Setting up the project with Bazel(macOS)

[adhiamboperes]

Edit: Please see this page for the complete set up guide, as this discussion thread is now outdated.

Operating System

MacOs 15.2

Android Studio Version

JellyFish

RAM size

16GB

Free disk space

24GB

Which step are you stuck on?

This is a general log of the issues I encountered while setting up the project with the Bazel Plugin and how I fixed them.

Error Log

ERROR 1: /Users/adhiambooyier/Developer/AndroidStudioProjects/opensource/oppia-android/WORKSPACE:13:23: fetching android_sdk_repository rule //external:androidsdk: Android SDK api level 34 was requested but it is not installed in the Android SDK at /Users/adhiambooyier/Library/Android/Sdk. The api levels found were [33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28]. Please choose an available api level or install api level 34 from the Android SDK Manager.
ERROR: Analysis of target '//:oppia' failed; build aborted: Android SDK api level 34 was requested but it is not installed in the Android SDK at /Users/adhiambooyier/Library/Android/Sdk. The api levels found were [33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28]. Please choose an available api level or install api level 34 from the Android SDK Manager.

<------------------------------------------------------>

ERROR 2: FATAL EXCEPTION: main        
 Process: org.oppia.android, PID: 9508
    java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate application com.google.devtools.build.android.incrementaldeployment.StubApplication package org.oppia.android: java.lang.SecurityException: Writable dex file '/data/local/tmp/incrementaldeployment/org.oppia.android/dex/incremental_classes4.dex' is not allowed.
     at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplicationInner(LoadedApk.java:1466)
     at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplicationInner(LoadedApk.java:1395)
     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6959)
     at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleBindApplication(Unknown Source:0)
     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2236)
     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
     at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:205)
     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:294)
     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8177)
     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
     at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:552)
     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:971)
    Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: Writable dex file '/data/local/tmp/incrementaldeployment/org.oppia.android/dex/incremental_classes4.dex' is not allowed.

Approaches already used to resolve the issue

For ERROR 1:, I installed API 34 by selecting Android Studio > Settings > Language & Frameworks > Android SDK > Android API 34 > Apply > Ok

ERROR 2: was caused when I tried to use the deploy icon (green arrow) in Android Studio to deploy on an emulator running on API 34. For Bazel, this button triggers incremental builds(as opposed to building the apk from scratch). This is prohibited in API 34. I solved this by switching to an emulator using API 29.

Additional information

Here is how I actually set up the project to work with Bazel on Android Studio.

1. Used a newer version of AS. I have Giraffe installed, but please feel free to update up to LadyBug(Yaay!).

2. On the welcome screen, I selected plugins and installed the Bazel for Android Studio plugin, and restarted AS.

3. On next open, I clicked the options button next to the new project/open project to find the "Import Bazel Project" option.

4. For Workspace, I clicked (...) to open file manager and selected /opensource/oppia-android as the location since this is where we have our project's WORKSPACE file.

5. On next, to Select Project View, I selected the option to Generate from BUILD file, and selected (...) to open file manager again. In the same project root, /opensource/oppia-android, I scrolled down and selected the BUILD.bazel file.

6. On pressing next, the below file was generated:
   

7. In the above file, under "targets: # If source code isn't resolving, add additional targets that compile it here" I added the following:

      ```
   
       //:oppia
       //app
       //app/src/main/...
       //domain/...
       //model/...
       //testing/...
       //utility/...
       //data/...
       //scripts/...
      ```
   

This is a list of build targets that can be used to build the various packages/modules that we have in the project.

8. Under the section "# Please uncomment an android-SDK platform. Available SDKs are:", I uncommented all the APIs that I have installed. This list will be the same as what is seen on Android Studio > Settings > Language & Frameworks > Android SDK.
9. At the bottom of the file, I added the following, as suggested by @BenHenning in this gist:

    
      android_sdk_platform: android-34

      shard_sync: true
      sync_flags:
        --local_ram_resources=HOST_RAM*.5
        --discard_analysis_cache
      
      java_language_level: 11

10. Click Create.
11. To build and install the app, use the deploy arrow as usual, and ensure the build target is //:oppia

My first sync took 35 minutes, so you can expect longer based on your RAM and Processor.

