Updated Bazel Instructions

[J-B-Blankenship]

CMake Approach Issues

First Issue
Non-ASCII characters cannot be parsed by glob.

ERROR: /root/.cache/bazel/_bazel_root/646bcbb063181c5dac5a581e1c4fefdd/external/_main~_repo_rules~cpr/BUILD.bazel:22:6: Foreign Cc - CMake: Building cpr failed: error reading file '@@_main~_repo_rules~cpr//:test/data/test_file_hello_äüöp_2585_你好.txt': /root/.cache/bazel/_bazel_root/646bcbb063181c5dac5a581e1c4fefdd/external/_main~_repo_rules~cpr/test/data/test_file_hello_äüöp_2585_你好.txt (No such file or directory)

Second Issue
Resolving this error still causes an issue with <filesystem>. I was unable to override C++17 for C++20 to make this work with the cmake toolchain.

Repo Reference Issue
In addition, the referenced Bazel repo is deprecated by several years. I was unable to get them to work with BAZEL modules.

Solution
Use Bazel to build the project with a patch to remove the generated version file cpr/cprver.h (only created with the CMake command).

This was confirmed to work on Ubuntu 24.04. Modifications should be straightforward for Bazel users on Windows or Mac as it uses common toolchains.

[COM8]

@J-B-Blankenship thanks for contributing! Could you please provide a minimal example for this? I've never really used bazel and this would make testing a bit easier.

[J-B-Blankenship]

@J-B-Blankenship thanks for contributing! Could you please provide a minimal example for this? I've never really used bazel and this would make testing a bit easier.

I have this repo where it is being used: https://github.com/RogueDB/roguedb-open-source. It should be stable for the master branch.

If you want a quick test, you can do the following:

• docker compose run develop to build and run the image with all the dependencies pre-installed

Inside the container:

• bazel build //... -> There is C++ code in getting_started/ that is using CPR. If it builds (as it should), then you are good to go.

The change primarily does the following:

• Uses the compiler used by Bazel (clang in my case)
• Uses the flags in .bazelrc or passed via command line (eg. using C++20 with -O3)
• Bypasses CMake and excludes the generated version file with a patch (eg. in-place application of a git diff).

Please let me know if you have additional questions. If I can make the instructions clearer, I can also do that.

[spinningthelock]

@J-B-Blankenship Does the https://registry.bazel.build/modules/cpr module not work for you?

[J-B-Blankenship]

@J-B-Blankenship Does the https://registry.bazel.build/modules/cpr module not work for you?

I honestly just looked at the README.md. I did not try the Bazel registry (didn't know it existed).

[spinningthelock]

No problem. I can put up a PR to update the instructions.