Bug using Bazel rules: google/protobuf/go_features.proto: File not found.

[cshabsin]

What version of protobuf and what language are you using?
29.3, I think (see below re: Bazel rules)

What did you do?
I attempted to build a simple go "hello world" with opaque API protos (declared in the .proto file via go_features.proto-provided extension).

MODULE.bazel:

bazel_dep(name = "protobuf", version = "29.3")
bazel_dep(name = "rules_go", version = "0.50.1")

BUILD.bazel:

load("@rules_go//go:def.bzl", "go_binary")
load("@rules_go//proto:def.bzl", "go_proto_library")

go_binary(
    name = "hello",
    srcs = ["hello.go"],
    deps = [":dumbdata_go_proto"],
)

proto_library(
    name = "dumbdata_proto", 
    srcs = ["dumb_data.proto"],
)

go_proto_library(
    name = "dumbdata_go_proto", 
    protos = [":dumbdata_proto"],
    importpath = "github.com/cshabsin/nih/dumbdata_go_proto",
)

dumb_data.proto:

edition = "2023";

package dumbdata;

import "google/protobuf/go_features.proto";
option features.(pb.go).api_level = API_OPAQUE;

// The DumbData message definition
message Item {
    int32 id = 1;
    string name = 2;
    bool is_active = 3;
}

What did you expect to see?

I expected to be able to access the protobuf opaque API.

What did you see instead?

bazel build :dumbdata_go_proto output:

google/protobuf/go_features.proto: File not found.
dumb_data.proto:5:1: Import "google/protobuf/go_features.proto" was not found or had errors.

Anything else we should know about your project / environment?

It looks like rules_go depends on a rather old version of protobuf? I was hoping I could override it by importing a newer version first, but I guess it makes sense that that didn't work. Can this be updated?

[stapelberg]

Thanks for the detailed report!

When not using Bazel, the go_features.proto file is installed as a well-known .proto file like timestamp.proto or cpp_features.proto, meaning protoc will automatically discover them.

With Bazel, it seems like one needs to explicitly declare a dependency. For cpp_features.proto, I can make protoc find the file as soon as I specify the deps like so:

proto_library(
    name = "dumbdata_proto", 
    srcs = ["dumb_data.proto"],
    deps = ["@protobuf//:cpp_features_proto"],
)

…however, there is no corresponding target for go_features.proto. I’ll send a change to add one.

[stapelberg]

OK, so here is how far I got:

I changed your MODULE.bazel to use rules_go in version 0.53.0 (latest).

(For testing, I used local_path_override so that I can use a local checkout of protobuf.)

After applying protocolbuffers/protobuf@f79be3e, I added a deps line to the proto_library target in your BUILD.bazel like so:

load("@rules_go//go:def.bzl", "go_binary")
load("@rules_go//proto:def.bzl", "go_proto_library")

go_binary(
    name = "hello",
    srcs = ["hello.go"],
    deps = [":dumbdata_go_proto"],
)

proto_library(
    name = "dumbdata_proto", 
    srcs = ["dumb_data.proto"],
    deps = ["@protobuf//:go_features_proto"],
)

go_proto_library(
    name = "dumbdata_go_proto", 
    protos = [":dumbdata_proto"],
    importpath = "github.com/cshabsin/nih/dumbdata_go_proto",
)

This makes protoc find go_features.proto, but the build still fails:

