Bazel Rulesets for .NET

Bazel provides rulesets for building and managing .NET (dotnet) projects, enabling developers to use Bazel's capabilities for building, testing, and managing dependencies in .NET applications. Here’s an overview of Bazel rulesets for .NET:

1. Overview of Bazel Rules for .NET

Bazel supports .NET development through a set of rules that facilitate the integration of .NET projects into Bazel's build ecosystem. These rules handle tasks such as compiling code, managing dependencies, running tests, and creating executable binaries across different .NET languages like C#, F#, and VB.NET.

2. Rules and Concepts

dotnet_* Rules

Bazel's rules for .NET are prefixed with dotnet_, and they include:

• dotnet_binary: Defines a .NET executable target.
• dotnet_library: Defines a .NET library target.
• dotnet_test: Defines a .NET test target.

Example Usage:

load("@io_bazel_rules_dotnet//dotnet:defs.bzl", "dotnet_binary", "dotnet_library", "dotnet_test")

dotnet_library(
    name = "mylib",
    srcs = glob(["*.cs"]),
    deps = [
        "//path/to:dependency1",
        "//another/path:dependency2",
    ],
)

dotnet_binary(
    name = "myapp",
    srcs = ["Main.cs"],
    deps = [":mylib"],
)

dotnet_test(
    name = "mytest",
    srcs = ["Test.cs"],
    deps = [":mylib"],
)

3. Integration with .NET SDK

Bazel's .NET rules integrate with the .NET SDK installed on the system. They leverage the capabilities of the dotnet CLI tool to build, test, and package .NET applications. This integration allows Bazel to manage dependencies, build artifacts, and execute tests in a manner consistent with .NET development practices.

4. Benefits of Using Bazel with .NET

• Scalability: Bazel's incremental and parallel build capabilities are advantageous for large .NET projects with extensive dependencies.

• Reproducibility: Bazel ensures reproducible builds, which is crucial for CI/CD pipelines and collaborative development environments.

• Cross-Platform Support: Bazel supports building .NET projects on various platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows) and facilitates cross-compilation if needed.

5. Setup and Configuration

To use Bazel with .NET projects, you typically:

• Include Rules: Include the necessary .NET rules from the Bazel rules repository (io_bazel_rules_dotnet).

• Define Targets: Write BUILD files specifying dotnet_library, dotnet_binary, and dotnet_test targets for your .NET components.

• Workspace Configuration: Configure your Bazel WORKSPACE file to fetch and use the .NET rules and dependencies.

6. Example .csproj Integration

Bazel integrates with existing .NET project files (.csproj) to leverage their dependency management and build configurations. Bazel's rules can parse and use information from .csproj files to determine build targets and dependencies.

7. Community and Extensions

The Bazel .NET rules are actively maintained and supported by the Bazel community. Users can extend Bazel's capabilities for .NET through custom rules and integrations as needed for specific project requirements.