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Debug sphinxdocs build fails when target is in root dir #4201
Description
🐞 bug report
(I let an agent generate this report. I've verified the minimal repro steps as well as the workaround.)
Affected Rule
The issue is caused by the rule: sphinx_docs / sphinx_run (@sphinxdocs//sphinxdocs:sphinx.bzl)
Is this a regression?
No.
Description
When a sphinx_docs target specifies a sphinx binary target defined in the root package of the main repository (e.g., //:build), building the docs normally (bazel build :code) succeeds, but running the generated debug runner target (bazel run :code.run) fails with env: ‘build’: No such file or directory.
Root cause:
- In
_sphinx_run_impl(sphinxdocs/private/sphinx.bzl),%SPHINX_RUNFILES_PATH%insphinx_run_template.shis substituted withsphinx[DefaultInfo].files_to_run.executable.short_path. - When the
sphinxbinary target is in the root package (//:build), itsshort_pathis"build"(which contains no/directory separator). - At runtime,
code.runexecutes in its runfiles directory (code.run.runfiles/_main) and resolves$sphinx:Becausefor path in "build" "bazel-out/k8-opt-exec/bin/build"; do if [[ -e $path ]]; then sphinx=$path break fi done
buildexists in the current working directory,[[ -e "build" ]]succeeds and setssphinx="build". - Finally,
code.runruns:Becauseexec env "${sphinx_env[@]}" -- "$sphinx" "${args[@]}" "$@" "$source_dir" "$output_dir"
"build"does not contain a slash (/),env(execvp) searches$PATHinstead of the current working directory and fails withenv: ‘build’: No such file or directory.
Suggested fix:
In sphinxdocs/private/sphinx_run_template.sh, prefix ./ when checking/assigning relative paths (e.g., for path in "./%SPHINX_RUNFILES_PATH%" "./%SPHINX_EXEC_PATH%"; do or sphinx="./$path").
🔬 Minimal Reproduction
git clone https://github.com/kaycebasques/experiments.git
cd experiments
git checkout 8bd9278d07ee7a8da916941e967e5f20b5354f7a
cd 20260930
bazelisk build :code # succeeds
bazelisk run :code.run # fails(Workaround: in 20260930/BUILD.bazel, renaming the binary target from name = "build" to name = "bin/build" or moving it into a subpackage so short_path contains a / makes bazel run :code.run succeed.)
🔥 Exception or Error
INFO: Running command line: bazel-bin/code.run
+ exec env -- build --show-traceback --builder=html --fail-on-warning _code/_sources /tmp/sphinx-out
env: ‘build’: No such file or directory
🌍 Your Environment
Operating System:
Linux (Debian x86_64)
Output of bazel version:
Bazelisk version: v1.28.1
Build label: 9.2.0
Rules_python version:
rules_python: 1.8.5
sphinxdocs: 2.2.0
Anything else relevant?
N/A
Activity
aignas commentedon Oct 1, 2026
The suggested fix sounds good to me, if you have time to contribute a fix that would be very much appreciated.
fix(sphinxdocs): fix sphinx_run for root-package binaries
kaycebasques commentedon Oct 12, 2026
@aignas sounds good, working on a fix now
aignas commentedon Oct 13, 2026
A long shot, but potentially related - #4231.
fix(sphinx): prefix sphinx binary paths with ./ in run script (bazel-…
kaycebasques commentedon Oct 14, 2026
@aignas I skimmed #4231 but it seemed unrelated
proposed fix is in #4261