Error calling attr for generated repository_rule inside macro called by WORKSPACE

[Silic0nS0ldier]

Description of the bug:

An in-house env_vars macro creates a _env_vars repository rule. This is done so environ can be set, so the repository is regenerated should any listed environment variable change.

In Bazel 7 (tested on 7.0.0-pre.20231011.2, 7.0.0rc6 and 7.0.0rc7) this leads to the following error.

(13:47:18) ERROR: Traceback (most recent call last):
        File "[REDACTED]/WORKSPACE", line 49, column 17, in <toplevel>
                workspace_stage1()
        File "[REDACTED]/tools/build/bazel/workspace/stage1.bzl", line 39, column 13, in workspace_stage1
                env_vars(
        File "[REDACTED]/tools/build/bazel/vars.bzl", line 148, column 48, in env_vars
                "default_to_zero_values": attr.bool(
Error in bool: attr.bool() can only be used during .bzl initialization (top-level evaluation) or package evaluation (a BUILD file or macro)

As a workaround (and realistically, an optimisation) attribute declaration was moved out of the macro.

e.g.

_attrs = {
    "foo": attr.bool(),
    # ...
}

def foo_bar(name, foo):
    _foo_bar = repository_rule(
        implementation = # ...,
        attrs = _attrs,
        # ...
    )
    # ...

Which category does this issue belong to?

No response

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

Setup:

# WORKSPACE
load("//:foo_bar.bzl", "foo_bar")

foo_bar(
    name = "bar",
    foo = True,
)

# foo_bar.bzl
def _impl(rctx):
    pass

def foo_bar(name, foo):
    _foo_bar = repository_rule(
        implementation = _impl.
        attrs = {
            "foo": attr.bool(),
        },
    )
    _foo_bar(
        name = name,
        foo = foo,
    )

# BUILD
# (empty)

Reproducing:

bazel query //... --noenable_bzlmod

Which operating system are you running Bazel on?

macOS Sonoma

What is the output of bazel info release?

release 7.0.0rc7

If bazel info release returns development version or (@non-git), tell us how you built Bazel.

No response

What's the output of git remote get-url origin; git rev-parse master; git rev-parse HEAD ?

No response

Is this a regression? If yes, please try to identify the Bazel commit where the bug was introduced.

Maybe. There has been a lot of work in this area for bzlmod and I understand some compatibility breaks are intentional. This could be one such instance.

Given the error message implies this use case is supported, I'm inclined to believe this is a regression.

Note that this issue is not present in Bazel 6.3.2.

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

No response

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

Potentially related, this is pulled from the draft Bazel 7 release announcement.

rule() and attr.* can no longer be (pointlessly) called during WORKSPACE evaluation and repository rule evaluation.

[Silic0nS0ldier]

@bazel-io flag

[keertk]

cc @meteorcloudy

[meteorcloudy]

This is a duplicate of #19459, a solution is proposed and tracked in #19511