Please feel free to add below any issues you encounter, and solutions that you found, or ask for support.

[manas-yu]

I successfully synced the Bazel project(in Android Studio: Ladybug), but I encountered the following issues:

---

• Error During Bazel Sync
  While syncing the Bazel project, I faced multiple errors such as:

  Error:/home/manas-yu/oppia-android/BUILD.bazel:100:19: While resolving toolchains for target //:oppia: No matching toolchains found for types @bazel_tools//tools/android:sdk_toolchain_type.

To resolve this, I specified the path to the Android SDK in the android_sdk_repository within the WORKSPACE file. After this update, the Bazel sync completed successfully.

---

• Syntax Highlighting Issue in IDE
  After the successful Bazel sync, I started receiving the following prompt in every file:

"Syntax highlighting has been temporarily turned off in file X because of an internal error."
(syntax highlighting and code navigation stops working)

I attempted to resolve this by invalidating caches and repairing the IDE, but the issue persists.

---

• Exception in Bazel Plugin During Build and Install
  When building and installing the app using the deploy arrow in the IDE, the Bazel plugin throws an exception with the following error log:

Error Log

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: 'void com.android.tools.idea.run.blaze.BlazeAndroidConfigurationExecutor.<init>(com.android.tools.idea.run.ConsoleProvider, com.android.tools.idea.run.ApplicationIdProvider, com.intellij.execution.runners.ExecutionEnvironment, com.android.tools.idea.run.DeviceFutures, com.android.tools.idea.run.blaze.BlazeLaunchTasksProvider, com.android.tools.idea.run.LaunchOptions, com.android.tools.idea.run.ApkProvider, com.android.tools.idea.editors.liveedit.LiveEditService)'
	at com.google.idea.blaze.android.run.runner.BlazeAndroidRunConfigurationRunner.getRunProfileState(BlazeAndroidRunConfigurationRunner.java:184)
	at com.google.idea.blaze.base.run.BlazeCommandRunConfiguration.getState(BlazeCommandRunConfiguration.java:553)
	at com.intellij.execution.runners.ExecutionEnvironment.getState(ExecutionEnvironment.java:224)
	at com.intellij.execution.runners.AsyncProgramRunner.execute(GenericProgramRunner.kt:51)
	at com.intellij.execution.impl.ExecutionManagerImpl.executeConfiguration(ExecutionManagerImpl.kt:819)
	at com.intellij.execution.impl.ExecutionManagerImpl$executeConfiguration$1$2.invoke(ExecutionManagerImpl.kt:752)
	at com.intellij.execution.impl.ExecutionManagerImpl$executeConfiguration$1$2.invoke(ExecutionManagerImpl.kt:748)
	at com.intellij.execution.impl.ExecutionManagerImpl.executeConfiguration$lambda$13$lambda$12(ExecutionManagerImpl.kt:748)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.NonBlockingReadActionImpl$Submission.lambda$safeTransferToEdt$7(NonBlockingReadActionImpl.java:717)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.TransactionGuardImpl.runWithWritingAllowed(TransactionGuardImpl.java:229)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.TransactionGuardImpl.access$100(TransactionGuardImpl.java:22)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.TransactionGuardImpl$1.run(TransactionGuardImpl.java:191)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.runIntendedWriteActionOnCurrentThread$lambda$1(AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.kt:184)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.runWriteIntentReadAction(AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.kt:84)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.runIntendedWriteActionOnCurrentThread(AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.kt:183)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.ApplicationImpl.runIntendedWriteActionOnCurrentThread(ApplicationImpl.java:836)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.ApplicationImpl$2.run(ApplicationImpl.java:424)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.runWithImplicitRead(AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.kt:122)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.ApplicationImpl.runWithImplicitRead(ApplicationImpl.java:1162)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.FlushQueue.doRun(FlushQueue.java:78)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.FlushQueue.runNextEvent(FlushQueue.java:119)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.FlushQueue.flushNow(FlushQueue.java:41)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(Unknown Source)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(Unknown