Bazel Kotlin Rules

Current release: 1.5.0
Main branch: master

News!

• Feb 2, 2022. Released version 1.5.0. Some notable changes:
  • All the legacy-1.4 and 1.5-alpha/beta changes, plus
  • More recent kotlin versions supported (1.5.x and basic 1.6.x support)
    • 1.6 support may require more work and patch releases.
  • improvements on option handling for plugins
  • improvements in using the repo from head
  • log4j security upgrades (in examples primarily)
  • Fixed some plugin handling making jetpack compose work for more cases.
  • Kotlin internal visibility supported across all libraries, not just tests (called "associates=")
  • Support more recent bazel versions
  • open the underlying _kt suffixed library for kt_android_* targets so that "associates=" can work.
  • handle arguments to different compiler versions in a versioned way
  • support explicit API mode
  • tidy worker output (avoids random failures from bazel worker emiting non-proto data in stdout)
  • do some better memory handling between work requests
  • separate out jvm, js, and android rules (i.e. so projects aren't required to have everything android configured if htey don't use it, etc.)
  • fixes to examples (jetpack compose, etc.)
• Oct 01, 2021. Released version 1.5.0-beta-4.
• Jul 27, 2021. Released version 1.5.0-beta-3.
• Dec 30, 2020. Released version 1.5.0-alpha-2. Includes:
  • Expanded kotlinc options
  • New optimized compilation path (using JavaBuilder) --define=experimental_use_abi_jars=1.
    • Caveat: compilation may fail due to https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/KT-40133, https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/KT-40340, https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/KT-41381
    • Workaround: add tags=['kt_abi_plugin_incompatible']
• Dec 3, 2020. Released version 1.5.0-alpha-1. Includes:
  • Kotlin 1.4 support
  • Lots of different fixes, especially to kotlinc plugins, exported_compiler_plugins, etc.
  • Supports the new IR backend
  • Improvements to the kotlin ABI support
• Nov 16, 2020. Released version 1.4.0-rc4. Includes:
  • Deterministic worker behavior
  • Other minor stability fixes
• May 9, 2020. Released version 1.4.0-rc3. Includes:
  • Fix to the binary release package itself.
• May 7, 2020. Released version 1.4.0-rc2. Includes:
  • Fixes to release image production, which was broken in rc1.
• May 1, 2020. Released version 1.4.0-rc1. Includes:
  • Pre-built binary worker
  • Support for Kotlin compiler plugins via the kt_compiler_plugin (#308)
  • Improved determinism for remote builds (#304)
  • Avoids packaging non-kotlin-generated sources (#263)
  • Fix for proper classpath handling for java_plugins (annotation processors) (#318)
  • Supports propagating kotlin version in metadata (which IDEs can consume) (#242)
• Feb 18, 2020. Changes to how the rules are consumed are live (prefer the release tarball or use development instructions, as stated in the readme).
• Feb 9, 2020. Released version 1.3.0. (No changes from legacy-1.3.0-rc4)
• Oct 5, 2019. github.com/cgruber/rules_kotlin upstreamed into this repository.

For older news, please see Changelog

Overview

rules_kotlin supports the basic paradigm of *_binary, *_library, *_test of other Bazel language rules. It also supports jvm, android, and js flavors, with the prefix kt_jvm and kt_js, and kt_android typically applied to the rules.

Support for kotlin's -Xfriend-paths via the associates= attribute in the jvm allow access to internal members.

Also, kt_jvm_* rules support the following standard java_* rules attributes:

• data
• resource_jars
• runtime_deps
• resources
• resources_strip_prefix
• exports

Android rules also support custom_package for R.java generation, manifest=, resource_files, etc.

Other features:

• Persistent worker support.
• Mixed-Mode compilation (compile Java and Kotlin in one pass).
• Configurable Kotlinc distribtution and version
• Configurable Toolchain
• Kotlin 1.3 support

Javascript is reported to work, but is not as well maintained (at present)

Documentation

Generated API documentation is available at https://bazelbuild.github.io/rules_kotlin/kotlin.

