the output of `bazel info release`?

release 8.4.2

### 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` ?

```text

```

### 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

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

The issue names no files, tests, or entry points; begin by locating Bazel's vendor-mode implementation and command handling. Compare the existing vendor workflow on Windows with archive support, then define pack and unpack behavior. Done means a packed vendor directory can be transferred and unpacked into a usable vendor directory with its dependencies.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
build-system
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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