Open Rewrite plugin does unobserved dependency resolution at execution time

[koppor]

On JabRef/jabref#13446 and JabRef/jabref#13447, we get

caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: File does not exist: /home/runner/work/jabref/jabref/test-support/build/libs/test-support.jar
  This is likely because a tool or another plugin performs early dependency resolution.
  You can prevent this error by setting 'skipLocalJars = true'.

https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/actions/runs/16052632080/job/45298938588

It this plugin compatible with OpenRewrite?

[koppor]

The plugin is https://github.com/openrewrite/rewrite-gradle-plugin

Is the entry point the reason: https://github.com/openrewrite/rewrite-gradle-plugin/blob/main/plugin/src/main/kotlin/org/openrewrite/gradle/GradleProjectSpec.kt

Maybe, its also this one https://github.com/openrewrite/rewrite-gradle-plugin/blob/main/plugin/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/gradle/AbstractRewriteTask.java ?

• Workaround 1 - use a CLI - but this is hard: Cli for build independent usage? openrewrite/rewrite#834 (comment)
• Workaround 2 - setup a fake projekt with java files only and let the openrewrite plugin do its work (however, mayb,e the want to have the .java files compiling, which is hard)

[jjohannes]

@kopper IMO this is an issue for the open rewrite plugin, not this one. Maybe you can create an issue on their issue tracker instead?

If I read the code correctly the plugin is doing dependency resolution (accessing files on a classpath), without declaring the that classpath input to the task. If the classpath has Jars that are part of your project, they won't be built before the open rewrite task as Gradle can not infer the dependency between the open rewrite and the required Jar tasks. Unfortunately, Gradle has some unexpected and inconsistent behavior here:

1. It allows this at all... maybe it should just give an error early. It probably does when you turn on configuration cache (CC)? Does this work with CC?
2. If the Jar is not there, it just silently skips it, but if a transform is registered, it leads to an error like this one. Making users think it is the "fault" of the transform, while the issue was actually there before.

What you can do:

1. A "quick fix" could be to do what the error says. Add skipLocalJars = true here. It's fine to skip local Jars completely. You do not want to patch those anyway. (Sometimes this has unexpected side effects though... that's why it is not the default. Long story - there are several closed issues about this topic.)
2. A good fix would be to declare the classpath input to the task. You could fix this in the build but would have to dig deeper where you would do that. The task that fails in the run you shared :rewriteDryRun is in the root project. But it is accessing a classpath of another project :jabgui:testRuntimeClasspath. This is also (very) bad practice nowadays and I though that this also gives at least a deprecation warning (?). So I think I would not attempt this and instead open an issue for the Open Rewrite plugin. Ideally with a small reproducer that combines the two plugins and shows the error.
3. If you run a "preparation" build before in the pipeline ./gradlew assemble or ./gradlew jar the Jars should be there and you should not get the error anymore.

I would first try (1) if that leads to other errors, I would do (3).

[koppor]

I implemented option 3 - works JabRef/jabref#13448

I tried option 1 - works, too: JabRef/jabref#13458

Not sure why it works, because our icu4j local jar is non-modular, but nvm.

I filed an issue to their repo: openrewrite/rewrite-gradle-plugin#387

[jjohannes]

Not sure why it works, because our icu4j local jar is non-modular, but nvm.

For Gradle that is like an external Jar because the checked in folder is treated as a maven repository.

"localJar" here means a "Jar built from sources".

So if option 1 works, I would go with that.

[koppor]

@jjohannes Is there a gradle expert around to know how such an input can be supplied? -- Question rephrased from openrewrite/rewrite-gradle-plugin#387 (comment) 😅😇