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build //newsletter:​issue-2

Stories

• Introducing Java toolchains by Louis Jacomet introduces a new feature in Gradle to define a specific JDK to build the project, which may differ from the one running Gradle.

• Bazel rules to test Bazel rules by Ilya Polyakovskiy explains how Bazel extensions can benefit from Bazel’s support for running and caching tests.

• How to keep a Bazel project hermetic? by Mark Karpov describes the ways in which a Bazel build’s hermeticity can be compromised and how to avoid it.

• When to use Bazel? by Adam Gordon Bell - Bazel is a powerful build system, but is it always the right choice? Adam Gordon Bell interviewed six Bazel experts to answer this question and more.

• Estimating Bazel's Adoption by Alex Eagle estimates the current and expected number of companies using Bazel.

• Construction and analysis of the build and runtime dependency graph of nixpkgs by Eloi Wang explains what the package dependency graph in nixpkgs, a vast collection of software packages hosting 80000 packages, looks like and how to obtain the relevant data.

• Bazel in CI (Part 1): Commit Under Test by Son Luong Ngoc explains testing and merge strategies that scale to fast paced trunk based development.

• Bazel + TypeScript: faster with Remote Execution by Greg Magolan introduces remote execution support for TypeScript in Bazel with rules_js and illustrates how much faster TypeScript code can be built with it.

• Taming Code Organization with Module Boundaries in Nx by Miroslav Jonaš describes how to enforce project structure using tags and dependency constraints.

Projects

• Publish to BCR is a GitHub app to mirror rule set releases to the Bazel Central Registry.

• buildkit-nix can turn nix derivations into Docker images.

• nixery is a container registry which transparently builds images using the Nix package manager.

Events

• The schedule for BazelCon 2022 is up and registration is open, meet us and others from the Bazel community in New York City at Google Pier 57.

• NixCon will take place October 20-22, 2022 in Paris.

• The Bazel Community Update - Like Peanut Butter & Jelly: Integrating Bazel with JetBrains IntelliJ with Mai Hussien, and Justin Kaeser gives a live demo and walkthrough of the IntelliJ Bazel plugin's capabilities.