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Using Bazel on Windows

This page covers Best Practices for using Bazel on Windows. For installation instructions, see Install Bazel on Windows.

Known issues

Windows-related Bazel issues are marked with the “team-Windows” label on GitHub. You can see the open issues here.

Best practices

Avoid long path issues

Some tools have the Maximum Path Length Limitation on Windows, including the MSVC compiler. To avoid hitting this issue, you can specify a short output directory for Bazel by the --output_user_root flag. For example, add the following line to your bazelrc file:

startup --output_user_root=C:/tmp

Enable 8.3 filename support

Bazel attempts to create a short name version for long file paths. But to do so the 8.3 filename support needs to be enabled for the volume in which the file with the long path resides. You can enable 8.3 name creation in all volumes by running the following command:

fsutil 8dot3name set 0

Some features require Bazel to be able to create file symlinks on Windows, either by enabling Developer Mode (on Windows 10 version 1703 or newer), or by running Bazel as an administrator. This enables the following features:

To make it easier, add the following lines to your bazelrc file:

startup --windows_enable_symlinks
build --enable_runfiles

Note: Creating symlinks on Windows is an expensive operation. The --enable_runfiles flag can potentially create a large amount of file symlinks. Only enable this feature when you need it.

Running Bazel: MSYS2 shell vs. command prompt vs. PowerShell

Recommendation: Run Bazel from the command prompt (cmd.exe) or from PowerShell.

As of 2020-01-15, do not run Bazel from bash – either from MSYS2 shell, or Git Bash, or Cygwin, or any other Bash variant. While Bazel may work for most use cases, some things are broken, like interrupting the build with Ctrl+C from MSYS2). Also, if you choose to run under MSYS2, you need to disable MSYS2’s automatic path conversion, otherwise MSYS will convert command line arguments that look like Unix paths (e.g. //foo:bar) into Windows paths. See this StackOverflow answer for details.

Using Bazel without Bash (MSYS2)

Using bazel build without Bash

Bazel versions before 1.0 used to require Bash to build some rules.

Starting with Bazel 1.0, you can build any rule without Bash unless it is a:

  • genrule, because genrules execute Bash commands
  • sh_binary or sh_test rule, because these inherently need Bash
  • Starlark rule that uses ctx.actions.run_shell() or ctx.resolve_command()

However, genrule is often used for simple tasks like copying a file or writing a text file. Instead of using genrule (and depending on Bash) you may find a suitable rule in the bazel-skylib repository. When built on Windows, these rules do not require Bash.

Using bazel test without Bash

Bazel versions before 1.0 used to require Bash to bazel test anything.

Starting with Bazel 1.0, you can test any rule without Bash, except when:

  • you use --run_under
  • the test rule itself requires Bash (because its executable is a shell script)

Using bazel run without Bash

Bazel versions before 1.0 used to require Bash to bazel run anything.

Starting with Bazel 1.0, you can run any rule without Bash, except when:

  • you use --run_under or --script_path
  • the test rule itself requires Bash (because its executable is a shell script)

Using sh_binary and sh_* rules, and ctx.actions.run_shell() without Bash

You need Bash to build and test sh_* rules, and to build and test Starlark rules that use ctx.actions.run_shell() and ctx.resolve_command(). This applies not only to rules in your project, but to rules in any of the external repositories your project depends on (even transitively).

In the future, there may be an option to use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to build these rules, but currently it is not a priority for the Bazel-on-Windows subteam.

Setting environment variables

Environment variables you set in the Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe) are only set in that command prompt session. If you start a new cmd.exe, you need to set the variables again. To always set the variables when cmd.exe starts, you can add them to the User variables or System variables in the Control Panel > System Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables... dialog box.

Build on Windows

Build C++ with MSVC

To build C++ targets with MSVC, you need:

  • The Visual C++ compiler.

  • (Optional) The BAZEL_VC and BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION environment variable.

    Bazel automatically detects the Visual C++ compiler on your system. To tell Bazel to use a specific VC installation, you can set the following environment variables:

    For Visual Studio 2017 and 2019, set one of BAZEL_VC. Additionally you may also set BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION.

    • BAZEL_VC the Visual C++ Build Tools installation directory 
      set BAZEL_VC=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\VC
    • BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION (Optional) Only for Visual Studio 2017 and 2019, the full version number of your Visual C++ Build Tools. You can choose the exact Visual C++ Build Tools version via BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION if more than one version are installed, otherwise Bazel will choose the latest version. 
      set BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION=14.16.27023

    For Visual Studio 2015 or older, set BAZEL_VC. (BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION is not supported.)

    • BAZEL_VC the Visual C++ Build Tools installation directory 
      set BAZEL_VC=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC

  • The Windows SDK.

