Bazel is great until you have to install tensorflow from source into a container and are sitting wondering why you have to put and configure a JVM inside a container-destined-to-be-static-binary, temporarily to get a python program with no Java bindings installed.

As I'm not the most intelligent developer, I'm sure there's a better, more sophisticated way to do this but I got really frustrated and gave up.

Why not use multiple stages in your docker file?

I'm sure bazel is a good tool when it is used properly, but as a greenhorn in the tech field, the constant version mismatching between bazel and tensorflow can become quite the pain when you have to build tensorflow from source.

I will +1 that. I like Bazel a lot because it really forces you into a singular way of building a project which is clean and nice.

That said, mileage may vary. It was originally built by Google so it has quirks. I find it is best suited for projects with compiled dependencies and large repos.

Otherwise, I was going to add that Gradle as a build system is very advanced and improves upon make in many ways.