Description of the problem:

When trying to download an archive using http_archive from a project on gitlab, I get a 406 error. However, I can download the archive using my browser.

Bugs: what’s the simplest, easiest way to reproduce this bug? Please provide a minimal example if possible.

I was able to reproduce with the code posted here.

cd /tmp
git clone https://github.com/fenollp/gitlab_bazel_406_on_download_and_extract.git
cd gitlab_bazel_406_on_download_and_extract 
bazel sync
INFO: Repository radamsa instantiated at:
  no stack (--record_rule_instantiation_callstack not enabled)
Repository rule http_archive defined at:
  /home/doug/.cache/bazel/_bazel_doug/220a71cbe7341f96c28e272f1720771c/external/bazel_tools/tools/build_defs/repo/http.bzl:336:16: in <toplevel>
WARNING: Download from https://gitlab.com/akihe/radamsa/-/archive/v0.6/radamsa-v0.6.tar.bz2 failed: class com.google.devtools.build.lib.bazel.repository.downloader.UnrecoverableHttpException GET returned 406 Not Acceptable
ERROR: An error occurred during the fetch of repository 'radamsa':
   java.io.IOException: Error downloading [https://gitlab.com/akihe/radamsa/-/archive/v0.6/radamsa-v0.6.tar.bz2] to /home/doug/.cache/bazel/_bazel_doug/220a71cbe7341f96c28e272f1720771c/external/radamsa/radamsa-v0.6.tar.bz2: GET returned 406 Not Acceptable
ERROR: java.io.IOException: Error downloading [https://gitlab.com/akihe/radamsa/-/archive/v0.6/radamsa-v0.6.tar.bz2] to /home/doug/.cache/bazel/_bazel_doug/220a71cbe7341f96c28e272f1720771c/external/radamsa/radamsa-v0.6.tar.bz2: GET returned 406 Not Acceptable
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What operating system are you running Bazel on?

Ubuntu 19.10

What’s the output of bazel info release?

INFO: Invocation ID: 389ae0d8-4b39-4f14-8503-6725a9892926
release 3.1.0

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

https://github.com/fenollp/gitlab_bazel_406_on_download_and_extract.git
e31a3678cff03c3739722de0b143ff87996c55f5
e31a3678cff03c3739722de0b143ff87996c55f5

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

Other people have also encountered this issue:

Stack overflow bazel-discuss

However, none of the suggestions are fixes, just workarounds. This looks like a bug to me because I can download the archive fine with my browser.