Bazel Central Registry (BCR) Publishing

This directory contains template files for automated publishing to the Bazel Central Registry.

Overview

The workflow automatically publishes new versions of gperftools to the BCR when a new tag is created following the pattern gperftools-X.Y.Z.

Setup

1. Create a BCR Fork

The maintainer needs to fork the Bazel Central Registry repository to their personal or organization account.

2. Create a Personal Access Token (PAT)

  1. Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)
  2. Click “Generate new token (classic)”
  3. Give it a descriptive name (e.g., “BCR Publish Token”)
  4. Select the following scopes:
    • repo (full control of private repositories)
    • workflow (update GitHub Action workflows)
  5. Generate the token and copy it immediately (it won't be shown again)

3. Add the Token as a Repository Secret

  1. Go to the gperftools repository settings
  2. Navigate to Secrets and variables → Actions
  3. Click “New repository secret”
  4. Name: BCR_PUBLISH_TOKEN
  5. Value: Paste the PAT you created
  6. Click “Add secret”

Usage

Automatic Publishing

When you create a new release tag (e.g., gperftools-2.17.3), the workflow will automatically:

  1. Trigger on the tag push
  2. Generate the BCR entry using the template files in this directory
  3. Push the entry to your BCR fork
  4. Open a draft pull request to the official BCR

Manual Publishing

If you need to republish or troubleshoot, you can manually trigger the workflow:

  1. Go to Actions → Publish to BCR
  2. Click “Run workflow”
  3. Enter the tag name (e.g., gperftools-2.17.3)
  4. Click “Run workflow”

Template Files

  • metadata.template.json: Contains repository information and maintainers
  • source.template.json: Defines the source archive URL pattern and structure
  • presubmit.yml: Specifies the build and test targets for BCR validation

These files are used to generate the actual BCR entry when a new version is published.

Troubleshooting

Pull Request Not Created

  • Verify that BCR_PUBLISH_TOKEN is set correctly in repository secrets
  • Check that the PAT has repo and workflow permissions
  • Ensure the BCR fork exists and is accessible

Build Failures in BCR

  • Review the presubmit.yml targets to ensure they are correct
  • Check that the MODULE.bazel file is up to date
  • Verify the source archive URL pattern in source.template.json

More Information