GitHub repository for minimally reproducing a rules_nodejs bug.
In rules_nodejs v3, strict_visibility is enabled by default. This is great
to avoid accidentally depending on a transitive dep, but causes other
challenges. Most notably, strict deps cannot take into account dependencies from
macros originating in Bazel libraries.
In this example, this workspace provides a my_binary() macro
which generates a nodejs_binary(). This binary happens to use yargs as a
dependency to parse arguments. It is listed in the package.json and works
correctly when used in this workspace's BUILD.bazel file.
$ bazel run //:binary -- --foo bar
bar
However, in external is a separate workspace which depends on
this example via NPM and calls the same macro. Attempting to use it throws an
error:
$ bazel run //:pkg.pack && \
(cd external/ && npm install && npm install ../exported_macros-*.tgz && bazel run //:binary -- --foo bar)
# ...
ERROR: /home/dparker/Source/exported_macros/external/BUILD.bazel:3:10: in nodejs_binary rule //:binary: target '@npm//yargs:yargs' is not visible from target '//:binary'. Check the visibility declaration of the former target if you think the dependency is legitimate
ERROR: Analysis of target '//:binary' failed; build aborted: Analysis of target '//:binary' failed
Because the macro is executed in a separate workspace, and that workspace does
not have a dependency on yargs, the generated nodejs_binary() fails the
strict visibility check.