bazel build --spawn_strategy=local --verbose_failures :dumbdata_go_proto
INFO: Analyzed target //:dumbdata_go_proto (0 packages loaded, 0 targets configured).
ERROR: /usr/local/google/home/stapelberg/tmp/bazel-repro-1679/BUILD.bazel:16:17: GoCompilePkg dumbdata_go_proto.a failed: (Exit 1): builder failed: error executing GoCompilePkg command (from target //:dumbdata_go_proto) 
  (cd /usr/local/google/home/stapelberg/.cache/bazel/_bazel_stapelberg/d1144ecc7291175c75dcd16164f809ff/execroot/_main && \
  exec env - \
    CGO_ENABLED=1 \
    GOARCH=amd64 \
    GODEBUG='winsymlink=0' \
    GOEXPERIMENT=nocoverageredesign \
    GOOS=linux \
    GOPATH='' \
    GOROOT_FINAL=GOROOT \
    GOTOOLCHAIN=local \
    PATH=/usr/bin:/bin \
    ZERO_AR_DATE=1 \
  bazel-out/k8-opt-exec-ST-d57f47055a04/bin/external/rules_go++go_sdk+go_default_sdk/builder_reset/builder compilepkg -sdk external/rules_go++go_sdk+go_default_sdk -goroot bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/rules_go+/stdlib_ -installsuffix linux_amd64 -src bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/dumbdata_go_proto_/github.com/cshabsin/nih/dumbdata_go_proto/dumb_data.pb.go -arc 'github.com/golang/protobuf/proto=github.com/golang/protobuf/proto=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+com_github_golang_protobuf/proto/proto.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/proto=google.golang.org/protobuf/proto=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/proto/proto.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/reflect/protoreflect=google.golang.org/protobuf/reflect/protoreflect=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/reflect/protoreflect/protoreflect.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/reflect/protoregistry=google.golang.org/protobuf/reflect/protoregistry=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/reflect/protoregistry/protoregistry.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/runtime/protoiface=google.golang.org/protobuf/runtime/protoiface=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/runtime/protoiface/protoiface.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/runtime/protoimpl=google.golang.org/protobuf/runtime/protoimpl=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/runtime/protoimpl/protoimpl.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/descriptorpb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/descriptorpb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/descriptorpb/descriptorpb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/anypb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/anypb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/known/anypb/anypb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/apipb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/apipb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/known/apipb/apipb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/durationpb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/durationpb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/known/durationpb/durationpb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/emptypb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/emptypb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/known/emptypb/emptypb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/fieldmaskpb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/fieldmaskpb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/known/fieldmaskpb/fieldmaskpb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/sourcecontextpb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/sourcecontextpb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/known/sourcecontextpb/sourcecontextpb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/structpb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/structpb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/known/structpb/structpb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/timestamppb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/timestamppb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/known/timestamppb/timestamppb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/typepb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/typepb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/known/typepb/typepb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/wrapperspb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/wrapperspb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/known/wrapperspb/wrapperspb.x' -arc 'google.golang.org/protobuf/types/pluginpb=google.golang.org/protobuf/types/pluginpb=bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/external/gazelle++go_deps+org_golang_google_protobuf/types/pluginpb/pluginpb.x' -importpath github.com/cshabsin/nih/dumbdata_go_proto -p github.com/cshabsin/nih/dumbdata_go_proto -package_list bazel-out/k8-opt-exec-ST-d57f47055a04/bin/external/rules_go++go_sdk+go_default_sdk/packages.txt -embedroot bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin -embedlookupdir dumbdata_go_proto_/github.com/cshabsin/nih/dumbdata_go_proto -embedlookupdir '' -lo bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/dumbdata_go_proto.a -o bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/dumbdata_go_proto.x -gcflags '')
# Configuration: 3723722276aac1314320ca9a9fb2a278d80e4eb3b422da8939e984231a537159
# Execution platform: @@platforms//host:host
compilepkg: missing strict dependencies:
	/usr/local/google/home/stapelberg/.cache/bazel/_bazel_stapelberg/d1144ecc7291175c75dcd16164f809ff/execroot/_main/bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/dumbdata_go_proto_/github.com/cshabsin/nih/dumbdata_go_proto/
dumb_data.pb.go: import of "google.golang.org/protobuf/types/gofeaturespb"
No dependencies were provided.
Check that imports in Go sources match importpath attributes in deps.
Target //:dumbdata_go_proto failed to build
INFO: Elapsed time: 0.105s, Critical Path: 0.01s
INFO: 2 processes: 2 internal.
ERROR: Build did NOT complete successfully

The gofeaturespb package is shipped with Go Protobuf, but I am not sure how I can tell BUILD.bazel about that dependency. I tried:

go_proto_library(
    name = "dumbdata_go_proto", 
    protos = [":dumbdata_proto"],
    importpath = "github.com/cshabsin/nih/dumbdata_go_proto",
    deps = [
        "@org_golang_google_protobuf//types/gofeaturespb",
    ],
)

…but bazel cannot resolve that. Probably because we’re using bzlmod instead of the old WORKSPACE setup.

I suspect that rules_go somehow wires up the well-known type packages, but I am not sure where/how exactly.

Will ask around to see if anyone has any tips for how to proceed.

[stapelberg]

OK, with bazel-contrib/rules_go@b1f9017, the build works!

I have asked the Protobuf team whether my fix will be included in the upcoming release or can be cherry-picked.

I am not exactly sure about the release schedule of rules_go, but looking at https://github.com/bazel-contrib/rules_go/releases, it looks like the release cadence is about monthly.

Can you pick up an unreleased version of rules_go in the meantime? Otherwise, we can try asking for a bug fix release.

Edit: The Protobuf v30 release contains the bug fix. rules_go still hasn’t had a new release since the fix.

[cshabsin]

I can make do with local_path_override until the next release. Thanks for all the help, this has been fantastic!

[stapelberg]

Perfect, I’ll mark this issue as fixed, then. Thanks for confirming.