Source)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueue.defaultDispatchEvent(IdeEventQueue.kt:696)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueue._dispatchEvent$lambda$16(IdeEventQueue.kt:590)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.runWithoutImplicitRead(AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.kt:117)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueue._dispatchEvent(IdeEventQueue.kt:590)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueue.access$_dispatchEvent(IdeEventQueue.kt:73)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueue$dispatchEvent$processEventRunnable$1$1$1$1.compute(IdeEventQueue.kt:357)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueue$dispatchEvent$processEventRunnable$1$1$1$1.compute(IdeEventQueue.kt:356)
	at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.CoreProgressManager.computePrioritized(CoreProgressManager.java:843)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueue$dispatchEvent$processEventRunnable$1$1$1.invoke(IdeEventQueue.kt:356)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueue$dispatchEvent$processEventRunnable$1$1$1.invoke(IdeEventQueue.kt:351)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueueKt$performActivity$runnableWithWIL$1.invoke$lambda$0(IdeEventQueue.kt:1035)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.WriteIntentReadAction.lambda$run$0(WriteIntentReadAction.java:24)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.runWriteIntentReadAction(AnyThreadWriteThreadingSupport.kt:84)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.ApplicationImpl.runWriteIntentReadAction(ApplicationImpl.java:910)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.WriteIntentReadAction.compute(WriteIntentReadAction.java:55)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.WriteIntentReadAction.run(WriteIntentReadAction.java:23)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueueKt$performActivity$runnableWithWIL$1.invoke(IdeEventQueue.kt:1035)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueueKt$performActivity$runnableWithWIL$1.invoke(IdeEventQueue.kt:1035)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueueKt.performActivity$lambda$1(IdeEventQueue.kt:1036)
	at com.intellij.openapi.application.TransactionGuardImpl.performActivity(TransactionGuardImpl.java:106)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueueKt.performActivity(IdeEventQueue.kt:1036)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueue.dispatchEvent$lambda$10(IdeEventQueue.kt:351)
	at com.intellij.ide.IdeEventQueue.dispatchEvent(IdeEventQueue.kt:397)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(Unknown Source)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(Unknown Source)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(Unknown Source)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
	at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(Unknown Source)

I tried switching to API 29, but the issue still persists. For now, I am using `bazel build` and `adb` from the terminal to build and install the app, which works fine.

[manas-yu]

Update: After switching to Android Studio Giraffe | 2022.3.1 Patch 4:

• The No matching toolchains issue was resolved, even without specifying the SDK path in the WORKSPACE file.
• The syntax highlighting issue in the IDE has been fixed and is now working correctly.
• However, when building and installing the app via the deploy arrow, the following error occurs (using Nexus 5X API 29):

Waiting for target device...
Invoking mobile-install...
Command: bazel mobile-install --tool_tag=ijwb:AndroidStudio --curses=no --color=yes --progress_in_terminal_title=no --experimental_google_legacy_api --build_event_binary_file=/tmp/intellij-bep-aba2a2f3-6c0d-414a-93f4-d887511d6a31 --nobuild_event_binary_file_path_conversion -- //:oppia --nodeploy
Starting local Bazel server and connecting to it...
Loading: 
Loading: 
Loading: 0 packages loaded
ERROR: Skipping '-nodeploy': no such target '//:-nodeploy': target '-nodeploy' not declared in package '' defined by /home/manas-yu/oppia-android/BUILD.bazel (Tip: use `query "//:*"` to see all the targets in that package)
WARNING: Target pattern parsing failed.
ERROR: no such target '//:-nodeploy': target '-nodeploy' not declared in package '' defined by /home/manas-yu/oppia-android/BUILD.bazel (Tip: use `query "//:*"` to see all the targets in that package)
INFO: Elapsed time: 3.512s
INFO: 0 processes.
FAILED: Build did NOT complete successfully (1 packages loaded)
FAILED: Build did NOT complete successfully (1 packages loaded)
INFO: Build Event Protocol files produced successfully.