Quick Guide

WORKSPACE

In the project's WORKSPACE, declare the external repository and initialize the toolchains, like this:

load("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:http.bzl", "http_archive")

rules_kotlin_version = "legacy-1.3.0"
rules_kotlin_sha = "4fd769fb0db5d3c6240df8a9500515775101964eebdf85a3f9f0511130885fde"
http_archive(
    name = "io_bazel_rules_kotlin",
    urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_kotlin/archive/%s.zip" % rules_kotlin_version],
    type = "zip",
    strip_prefix = "rules_kotlin-%s" % rules_kotlin_version,
    sha256 = rules_kotlin_sha,
)

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:repositories.bzl", "kotlin_repositories")
kotlin_repositories() # if you want the default. Otherwise see custom kotlinc distribution below

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:core.bzl", "kt_register_toolchains")
kt_register_toolchains() # to use the default toolchain, otherwise see toolchains below

Note - as of 1.4.0, release binaries will be available in which case you should do the following:

load("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:http.bzl", "http_archive")

rules_kotlin_version = "legacy-1.4.0-rc3"
rules_kotlin_sha = "<release sha>"
http_archive(
    name = "io_bazel_rules_kotlin",
    urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_kotlin/releases/download/%s/rules_kotlin_release.tgz" % rules_kotlin_version],
    sha256 = rules_kotlin_sha,
)

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:repositories.bzl", "kotlin_repositories")
kotlin_repositories()

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:core.bzl", "kt_register_toolchains")
kt_register_toolchains()

BUILD files

In your project's BUILD files, load the Kotlin rules and use them like so:

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:jvm.bzl", "kt_jvm_library")

kt_jvm_library(
    name = "package_name",
    srcs = glob(["*.kt"]),
    deps = [
        "//path/to/dependency",
    ],
)

Custom toolchain

To enable a custom toolchain (to configure language level, etc.) do the following. In a <workspace>/BUILD.bazel file define the following:

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:core.bzl", "define_kt_toolchain")

define_kt_toolchain(
    name = "kotlin_toolchain",
    api_version = KOTLIN_LANGUAGE_LEVEL,  # "1.1", "1.2", "1.3", "1.4", "1.5", or "1.6"
    jvm_target = JAVA_LANGUAGE_LEVEL, # "1.6", "1.8", "9", "10", "11", "12", or "13",
    language_version = KOTLIN_LANGUAGE_LEVEL,  # "1.1", "1.2", "1.3", "1.4",  "1.5", or "1.6"
)

and then in your WORKSPACE file, instead of kt_register_toolchains() do

register_toolchains("//:kotlin_toolchain")

Custom kotlinc distribution (and version)

To choose a different kotlinc distribution (1.3 and 1.4 variants supported), do the following in your WORKSPACE file (or import from a .bzl file:

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:repositories.bzl", "kotlin_repositories", "kotlinc_version")

kotlin_repositories(
    compiler_release = kotlinc_version(
        release = "1.3.31", # just the numeric version
        sha256 = "107325d56315af4f59ff28db6837d03c2660088e3efeb7d4e41f3e01bb848d6a"
    )
)

Third party dependencies

(e.g. Maven artifacts)

Third party (external) artifacts can be brought in with systems such as rules_jvm_external or bazel_maven_repository or bazel-deps, but make sure the version you use doesn't naively use java_import, as this will cause bazel to make an interface-only (ijar), or ABI jar, and the native ijar tool does not know about kotlin metadata with respect to inlined functions, and will remove method bodies inappropriately. Recent versions of rules_jvm_external and bazel_maven_repository are known to work with Kotlin.

Development Setup Guide

As of 1.5.0, to use the rules directly from the rules_kotlin workspace (i.e. not the release artifact) require the use of release_archive repository. This repository will build and configure the current workspace to use rules_kotlin in the same manner as the released binary artifact.

