Unable to use android_local_test when WORKSPACE based repo uses a newer protobuf version

[l46kok]

As the title states, attempting to use android_local_test macro in a WORKSPACE based repository with a higher version than protobuf-java 4.29.3 will result in a build failure due to protobuf's recently introduced poison pill mechanism.

Is there a way to force rules_android to use a specific protobuf version?

Repro (note the 4.31.0 version brought in via http_archive):

WORKSPACE

workspace(name = "proto_transitive_failure")

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

http_archive(
    name = "com_google_protobuf",
    sha256 = "2b695cb1eaef8e173f884235ee6d55f57186e95d89ebb31361ee55cb5fd1b996",
    strip_prefix = "protobuf-31.0",
    urls = ["https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/archive/v31.0.tar.gz"],
)

http_archive(
    name = "rules_android",
    sha256 = "4135e2fa37a94bb36c7801e33faef2934c9fe4f9a84d0035eacc4154c2c30e44",
    strip_prefix = "rules_android-0.6.4",
    url = "https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_android/releases/download/v0.6.4/rules_android-v0.6.4.tar.gz",
)

load("@rules_android//:prereqs.bzl", "rules_android_prereqs")
rules_android_prereqs()

load("@rules_java//java:rules_java_deps.bzl", "rules_java_dependencies")
rules_java_dependencies()

load("@com_google_protobuf//:protobuf_deps.bzl", "protobuf_deps")
protobuf_deps()

load("@rules_java//java:repositories.bzl", "rules_java_toolchains")
rules_java_toolchains()

load("@rules_jvm_external//:repositories.bzl", "rules_jvm_external_deps")
rules_jvm_external_deps()
load("@rules_jvm_external//:setup.bzl", "rules_jvm_external_setup")
rules_jvm_external_setup()

load("@rules_android//:defs.bzl", "rules_android_workspace")
rules_android_workspace()

load("@rules_android//rules:rules.bzl", "android_sdk_repository")
android_sdk_repository(
    name = "androidsdk"
)

register_toolchains(
    "@rules_android//toolchains/android:android_default_toolchain",
    "@rules_android//toolchains/android_sdk:android_sdk_tools",
)

Result of bazel build {android_local_test target}:

INFO: Analyzed target //swh:android_lib (0 packages loaded, 0 targets configured).
ERROR: /Users/sokwhan/SourceCode/bazel-playground/swh/BUILD:7:19: Packaging Android Resources in @//swh:android_lib failed: (Exit 1): java failed: error executing PackageAndroidResources command (from target //swh:android_lib) external/remotejdk11_macos_aarch64/bin/java -Xms3G -Xmx3G -XX:+ExitOnOutOfMemoryError -jar ... (remaining 28 arguments skipped)

Use --sandbox_debug to see verbose messages from the sandbox and retain the sandbox build root for debugging
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
        at com.google.devtools.build.android.AndroidDataSerializer.flushTo(AndroidDataSerializer.java:71)
        at com.google.devtools.build.android.AndroidResourceMerger.mergeDataToSymbols(AndroidResourceMerger.java:59)
        at com.google.devtools.build.android.Aapt2ResourcePackagingAction.main(Aapt2ResourcePackagingAction.java:323)
        at com.google.devtools.build.android.ResourceProcessorBusyBox$Tool$8.call(ResourceProcessorBusyBox.java:110)
        at com.google.devtools.build.android.ResourceProcessorBusyBox.processRequest(ResourceProcessorBusyBox.java:238)
        at com.google.devtools.build.android.ResourceProcessorBusyBox.main(ResourceProcessorBusyBox.java:175)
Caused by: com.google.protobuf.RuntimeVersion$ProtobufRuntimeVersionException: Detected incompatible Protobuf Gencode/Runtime versions when loading com.google.devtools.build.android.proto.SerializeFormat$Header: gencode 4.31.0, runtime 4.29.3. Runtime version cannot be older than the linked gencode version.
        at com.google.protobuf.RuntimeVersion.validateProtobufGencodeVersionImpl(RuntimeVersion.java:117)
        at com.google.protobuf.RuntimeVersion.validateProtobufGencodeVersion(RuntimeVersion.java:71)
        at com.google.devtools.build.android.proto.SerializeFormat$Header.<clinit>(SerializeFormat.java:87)
        ... 6 more

(Full repro branch: https://github.com/l46kok/bazel-playground/tree/rules_android_transitive_protobuf)

[ted-xie]

Is there a way to force rules_android to use a specific protobuf version?

Since you're working with WORKSPACE, you can declare your own version of protobuf before the rules_android deps are loaded, and that version should override any subsequent http_archive()s.

We can also udpate the protobuf version (PRs are welcome).

[l46kok]

No luck (see updated repro).

I believe this occurs due to the runtime dep installed via maven.install under @rules_android_maven repository name, and WORKSPACE based repos aren't able to override this version, even if it is brought in first. I'm wondering if you had any workarounds for this. Otherwise, happy to send a PR for updating the version here.

[ted-xie]

To clarify, the problem is that rules_android's protobuf version is too low, right?

If your PR bumps it to a newer version, we will gladly accept it.

[snazhmudinov]

trying the bump here #436