flag_alias with special boolean syntax breaks various Bazel commands

[uhthomas]

Description of the problem / feature request:

Various Bazel commands do not work when using a flag alias with special boolean syntax.

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

BUILD.bazel

load("@bazel_skylib//rules:common_settings.bzl", "bool_flag")

bool_flag(
    name = "fips",
    build_setting_default = True,
)

config_setting(
    name = "use_fips",
    flag_values = {":fips": "True"},
)

.bazelrc

build --flag_alias=nofips=no//:fips
build --nofips

Run bazel clean, or bazel info.

What operating system are you running Bazel on?

❯ uname -mrs
Darwin 20.6.0 x86_64

What's the output of bazel info release?

❯ bazel info release
(06:44:10) INFO: Invocation ID: ede2dd6e-56fe-43f6-8929-3cb5b6330818
release: release 4.2.1
(06:44:10) ERROR: unknown key(s): '--no//:fips'

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

No.

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

❯ bazel clean
(06:45:39) INFO: Invocation ID: 8a46aebd-ca5c-463f-a6e2-8e534a02d9f5
(06:45:39) ERROR: Unrecognized arguments: --no//tools/config:fips
❯ bazel info
(06:45:43) INFO: Invocation ID: 7cb3b3fe-9ca0-47f3-bd68-46e5f537879f
(06:45:43) ERROR: unknown key(s): '--no//tools/config:fips'

[aranguyen]

Have you tried using later releases? I'm using 6.0.0-pre.20211101.2 with the same example you provided and did not see the same error.

[gregestren]

@aranguyen - since we expect this work and this is a pretty old bug now, let's close it. @uhthomas feel free to re-open if the suggestion above doesn't work.

[uhthomas]

The commands seem to work okay now, though there is excessive noise.

(00:03:47) WARNING: Blaze clean does not support starlark options. Ignoring options: [--@io_bazel_rules_go//go/config:linkmode=pie]

What makes this a warning? Can this be silenced?

[gregestren]

See #13473 (comment) and above discussion.

Maybe it can? Someone would have to review the history of the rationale behind the warning. My comment there suggests the warning is meaningful to bazel info. Maybe not bazel clean?

[aranguyen]

Please see here for the rational behind the WARNING for both commands info and clean when Starlark options are provided #11506.