Bump dependencies, update release_prep.sh, docs

[mbland]

Description

Updates a few dependencies, enables release_prep.sh to handle tags with or without a v prefix, and updates //specs2:specs2 for rules_java 8.12.0. Fixes #1741.

• Go: 1.24.2 => 1.24.4
• golang.org/x/tools: v0.33.0 => v0.34.0
• google-common-protos: 2.55.3 => 2.58.0
• grpc: 1.72.0 => 1.73.0
• jline: 3.29.0 => 3.30.4
• platforms: 0.0.11 => 1.0.0
• protobuf: 30.2 => 31.1
• protobuf-java: 4.30.2 => 4.31.1
• protoc-bridge: 0.9.8 => 0.9.9
• rules_go: 0.54.0 => 0.55.0
• rules_java: 8.11.0 => 8.12.0
• rules_python: 1.4.0 => 1.4.1
• sbt-util-interface: 1.11.0 => 1.11.1
• Scalafmt: 3.9.6 => 3.9.7
• util-interface: 1.10.11 => 1.11.0

Also:

• Touches up test_reproducibility.sh slightly and fixes documentation errors pointed out privately by @gergelyfabian.

• Updates test_scala_import_source_jar.sh to use bazel query via the new target_file_location helper to get the srcjar path.

• Renames _print_error_msg to fail in test_helper.sh and updates it to return nonzero.

• Adds bazel_features_deps() to WORKSPACE and a commented out --repositories_without_autoloads line to .bazelrc for rules_java 8.12.0 WORKSPACE builds.

Motivation

This is to keep dependencies up to date with the latest versions.

Updating test_scala_import_source_jar.sh to use bazel query became necessary because:

• Switching from running under Bzlmod to running under WORKSPACE would break.

• Removing the repo to force it to regenerate caused last_green Bazel runs to break. This wouldn't only break this test, but it broke all tests until running bazel clean --expunge. last_green Bazel seems to hold onto state, even across bazel shutdown, such that it doesn't notice that it needs to regenerate a deleted repo.

[simuons]

Thanks, @mbland! Sorry for delays.

Please remind me when minor release should be done? I mean are all PRs merged already?

[mbland]

Thanks, @mbland! Sorry for delays.

Please remind me when minor release should be done? I mean are all PRs merged already?

@simuons Yeah, I was thinking maybe it'd be worth releasing 7.0.1 now, then 7.0.2 after I've addressed #1743 and #1744. Or you could wait for those fixes, then publish 7.0.1. (cc: @FrankPortman)

If you want, I can send a PR to bump the version number in MODULE.bazel, but you can probably just push a commit to do that.

Alternatively, we could leave the version string in MODULE.bazel alone, or even set it to version = "0.0.0", to version = "", or leave version = out altogether, and the bazel-contrib/publish-to-bcr workflow will stamp the correct version into the published module:

• ModuleFile.stampVersion()
• CreateEntryService.patchModuleVersionIfMismatch() (calls ModuleFile.stampVersion())
• ModuleFile.{content,stampVersion}() tests