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layout: documentation title: Bazel Container

Getting started with Bazel Docker Container

In this guide, we will explore the contents of the Bazel container, build the abseil-cpp project using Bazel inside the Bazel container, as well as build the abseil-cpp project directly from the host machine using the Bazel container with directory mounting.

Build Abseil project from your host machine with directory mounting

The instructions in this section allow you to build using the Bazel container with the sources checked out in your host environment. A container is started up for each build command you execute. Build results are cached in your host environment so they can be reused across builds.

Clone the project to a directory in your host machine.

git clone https://github.com/abseil/abseil-cpp.git /src/workspace

Create a folder that will have cached results to be shared across builds.

mkdir -p /tmp/build_output/

Use the Bazel container to build the project and make the build outputs available in the output folder in your host machine.

docker run \
  -e USER="$(id -u)" \
  -u="$(id -u)" \
  -v /src/workspace:/src/workspace \
  -v /tmp/build_output:/tmp/build_output \
  -w /src/workspace \
  l.gcr.io/google/bazel:0.17.1 \
  --output_user_root=/tmp/build_output \
  build //absl/...

Build the project with sanitizers by adding the --config=<asan/tsan/msan> build flag to select AddressSanitizer (asan), ThreadSanitizer (tsan) or MemorySanitizer (msan) accordingly.

docker run \
  -e USER="$(id -u)" \
  -u="$(id -u)" \
  -v /src/workspace:/src/workspace \
  -v /tmp/build_output:/tmp/build_output \
  -w /src/workspace \
  l.gcr.io/google/bazel:0.17.1 \
  --output_user_root=/tmp/build_output \
  build --config=<asan/tsan/msan> -- //absl/... -//absl/types:variant_test

Build Abseil project from inside the container

The instructions in this section allow you to build using the Bazel container with the sources checked out inside the container. A container is started up at the beginning of your dev workflow, and all changes to sources must be done inside the container. Build results are cached only inside the container and will be lost once container is stopped.

Clone the project.

root@5a99103747c6:~# git clone https://github.com/abseil/abseil-cpp.git && cd abseil-cpp/

Do a regular build.

root@5a99103747c6:~/abseil-cpp# bazel build //absl/...

Build the project with sanitizers by adding the --config=<asan/tsan/msan> build flag to select AddressSanitizer (asan), ThreadSanitizer (tsan) or MemorySanitizer (msan) accordingly.

root@5a99103747c6:~/abseil-cpp# bazel build --config=<asan/tsan/msan> -- //absl/... -//absl/types:variant_test

Explore the Bazel container

Start an interactive shell inside the Bazel container.

docker run -it --entrypoint=/bin/bash l.gcr.io/google/bazel:0.17.1
root@5a99103747c6:/#

Explore the container contents.

root@5a99103747c6:/# clang --version
clang version 8.0.0 (trunk 340178)
Target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /usr/local/bin

root@5a99103747c6:/# java -version
openjdk version "1.8.0_181"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_181-8u181-b13-0ubuntu0.16.04.1-b13)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.181-b13, mixed mode)

root@5a99103747c6:/# python -V
Python 2.7.12

root@5a99103747c6:/# python3 -V
Python 3.6.6

root@5a99103747c6:/# bazel version
Extracting Bazel installation...
Build label: 0.17.1
Build target: bazel-out/k8-opt/bin/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/BazelServer_deploy.jar
Build time: Fri Sep 14 10:39:25 2018 (1536921565)
Build timestamp: 1536921565
Build timestamp as int: 1536921565