Bazel: The Build Automation Tool That Scales
Bazel is an open-source build automation tool that automates software projects’ building, testing, and deploying. It is a newer tool than Maven or Gradle, but it is gaining popularity due to its scalability and efficiency.
What is Bazel?
Bazel is a declarative build automation tool. This means you can specify Bazel’s steps to build your project declaratively using a human-readable text file called a BUILD. This makes Bazel easier to read and understand than other build automation tools.
Why do we use Bazel?
There are many reasons why developers choose to use Bazel. Some of the most common causes include:
- Scalability: Bazel is designed to be scalable and efficient, making it a good choice for large and complex projects.
- Speed: Bazel uses various caching techniques to avoid rebuilding projects from scratch every time you make a change. This can significantly speed up the build process, especially for large projects.
- Flexibility: Bazel is a very flexible tool that can be used to build various software projects. It is also highly customizable so that you can tailor it to the specific needs of your project.
- Reproducibility: Bazel builds are reproducible, meaning you can always get the same results from a build, even if you change the environment or the dependencies. This makes it easier to debug and troubleshoot forms.
- Community: Bazel has a growing community of developers who constantly contribute to its development. This means that there is a wealth of documentation, tutorials, and plugins available for Bazel.
Benefits of using Bazel
In addition to the reasons listed above, Bazel has many other benefits. Some of the most notable benefits include:
- Incremental builds: Bazel can build projects incrementally, which means that it only rebuilds the parts of the project that have changed since the last form. This can significantly speed up the build process, especially for large projects.
- Remote execution: Bazel can execute remotely, meaning you can build your projects on machines not connected to your local device. This can be useful for building projects that are too large or complex to make on a single machine.
- Distribution: Bazel can be used to distribute builds to multiple machines, which can be helpful in building projects many people use.
- Continuous integration: Bazel can be integrated with continuous integration (CI) systems, which means you can automatically build your projects whenever you change your code. This can help you to ensure that your code is always working.
Drawbacks of using Bazel
While Bazel has many benefits, there are a few drawbacks to consider. Some of the most notable disadvantages include:
- Learning curve: Bazel has a steeper learning curve than other build automation tools. It uses a declarative style of build scripting, which can be more challenging to learn than an imperative style.
- Complexity: Bazel can be a complex tool, especially for large and complex projects. This can make it challenging to maintain and update Bazel builds.
- Not as widely used as Maven or Gradle: Bazel is a newer tool than Maven or Gradle, so there may be less documentation and tutorials available for Bazel than for those other tools.
Alternatives to Bazel
There are a few alternatives to Bazel, including:
- Maven: Maven is a popular build automation tool similar to Bazel in many ways. However, Maven uses an imperative build scripting style, making it easier to learn and use than Bazel.
- Gradle: Gradle is another popular build automation tool similar to Bazel in many ways. However, Gradle uses a declarative style of build scripting, which makes it easier to learn and use than Bazel.
- Ant: Ant is an older build automation tool still in use today. It is less flexible and powerful than Maven, Gradle, or Bazel, but it may be a better choice for some projects.
How to install Bazel on Mac
To install Bazel on Mac, you can use the following steps:
- Open a terminal window.
- Run the following command to download the latest version of Bazel:
brew install bazel- Once Bazel is installed, you can verify the installation by running the following command:
bazel versionThis command will print the performance.