docs/concept/build_file.soy

{namespace buck.build_file}

/***/
{template .soyweb}
  {call buck.page}
    {param title: 'Build File' /}
    {param prettify: true /}
    {param content}

A <strong>build file</strong> is a file named <code>BUCK</code> that defines
one or more <a href="build_rule.html">build rules</a>.

<p>

A source file in your project can only be referenced by rules in its "nearest"
build file, where "nearest" means its closest direct ancestor in your
project's file tree. (If a source file has a build file as a sibling, then that
is its nearest ancestor.)
For example, if your project had the following <code>BUCK</code> files:

{literal}<pre>
java/com/facebook/base/BUCK
java/com/facebook/common/BUCK
java/com/facebook/common/collect/BUCK
</pre>{/literal}

Then your build rules would have the following constraints:

<ul>
  <li>Rules in <code>java/com/facebook/base/BUCK</code> can
      reference any file under <code>java/com/facebook/base/</code>.

  <li>Rules in <code>java/com/facebook/common/</code> can reference any files
      under that directory, except for those under
      {sp}<code>java/com/facebook/common/collect/</code>,
      as those "belong" to the <code>BUCK</code> file in the
      {sp}<code>collect</code> directory.
</ul>

The set of source files accessible to a build file is also known as
its <em>build package</em>.

<p>

The way to refer to code across build packages is to create build rules
and use <code>deps</code> to refer to that code. Going back to the previous
example, suppose code in <code>java/com/facebook/common/concurrent/</code> wants
to depend on code in <code>java/com/facebook/common/collect/</code>. Presumably
{sp}<code>java/com/facebook/common/collect/BUCK</code> has a build rule like:

{literal}<pre class="prettyprint lang-py">
java_library(
  name = 'collect',
  srcs = glob(['*.java']),
  deps = [
    '//java/com/facebook/base:base',
  ],
)
</pre>{/literal}

Then <code>java/com/facebook/common/BUCK</code> could have a rule like:

{literal}<pre class="prettyprint lang-py">
java_library(
  name = 'concurrent',
  srcs = glob(['concurrent&#x2F*.java']),
  deps = [
    '//java/com/facebook/base:base',
    '//java/com/facebook/common/collect:collect',
  ],
)
</pre>{/literal}

whereas the following <strong>would be invalid</strong> because
{sp}<code>java/com/facebook/common/collect/</code> has its own build file,
so <code>//java/com/facebook/common/collect:concurrent</code> cannot list
{sp}<code>java/com/facebook/common/collect&#x2F*.java</code> in its <code>srcs</code>.

{literal}<pre class="prettyprint lang-py">
java_library(
  name = 'concurrent',
  srcs = glob(['collect&#x2F*.java', 'concurrent&#x2F*.java']),
  deps = [
    '//java/com/facebook/base:base',
  ],
)
</pre>{/literal}

    {/param}
  {/call}
{/template}