    The Windows SDK contains header files and libraries you need when building Windows applications, including Bazel itself. By default, the latest Windows SDK installed will be used. You also can specify Windows SDK version by setting BAZEL_WINSDK_FULL_VERSION. You can use a full Windows 10 SDK number such as 10.0.10240.0, or specify 8.1 to use the Windows 8.1 SDK (only one version of Windows 8.1 SDK is available). Please make sure you have the specified Windows SDK installed.

    Requirement: This is supported with VC 2017 and 2019. The standalone VC 2015 Build Tools doesn’t support selecting Windows SDK, you’ll need the full Visual Studio 2015 installation, otherwise BAZEL_WINSDK_FULL_VERSION will be ignored.

    set BAZEL_WINSDK_FULL_VERSION=10.0.10240.0

If everything is set up, you can build a C++ target now!

Try building a target from one of our sample projects:

C:\projects\bazel> bazel build //examples/cpp:hello-world

C:\projects\bazel> bazel-bin\examples\cpp\hello-world.exe

By default, the built binaries target x64 architecture. To specify a different target architecture, set the --cpu build option for your target architecture:

  • x64 (default): --cpu=x64_windows or no option
  • x86: --cpu=x64_x86_windows
  • ARM: --cpu=x64_arm_windows
  • ARM64: --cpu=arm64_windows

Note: --cpu=x64_arm64_windows to target ARM64 architecture is deprecated. Please use --cpu=arm64_windows

For example, to build targets for ARM architecture, run:

C:\projects\bazel> bazel build //examples/cpp:hello-world --cpu=x64_arm_windows

To build and use Dynamically Linked Libraries (DLL files), see this example.

Command Line Length Limit: To prevent the Windows command line length limit issue, enable compiler parameter file feature via --features=compiler_param_file.

Build C++ with Clang

From 0.29.0, Bazel supports building with LLVM’s MSVC-compatible compiler driver (clang-cl.exe).

Requirement: To build with Clang, you have to install both LLVM and Visual C++ Build tools, because although you use clang-cl.exe as compiler, you still need to link to Visual C++ libraries.

Bazel can automatically detect LLVM installation on your system, or you can explicitly tell Bazel where LLVM is installed by BAZEL_LLVM.

  • BAZEL_LLVM the LLVM installation directory

    set BAZEL_LLVM=C:\Program Files\LLVM

To enable the Clang toolchain for building C++, there are several situations.

  • In bazel 0.28 and older: Clang is not supported.

  • Without --incompatible_enable_cc_toolchain_resolution: You can enable the Clang toolchain by a build flag --compiler=clang-cl.

  • With --incompatible_enable_cc_toolchain_resolution: You have to add a platform target to your BUILD file (eg. the top level BUILD file):

      platform(
      name = "x64_windows-clang-cl",
      constraint_values = [
          "@platforms//cpu:x86_64",
          "@platforms//os:windows",
          "@bazel_tools//tools/cpp:clang-cl",
      ],
  )

    Then you can enable the Clang toolchain by either of the following two ways:

    • Specify the following build flags:
      --extra_toolchains=@local_config_cc//:cc-toolchain-x64_windows-clang-cl --extra_execution_platforms=//:x64_windows-clang-cl
    • Register the platform and toolchain in your WORKSPACE file:
      register_execution_platforms(
      ":x64_windows-clang-cl"
  )

  register_toolchains(
      "@local_config_cc//:cc-toolchain-x64_windows-clang-cl",
  )

    The --incompatible_enable_cc_toolchain_resolution flag is planned to be enabled by default in future Bazel release. Therefore, it is recommended to enable Clang support with the second approach.

Build Java

To build Java targets, you need:

On Windows, Bazel builds two output files for java_binary rules:

  • a .jar file
  • a .exe file that can set up the environment for the JVM and run the binary

Try building a target from one of our sample projects:

C:\projects\bazel> bazel build //examples/java-native/src/main/java/com/example/myproject:hello-world

C:\projects\bazel> bazel-bin\examples\java-native\src\main\java\com\example\myproject\hello-world.exe

Build Python

To build Python targets, you need:

On Windows, Bazel builds two output files for py_binary rules:

  • a self-extracting zip file
  • an executable file that can launch the Python interpreter with the self-extracting zip file as the argument

You can either run the executable file (it has a .exe extension) or you can run Python with the self-extracting zip file as the argument.

Try building a target from one of our sample projects:

C:\projects\bazel> bazel build //examples/py_native:bin

C:\projects\bazel> bazel-bin\examples\py_native\bin.exe

C:\projects\bazel> python bazel-bin\examples\py_native\bin.zip

If you are interested in details about how Bazel builds Python targets on Windows, check out this design doc.