Source forest creation fails for cc_test rules on Windows

[BittaBoesaBiba]

Description of the problem:

/_bazel_<user>/<hash>/execroot/<workspace_dir>/tools directory is not created when trying to build cc_test rules.

Error when testing hello-fail_test from bazel examples

Chris@Chris  /c/Users/Chris/Desktop/bazel-cpp-test
$ bazel test examples/cpp:hello-fail_test
INFO: Found 1 test target...
ERROR: Source forest creation failed: C:/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Temp/_bazel_Chris/g-t8dlwH/execroot/bazel-cpp-test/tools (No such file or directory).
INFO: Elapsed time: 1,567s
ERROR: Couldn't start the build. Unable to run tests.

Tested multiple cc_test rules which all have the same issue.

---

Success when running hello-world

Chris@Chris  /c/Users/Chris/Desktop/bazel-cpp-test
$ bazel run examples/cpp:hello-world
INFO: Found 1 target...
Target //examples/cpp:hello-world up-to-date:
  C:/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Temp/_bazel_Chris/g-t8dlwH/execroot/bazel-cpp-test/bazel-out/local-fastbuild/bin/examples/cpp/hello-world.exe
INFO: Elapsed time: 2,094s, Critical Path: 0,01s

INFO: Running command line: C:/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Temp/_bazel_Chris/g-t8dlwH/execroot/bazel-cpp-test/bazel-out/local-fastbuild/bin/examples/cpp/hello-world.exe
Hello world

---

Success when changing hello-fail_test to cc_binary in the BUILD file

cc_binary(
    name = "hello-fail_test",
    srcs = ["hello-fail.cc"],
    deps = [":hello-lib"],
)

Chris@Chris  /c/Users/Chris/Desktop/bazel-cpp-test
$ bazel run examples/cpp:hello-fail_test
INFO: Found 1 target...
Target //examples/cpp:hello-fail_test up-to-date:
C:/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Temp/_bazel_Chris/g-t8dlwH/execroot/bazel-cpp-test/bazel-out/local-fastbuild/bin/examples/cpp/hello-fail_test.exe
INFO: Elapsed time: 22,647s, Critical Path: 1,15s

INFO: Running command line: C:/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Temp/_bazel_Chris/g-t8dlwH/execroot/bazel-cpp-test/bazel-out/local-fastbuild/bin/examples/cpp/hello-fail_test.exe
Hello barf
ERROR: Non-zero return code '1' from command: Process exited with status 1.

---

Success when setting up the build environment on elementary OS

chris@chris-VirtualBox:~/Documents/bazel-cpp-test$ bazel test examples/cpp:hello-fail_test
INFO: Found 1 test target...
FAIL: //examples/cpp:hello-fail_test (see /home/chris/.cache/bazel/_bazel_chris/c4de08e7abf1aab9db8a11ac19bf9e9d/execroot/bazel-cpp-test/bazel-out/local-fastbuild/testlogs/examples/cpp/hello-fail_test/test.log).
Target //examples/cpp:hello-fail_test up-to-date:
bazel-bin/examples/cpp/hello-fail_test
INFO: Elapsed time: 1.673s, Critical Path: 0.59s
//examples/cpp:hello-fail_test                                           FAILED in 0.0s
/home/chris/.cache/bazel/_bazel_chris/c4de08e7abf1aab9db8a11ac19bf9e9d/execroot/bazel-cpp-test/bazel-out/local-fastbuild/testlogs/examples/cpp/hello-fail_test/test.log

Executed 1 out of 1 test: 1 fails locally.

If possible, provide a minimal example to reproduce the problem:

• Download https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases/download/0.4.4/bazel-0.4.4-windows-x86_64.zip
• Put it under C:\tools\bazel and add it to PATH
• Follow the instructions on https://bazel.build/versions/master/docs/windows.html (omit "To compile Bazel...")
• Get a copy of https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/tree/master/examples/cpp
• Put it into an empty directory (e.g. bazel-cpp-test/examples/cpp) with an empty WORKSPACE at top level (bazel-cpp-test)
• cd to your bazel-cpp-test directory and execute bazel test examples/cpp:hello-fail_test

Environment info

• Operating System:
  Windows 10, 64 Bit
  Windows 7, 64 Bit
  elementary OS, 64 Bit, VirtualBox

• Bazel version (output of bazel info release):
  release 0.4.4

• on Windows 10, 64 Bit
  tested chocolatey package first (0.4.3),
  tested pre-build binaries 0.4.4, 0.4.3, 0.4.0, 0.4.1 and 0.3.2
  tested with and without --cpu=x64_windows_msvc

• on Windows 7, 64 Bit
  tested pre-build binary 0.4.4, 0.4.3

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web? (e.g. GitHub issues, email threads in the bazel-discuss@googlegroups.com archive)

#1583

Anything else, information or logs or outputs that would be helpful?

(If they are large, please upload as attachment or provide link).
printenv.txt

[meteorcloudy]

The reason it fails is because cc_test rules depend on //tools/defaults:crosstool, on Unix, bazel creates a dangling symlink pointing to <source_dir>/tools. But on Windows, symlink doesn't exist, so it fails.
If you create an empty tools folder under work workspace root, it should works,

Thanks for reporting, this is definitely a bug in Bazel we should fix.

[BittaBoesaBiba]

Thanks a lot for the quick fix! Creating the tools folder at top-level solved the issue.
But unfortunately it revealed another one. I'm not sure if this is worth a new ticket:

Chris@Chris  /c/Users/Chris/Desktop/bazel-cpp-test
$ bazel test examples/cpp:hello-fail_test --verbose_failures
INFO: Found 1 test target...
ERROR: C:/Users/Chris/Desktop/bazel-cpp-test/examples/cpp/BUILD:3:1: Linking of rule '//examples/cpp:hello-lib' failed:
link_dynamic_library.sh failed: error executing command
cd C:/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Temp/_bazel_Chris/g-t8dlwH/execroot/bazel-cpp-test
SET PATH=C:/tools/msys64/usr/bin
external/bazel_tools/tools/cpp/link_dynamic_library.sh no ignored ignored ignored C:/tools/msys64/usr/bin/gcc -shared
-o bazel-out/local-fastbuild/bin/examples/cpp/libhello-lib.so -Wl,-S -Wl,@bazel-out/local-fastbuild/bin/examples/cpp/lib
hello-lib.so-2.params: java.io.IOException: CreateProcess(): %1 ist keine zul▒ssige Win32-Anwendung.
.
Target //examples/cpp:hello-fail_test failed to build
INFO: Elapsed time: 4,032s, Critical Path: 0,03s

Executed 0 out of 1 test: 1 fails to build.

with %1 ist keine zul▒ssige Win32-Anwendung translating to %1 is not a valid win32 application.
The linker at least displays its version:

Chris@Chris  /usr/bin
$ ld --version
GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.25.1
Copyright (C) 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program is free software; you may redistribute it under the terms of
the GNU General Public License version 3 or (at your option) a later version.
This program has absolutely no warranty.

[meteorcloudy]

We are using MSVC to build c++ on Windows, but it's not yet the default toolchain. Please add --cpu=x64_windows_msvc option.

[BittaBoesaBiba]

Wonderful! That was just the hint I needed. Perfectly works. Have a great day @meteorcloudy!

[meteorcloudy]

@BittaBoesaBiba Nice! Thanks, you too! :)