I'm hoping to find a simple way to download a file from the internet and cache it for future runs. Specifically this file is an executable that runs a DB emulator used in some tests. I know I can create an

ExternalTool

and then a custom rule that uses that tool but that seems like a fair amount of work. What I was hoping for is a

target

type like

download_file

that is similar to

ExternalTool

but I can then just use that as a dependency in tests that require the tool. That seems much easier as I'd pretty much just have to specify a URL and be done while

ExternalTool

requires creating a class and a custom rule and then tests that require it can't do a simple

pants test some/thing/needing/emulator/::

because the custom rule wouldn't be

test

- so I think I'd need to create a new target type too and then connect the rule to the target, etc.

Hi! Sounds like you're looking for this: https://www.pantsbuild.org/docs/rules-api-file-system#downloadfile

IIUC @plain-carpet-73994 explicitly does not want to have to write a rule for this. He wants to just be able to configure it like a files dependency, except remote.

You're right. I read too quickly, sorry. We could implement that via codegen. Not too difficult. The tricky part imo is the nuance of files vs resources and how that should be handled

Why does this have anything to do with codegen? There is no source file in play afaict

We're converting a URL to a source file. Codegen is how you do that currently Somewhat similar to using codegen for relocated_files