In the project's WORKSPACE, change the setup:

# Use local check-out of repo rules (or a commit-archive from github via http_archive or git_repository)
local_repository(
    name = "release_archive",
    path = "../path/to/rules_kotlin_clone/src/main/starlark/release_archive",
)
load("@release_archive//:repository.bzl", "archive_repository")


archive_repository(
    name = "io_bazel_rules_kotlin",
)

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:repositories.bzl", "kotlin_repositories", "versions")

kotlin_repositories()

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:core.bzl", "kt_register_toolchains")

kt_register_toolchains()

To use rules_kotlin from head without cloning the repository, (caveat emptor, of course), change the rules to this:

# Download master or specific revisions
http_archive(
    name = "io_bazel_rules_kotlin_master",
    strip_prefix = "rules_kotlin-master",
    urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_kotlin/archive/refs/heads/master.zip"],
)

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin_master//src/main/starlark/release_archive:repository.bzl", "archive_repository")

archive_repository(
    name = "io_bazel_rules_kotlin",
    source_repository_name = "io_bazel_rules_kotlin_master",
)

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:repositories.bzl", "kotlin_repositories")

kotlin_repositories()

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:core.bzl", "kt_register_toolchains")

kt_register_toolchains()

Kotlin and Java compiler flags

The kt_kotlinc_options and kt_javac_options rules allows passing compiler flags to kotlinc and javac.

Note: Not all compiler flags are supported in all language versions. When this happens, the rules will fail.

For example you can define global compiler flags by doing:

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:core.bzl", "kt_kotlinc_options", "kt_javac_options", "define_kt_toolchain")

kt_kotlinc_options(
    name = "kt_kotlinc_options",
    warn = "report",
)

kt_javac_options(
    name = "kt_javac_options",
    warn = "report",
    x_ep_disable_all_checks = False,
)

define_kt_toolchain(
    name = "kotlin_toolchain",
    kotlinc_options = "//:kt_kotlinc_options",
    javac_options = "//:kt_javac_options",
)

You can optionally override compiler flags at the target level by providing an alternative set of kt_kotlinc_options or kt_javac_options in your target definitions.

Compiler flags that are passed to the rule definitions will be taken over the toolchain definition.

Example:

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:core.bzl", "kt_kotlinc_options", "kt_javac_options", "kt_jvm_library")
load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:jvm.bzl","kt_javac_options", "kt_jvm_library")

kt_kotlinc_options(
    name = "kt_kotlinc_options_for_package_name",
    warn = "error",
)

kt_javac_options(
    name = "kt_javac_options_for_package_name",
    warn = "error",
    x_ep_disable_all_checks = True,
)

kt_jvm_library(
    name = "package_name",
    srcs = glob(["*.kt"]),
    kotlinc_options = "//:kt_kotlinc_options_for_package_name",
    javac_options = "//:kt_javac_options_for_package_name",
    deps = ["//path/to/dependency"],
)

Additionally, you can add options for both tracing and timing of the bazel build using the kt_trace and kt_timings flags, for example:

• bazel build --define=kt_trace=1
• bazel build --define=kt_timings=1

kt_trace=1 will allow you to inspect the full kotlinc commandline invocation, while kt_timings=1 will report the high level time taken for each step.

Kotlin compiler plugins

The kt_compiler_plugin rule allows running Kotlin compiler plugins, such as no-arg, sam-with-receiver and allopen.

For example, you can add allopen to your project like this:

load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:core.bzl", "kt_compiler_plugin")
load("@io_bazel_rules_kotlin//kotlin:jvm.bzl", "kt_jvm_library")

kt_compiler_plugin(
    name = "open_for_testing_plugin",
    id = "org.jetbrains.kotlin.allopen",
    options = {
        "annotation": "plugin.allopen.OpenForTesting",
    },
    deps = [
        "@com_github_jetbrains_kotlin//:allopen-compiler-plugin",
    ],
)

kt_jvm_library(
    name = "user",
    srcs = ["User.kt"], # The User class is annotated with OpenForTesting
    plugins = [
        ":open_for_testing_plugin",
    ],
    deps = [
        ":open_for_testing", # This contains the annotation (plugin.allopen.OpenForTesting)
    ],
)

Full examples of using compiler plugins can be found here.

Examples

Examples can be found in the examples directory, including usage with Android, Dagger, Node-JS, Kotlin compiler plugins, etc.

History

These rules were initially forked from pubref/rules_kotlin, and then re-forked from bazelbuild/rules_kotlin. They were merged back into this repository in October, 2019.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license, as are all contributions

Contributing

See the CONTRIBUTING doc for information about how to contribute to this project.