How do I wrap a remote executable in an sh_binary in Bazel?

Question

Suppose I have a tool hosted on an HTTP server. I would like to use this tool in Bazel build rules as an sh_binary.

How do I get Bazel to the following?

1. Download the tool
2. Unpack it (it is a zip)
3. Wrap the executable in an sh_binary
4. Use the sh_binary in an sh_test or a genrule

So far I have only achieved step (1), which is to fetch the archive:

WORKSPACE

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

http_file(
  name = "fantomas_nuget",
  sha256 = "98f2604859a377687c9a63b5a0148a47153224f19856142cc20705a96e1ea211",
  urls = [ "https://www.nuget.org/api/v2/package/fantomas/5.0.0-alpha-010" ],
)

Answer 1

Are you using rules_dotnet? It has some tools for using nuget packages: https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_dotnet/blob/master/docs/nuget2bazel.md

In particular, this package has two dependencies

FSharp.Compiler.Service (= 41.0.3)
FSharp.Core (>= 6.0.3)

I don't know if you get those automatically from the F# runtime environment, but if those are needed, http_file / http_archive won't download those dependencies.

I notice that this is a code formatter. Note that in general, bazel actions (e.g. genrule and other rule actions) aren't designed to modify the source tree.

Coincidentally, there was just recently a thread on bazel-discuss that discussed formatters and linters: https://groups.google.com/g/bazel-discuss/c/GXyZkKEzgTE/m/mjvUQS5CAQAJ

---

Something like this might get you started:

WORKSPACE:

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

http_archive(
  name = "fantomas_nuget",
  type = "zip",
  build_file = "@//:BUILD.fantomas",
  sha256 = "98f2604859a377687c9a63b5a0148a47153224f19856142cc20705a96e1ea211",
  urls = [ "https://www.nuget.org/api/v2/package/fantomas/5.0.0-alpha-010" ],
)

BUILD.fantomas:

filegroup(
    name = "fantomas",
    srcs = glob([
        "**/*.dll",
        "**/*.xml",
        "**/*.json",
    ]),
    visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
)

BUILD:

sh_binary(
  name = "fantomas",
  srcs = ["fantomas.sh"],
  data = ["@fantomas_nuget//:fantomas"],
)

sh_test(
  name = "sources_test",
  srcs = ["test_sources.sh"],
  data = [
      "my_fsharp_file",
      ":fantomas",
  ],
  args = ["$(location my_fsharp_file)"],
)

test_sources.sh:

echo Running the test
fantomas $@

fantomas.sh:

echo args:
echo $@

echo
echo find:
find .

echo
echo stat:
stat $@

echo
echo line count:
wc -l $@

my_fsharp_file:

F#