# Bazel 8.8.0rc2

- Product: Bazel (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/bazel)
- Vendor: Google
- Date: 2026-08-18
- Version: 8.8.0rc2
- Original notes: https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases/tag/8.8.0rc2
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/bazel/releases/8.8.0rc2
- Labels: Pre-release

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

---

- **added** — The and_then method on transitions can be used to compose transitions, supporting both Starlark transitions and native transitions like config.exec()
- **added** — module_extension(...) now accepts a facts_version integer parameter to invalidate persisted facts in MODULE.bazel.lock
- **added** — The --experimental_remote_repo_contents_cache startup option allows caching results of reproducible repository rules in HTTP or gRPC remote cache
- **added** — Enable TCP keepalive by default for gRPC connections with reasonable defaults
- **fixed** — Fixed repo env handling and consolidated environment variable handling for repositories
- **fixed** — Action rewinding can now succeed even if the remote cache does not verify that AC entries are not stale
- **fixed** — Fixed an error when using strip_components with archives containing symbolic or hard links
- **fixed** — Fixed spurious No such file errors with the remote repo contents cache when a repo contains a symlink to a .bzl file
- **fixed** — Fixed a crash with --experimental_remote_repo_contents_cache when running without a remote or disk cache
- **fixed** — Running bazel shutdown no longer results in stale lockfile data being written
- **fixed** — Fixed repo contents cache FileValue staleness issues
- **fixed** — Fixed remote repo content caching for non-gRPC backends
- **fixed** — Fixed an issue that caused Bazel to fail on a lost input even with build or action rewinding enabled
- **fixed** — Fixed Bazel being unable to run a Windows executable whose path is too long to shorten under MAX_PATH
- **changed** — Make naming scheme for repo contents cache entries more reliable
- **changed** — Prefetch .bzl files in the remote repo contents cache
- **changed** — Support bounded parallel chunk transfers
- **changed** — Bazel now parses and ignores the Starlark type annotation syntax introduced by newer Bazel versions, gated by --experimental_starlark_type_syntax and enabled by default

> [!NOTE] 
> If you are looking for [rolling releases](https://bazel.build/release#rolling-releases), please visit [this page](https://bazel.build/release/rolling).


#### Release 8.8.0rc2 (2026-08-18)

Bazel 8.8.0 is a minor LTS release. It is fully backward compatible with Bazel 8.0 and contains selected changes by the Bazel community and Google engineers.


##### Configurability



* The `and_then` method on `transition`s can be used to compose transitions. Both Starlark transitions and native transitions (e.g. `config.exec()`) are supported. ([#30330](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30330))


##### Core



* Fix and consolidate repo env handling ([#29069](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/29069))
* Action rewinding (`--rewind_lost_inputs`) can now succeed even if the remote cache doesn't verify that AC entries aren't stale. ([#30398](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30398))


##### External Dependencies



* Fixes an error when using strip_components with archives containing symbolic//hard links. ([#30463](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30463))
* Make naming scheme for repo contents cache entries more reliable ([#29073](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/29073))
* `module_extension(...)` now accepts a `facts_version` integer parameter. Bumping it invalidates the facts persisted in `MODULE.bazel.lock` for that extension, allowing extension authors to make breaking changes to the facts schema without risking misinterpretation by older code paths. ([#29992](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/29992))
* Fixed spurious "No such file" errors with the remote repo contents cache when a repo contains a symlink to a `.bzl` file. ([#30101](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30101))
* Fixed a crash with `--experimental_remote_repo_contents_cache` when running without a remote or disk cache. ([#30076](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30076))
* Running `bazel shutdown` no longer results in stale lockfile data being written. ([#30397](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30397))


##### OSS



* Fixed Bazel being unable to run a Windows executable whose path is too long to shorten under `MAX_PATH`. ([#30021](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30021))


##### Remote Execution



* The results of reproducible repository rules without dependencies added at runtime (e.g., via `repository_ctx.watch` or `.getenv`) can now be cached in a regular HTTP or gRPC remote cache if the new `--experimental_remote_repo_contents_cache` startup option is provided. ([#29075](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/29075))
* Prefetch .bzl files in the remote repo contents cache. ([#29082](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/29082))
* Fix repo contents cache `FileValue` staleness ([#29084](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/29084))
* Fix remote repo content caching for non-gRPC backends ([#30029](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30029))
* Support bounded parallel chunk transfers ([#29873](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/29873))
* Enable TCP keepalive by default for gRPC connections with reasonable defaults ([#30157](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30157))
* Fixed an issue that caused Bazel to fail on a lost input even with build or action rewinding enabled. ([#29928](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/29928))
* Fixed spurious "No such file" errors with the remote repo contents cache when a repo contains a symlink to a `.bzl` file. ([#30101](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30101))


##### Starlark / Build Language



* Bazel now parses and ignores the Starlark type annotation syntax introduced by newer Bazel versions (gated by `--experimental_starlark_type_syntax`, enabled by default). ([#30373](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/30373))


##### Acknowledgments

This release contains contributions from many people at Google, as well as Armando Montanez, Ashutosh Kumar S

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