Unpredictable compilation of targets with transitive dependencies that expose headers #96
Description
Some compilers, notably Apple Clang, inject their own -I options into the compiler command line. This is problematic because we use -isystem to put headers provided by transitive dependencies into the header search path (via the cc:inc: label), which allows the compiler to preempt headers with common names that cc-rules provides (and expects to be used) in the build environment.
Here's a simplified but concrete example, which uses kuba--/zip:
## third_party/cc/kuba_zip/kuba_zip.build
c_library(
name = "kuba_zip",
srcs = ["src/zip.c"],
hdrs = ["src/zip.h"],
private_hdrs = ["src/miniz.h"],
)c_binary(
name = "example",
srcs = ["example.c"],
deps = [
"///third_party/cc/kuba_zip/kuba_zip//:kuba_zip",
],
)kuba--/zip provides a single header, zip.h, which Please copies into :_example#lib_cc's build environment at src/zip.h. The label cc:inc:src on ///third_party/cc/kuba_zip/kuba_zip//:kuba_zip ensures that -isystem src is added to the header search path when compiling example.c. However, this target doesn't compile on the hosted Darwin amd64 GitHub runners, because libzip is installed under /usr/local and libzip's header at /usr/local/include/zip.h takes precedence over kuba--/zip's header at src/zip.h:
2025/11/26 14:18:59 Identified C/C++ compiler as Apple Clang 17.0.0
2025/11/26 14:18:59 Identified linker as Apple ld 1167.5
2025/11/26 14:18:59 Running `/usr/bin/cc -c -I . -std=c99 -Os -DNDEBUG -Wall -Wextra -Werror -flto -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -fPIC -fdata-sections -ffunction-sections -fno-unique-section-names -v -std=c11 -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=600 -isystem src tools/please_pex/preamble/preamble.c`
Apple clang version 17.0.0 (clang-1700.0.13.5)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin24.6.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin
"/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang" -cc1 -triple x86_64-apple-macosx15.0.0 -Wundef-prefix=TARGET_OS_ -Wdeprecated-objc-isa-usage -Werror=deprecated-objc-isa-usage -Werror=implicit-function-declaration -emit-llvm-bc -flto=full -flto-unit -disable-free -clear-ast-before-backend -disable-llvm-verifier -discard-value-names -main-file-name preamble.c -mrelocation-model pic -pic-level 2 -mframe-pointer=all -fno-strict-return -ffp-contract=on -fno-rounding-math -funwind-tables=2 -target-sdk-version=15.5 -fvisibility-inlines-hidden-static-local-var -fdefine-target-os-macros -fno-assume-unique-vtables -fno-modulemap-allow-subdirectory-search -target-cpu penryn -tune-cpu generic -debugger-tuning=lldb -fdebug-compilation-dir=/Users/runner/work/python-rules/python-rules/plz-out/tmp/tools/please_pex/preamble/_preamble#lib_cc._build -target-linker-version 1167.5 -v -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fno-unique-section-names -fcoverage-compilation-dir=/Users
clang -cc1 version 17.0.0 (clang-1700.0.13.5) default target x86_64-apple-darwin24.6.0
ignoring nonexistent directory "/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/local/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/SubFrameworks"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/Library/Frameworks"
#include "..." search starts here:
#include <...> search starts here:
.
/usr/local/include
src
/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/clang/17/include
/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include
/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/include
/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks (framework directory)
End of search list.
(Note the precedence of /usr/local/include over src below #include "..." search starts here:.)
I think the right way to fix this is to use -I instead of -isystem to expose headers provided by transitive dependencies to the compiler, but do it in a way that doesn't interfere with any -I options that could be passed in compiler_flags.