Repeated invocations with --noallow_analysis_cache_discard don't fail as expected

[lberki]

Description of the bug:

If I run a build with --noallow_analysis_cache_discard and with changed configuration flags, it fails as expected.

However, if I run the same build a second time, it runs, thereby discarding the analysis cache despite being asked not to do so.

Which category does this issue belong to?

Configurability

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

cat > BUILD <<'EOF'
cc_binary(name="cc", srcs=["cc.cc"])
EOF

cat > cc.cc << 'EOF'
int main(void) {
  return 0;
}
EOF

bazel build -c opt :cc
bazel build --noallow_analysis_cache_discard -c dbg :cc  # Fails
bazel build --noallow_analysis_cache_discard -c dbg :cc  # Builds, but it should not (and discards the analysis cache)

Furthermore, switching back to the original configuration fails, although it work:

bazel build -c opt :cc
bazel build --noallow_analysis_cache_discard -c dbg :cc  # Fails
bazel build --noallow_analysis_cache_discard -c opt :cc  # Fails, although analysis cache has -c opt

Which operating system are you running Bazel on?

Linux

What is the output of bazel info release?

Google-internal version

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

Used the currently released version at Google.

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

No response

If this is a regression, please try to identify the Bazel commit where the bug was introduced with bazelisk --bisect.

My guess would be #16805, the initial implementation of this flag although I haven't dug into it.

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

No response

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

No response

[gregestren]

Fix incoming at https://bazel-review.googlesource.com/c/bazel/+/258477 (by @lberki ).

[fmeum]

@bazel-io fork 7.4.0

[lberki]

Manually merged pull request is #23653 .

[iancha1992]

A fix for this issue has been included in Bazel 7.4.0 RC1. Please test out the release candidate and report any issues as soon as possible.
If you're using Bazelisk, you can point to the latest RC by setting USE_BAZEL_VERSION=7.4.0rc1. Thanks!