Unable to execute bazel info without a module file

[shs96c]

Description of the bug:

See the build logs from this PR in rules_jvm_external

The execution of bazel info fails with:

FATAL: bazel crashed due to an internal error. Printing stack trace:
java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.lang.Throwable.getMessage()" because "cause" is null
	at com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.config.InvalidConfigurationException.<init>(InvalidConfigurationException.java:53)
	at com.google.devtools.build.lib.skyframe.SkyframeExecutor.createBuildConfigurationKey(SkyframeExecutor.java:1813)
	at com.google.devtools.build.lib.skyframe.SkyframeExecutor.getConfiguration(SkyframeExecutor.java:1752)
	at com.google.devtools.build.lib.runtime.commands.InfoCommand.lambda$exec$0(InfoCommand.java:158)
	at com.google.common.base.Suppliers$NonSerializableMemoizingSupplier.get(Suppliers.java:181)
	at com.google.devtools.build.lib.runtime.commands.InfoCommand.exec(InfoCommand.java:215)
	at com.google.devtools.build.lib.runtime.BlazeCommandDispatcher.execExclusively(BlazeCommandDispatcher.java:664)
	at com.google.devtools.build.lib.runtime.BlazeCommandDispatcher.exec(BlazeCommandDispatcher.java:244)
	at com.google.devtools.build.lib.server.GrpcServerImpl.executeCommand(GrpcServerImpl.java:573)
	at com.google.devtools.build.lib.server.GrpcServerImpl.lambda$run$1(GrpcServerImpl.java:641)
	at io.grpc.Context$1.run(Context.java:566)
	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "bazelci.py", line 4493, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "bazelci.py", line 4471, in main
    bazel_version=task_config.get("bazel") or configs.get("bazel"),
  File "bazelci.py", line 1212, in execute_commands
    bazel_version = print_bazel_version_info(bazel_binary, platform)
  File "bazelci.py", line 1515, in print_bazel_version_info
    [bazel_binary] + common_startup_flags() + ["--nosystem_rc", "--nohome_rc", "info"]
  File "bazelci.py", line 2653, in execute_command
    subprocess.PIPE if capture_stderr else None
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/subprocess.py", line 438, in run
    output=stdout, stderr=stderr)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['bazel', '--nosystem_rc', '--nohome_rc', 'info']' returned non-zero exit status 37.

Which category does this issue belong to?

Core

What's the simplest, easiest way to reproduce this bug? Please provide a minimal example if possible.

1. Clone rules_jvm_external and checks out d8cc6c07f2c1c61276f46e6f03b270db497e98fe.
2. cd examples/simple
3. bazel info

Which operating system are you running Bazel on?

macOS and Linux

What is the output of bazel info release?

7.4.0

If bazel info release returns development version or (@non-git), tell us how you built Bazel.

No response

What's the output of git remote get-url origin; git rev-parse HEAD ?

https://github.com/bazel-contrib/rules_jvm_external.git
d8cc6c07f2c1c61276f46e6f03b270db497e98fe

If this is a regression, please try to identify the Bazel commit where the bug was introduced with bazelisk --bisect.

No response

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

No response

Any other information, logs, or outputs that you want to share?

No response

[shs96c]

Digging a little deeper, the error was caused by skylib being referenced before skylib had been loaded in a workspace-based build.

[shs96c]

The precise error being:

ERROR: ErrorInfo{exception=null, cycles=[[] -> [[/Volumes/Dev/src/github.com/bazel-contrib/rules_jvm_external/examples/simple]/[WORKSPACE], 2, KeyForWorkspace{label=@@rules_jvm_external//:repositories.bzl, isBuildPrelude=false}, KeyForWorkspace{label=@@rules_jvm_external//private/rules:maven_install.bzl, isBuildPrelude=false}, KeyForWorkspace{label=@@rules_jvm_external//private/rules:coursier.bzl, isBuildPrelude=false}, KeyForWorkspace{label=@@rules_jvm_external//private:dependency_tree_parser.bzl, isBuildPrelude=false}, KeyForWorkspace{label=@@rules_jvm_external//private:coursier_utilities.bzl, isBuildPrelude=false}, KeyForWorkspace{label=@@rules_jvm_external//:specs.bzl, isBuildPrelude=false}, KeyForWorkspace{label=@@bazel_skylib//lib:structs.bzl, isBuildPrelude=false}, CONTAINING_PACKAGE_LOOKUP:@@bazel_skylib//lib, PACKAGE_LOOKUP:@@bazel_skylib//lib, REPOSITORY_DIRECTORY:@@bazel_skylib]], isCatastrophic=false, isDirectlyTransient=false, isTransitivelyTransient=false}

[katre]

Yes, looks like a few places are creating an InvalidConfigurationException without checking for cycles, assuming there is a valid exception.

I'll add some checks for that.

[katre]

I think I have a better fix but I can't reproduce the issue, I'll put up a draft PR in a few minutes, would you be able to test it?

[shs96c]

Sure. I'd be happy to

[katre]

Take a look at #24241

[shs96c]

Works on my machine :) Thank you for the more complete fix!

[katre]

okay, I'll split it out and merge mine, and drop #24240.

[katre]

Okay, fix is submitted at head, @shs96c can you handle the cherrypick requests for 7.4.x and 8.0.0?