aspect_hints set on a native alias are invisible to aspects
- Dominant language
- Java
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Description
### Description of the bug:
`aspect_hints` set directly on a `native.alias()` target are silently ignored by aspects. Aliases are transparent to aspect propagation — when an aspect is applied to a target and traverses through an `alias`, it is evaluated against the `actual`
target, not the alias itself. As a result, the alias's own attributes (including `aspect_hints`) are never visited by the aspect, and any `aspect_hints` set on the alias have no effect.
This is confusing because:
- Bazel accepts `aspect_hints` on an `alias` target without any warning or error.
- There is no documentation stating that `aspect_hints` on an `alias` are ineffective.
- The silent failure mode makes this very hard to debug — hints appear to be configured correctly, but the aspect implementation never sees them.
### Which category does this issue belong to?
_No response_
### What's the simplest, easiest way to reproduce this bug? Please provide a minimal example if possible.
Repository with a minimal example: https://github.com/Fil-Den/bazel_native_alias_aspect_hint_bug_example#aspect_hints-set-on-a-native-alias-are-invisible-to-aspects
### Which operating system are you running Bazel on?
MacOS
### What is the output of `bazel info release`?
release 9.2.0
### 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
```
### 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 cloning the linked minimal repository and running its reproduction for aspect_hints on a native.alias() target. Trace Bazel's aspect traversal through the alias and compare the observed behavior with the issue description; done means the alias hint behavior is addressed and covered by a regression test.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Domain
- build-system
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100