I checked the configuration settings for //:oppia, and everything is set to default. Additionally, the executable flag field is empty.
It appears that the --nodeploy flag is being misinterpreted as a Bazel target. I will update this comment if I find a resolution.

[adhiamboperes]

@manas-yu, yould you please refer to point 11 of my setup steps, and if //:oppia doesn't show in target, please ensure step 7 was followed.

By target I mean the button next to the green arrow that shows what configuration is being built.

[manas-yu]

Command: bazel mobile-install --tool_tag=ijwb:AndroidStudio --curses=no --color=yes --progress_in_terminal_title=no --experimental_google_legacy_api --build_event_binary_file=/tmp/intellij-bep-aba2a2f3-6c0d-414a-93f4-d887511d6a31 --nobuild_event_binary_file_path_conversion -- //:oppia --nodeploy

The error occurred while the target was set to //:oppia, and the issue is related to the --nodeploy flag being misinterpreted. I have verified that the target was correctly set.

my .bazelproject

directories:
  # Add the directories you want added as source here
  # By default, we've added your entire workspace ('.')
  .

# Automatically includes all relevant targets under the 'directories' above
derive_targets_from_directories: false

targets:
  # If source code isn't resolving, add additional targets that compile it here
  //:oppia
  //app
  //app/src/main/...
  //domain/...
  //model/...
  //testing/...
  //utility/...
  //data/...
  //scripts/...

additional_languages:
  # Uncomment any additional languages you want supported
  # c
  # dart
  kotlin
  # python


# Please uncomment an android-SDK platform. Available SDKs are:
android_sdk_platform: android-30
# android_sdk_platform: android-34

shard_sync: true
sync_flags:
  --local_ram_resources=HOST_RAM*.5
  --discard_analysis_cache

java_language_level: 11

[adhiamboperes]

Could you please change derive_targets_from_directories: false to derive_targets_from_directories: true

[BenHenning]

As mentioned in the CLaM meeting today, try using the following command for installing the app instead:

bazel run //:install_oppia_dev

We don't currently support mobile-install, but that's something we could look into in the future.

Edit: I also filed #5660 to look into actually adding true mobile-install support, but I suspect it won't be a priority unless someone decides to help with it (as we have much higher impact Bazel items to address first).

[neeldoshii]

facing this issue @adhiamboperes, as per installation guide I am using (Android Studio Bumblebee | 2021.1.1 Patch 3)

To build and install the app, use the deploy arrow as usual, and ensure the build target is //:oppia
not sure which build icon? can you helo a bit

[tobioyelekan]

More on the error

[adhiamboperes]

Hi @tobioyelekan, bazel run //:install_oppia_dev is outdated, we have recently removed this command from the project. This specific discussion is also marked as outdated. Good news -- We have all the up to date instructions in the wiki - Setup, Bazel user guide.

[adhiamboperes]

More on the error

For this error, we need to investigate further. I am creating an issue.

[BenHenning]

I'm fairly certain the issue is caused by the .bazelproject file above including a reference to //:oppia (since that's failing to build) which was removed in #5630.

Can you try removing that declaration and seeing if the sync succeeds?

[adhiamboperes]

My targets look like the below, but I still get the same error after doing a bazel clean:

targets:
    //:oppia_dev_binary
    //app/src/main/...
    //app/src/sharedTest/...
    //domain/src/main/...
    //testing/src/main/...
    //utility/src/main/...
    //data/src/main/...
    //model/...

[adhiamboperes]

Please Post any further questions to a new discussion thread or a related open thread.