Building Kubernetes [a Go binary] with Bazel
summary
Describes converting Kubernetes’ messy make + shell release pipeline into Bazel-driven builds that produce Go binaries, per-architecture Docker images and release tarballs. Uses Gazelle/Gazel to generate BUILD files, rules_go and a custom cross-build image to hermetically compile many platforms, and a Go-based archiver that cuts tar creation from minutes to ~35 seconds. Achieves near-parity for builds and CI speedups (some tests drop from ~6 minutes to ~30 seconds) but still struggles with generated-code workflows, stamping, macOS quirks and some tar/path semantics.
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chapters (15)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:02Kubernetes build challenges
- 8:27Go build limits
- 14:36Kubernetes build inputs and outputs
- 20:19Legacy Make scripts
- 25:17Generated code pain
- 27:02Adopting Bazel
- 30:31Release tarballs to Bazel
- 34:23Bazel tar rule quirks
- 36:27Optimizing tarballs and tests
- 38:31Generated code in Bazel
- 41:41Version stamping and Docker
- 43:06Current challenges
- 44:52CI and cross-platform
- 45:14Conclusion
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