bug#52591: downloading from software archives as default even if version is wrong

[raingloom <raingloom@riseup.net>]

On Fri, 17 Dec 2021 15:40:45 -0800
Andy Tai <lichengtai@gmail.com> wrote:

> I was trying to update a package.   I updated the package definition:
> 
> ---patch--
> diff --git a/gnu/packages/mono.scm b/gnu/packages/mono.scm
> index 6a7afbafbf..9eeb46ef16 100644
> --- a/gnu/packages/mono.scm
> +++ b/gnu/packages/mono.scm
> @@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ (define-module (gnu packages mono)
>  (define-public mono
>    (package
>      (name "mono")
> -    (version "4.4.1.0")
> +    (version "4.8.1")
>      (source (origin
>                (method url-fetch)
>                (uri (string-append
> --end of patch--
> 
> which at this time shall fail as I have not updated the hash
> checksum.  If I do
> 
>  ./pre-inst-env guix build  -k -K   mono
> 
> that actually succeeded but it shall have failed.
> 
> This log fragment show what happened:
> 
> ----log fragment--
> The following derivations will be built:
>    /gnu/store/cdqqdalqwl3m9bhnfyb0v6nfkzvfj0x1-mono-4.8.1.drv
>    /gnu/store/qs8jgc33jpwwmzq7ppdiv49qll6q32sl-mono-4.8.1.tar.xz.drv
>    /gnu/store/6aih7gpx3p1dpsbdhkri7mk3qqnqkk9x-mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2.drv
> building
> /gnu/store/6aih7gpx3p1dpsbdhkri7mk3qqnqkk9x-mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2.drv...
> 
> Starting download of
> /gnu/store/l6309vrm95cwpmcwgjj5xgdddp6vfly5-mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2
> From
> http://download.mono-project.com/sources/mono/mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2...
> following redirection to
> `https://download.mono-project.com/sources/mono/mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2'...
> download failed
> "https://download.mono-project.com/sources/mono/mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2"
> 404 "Not Found"
> 
> Starting download of
> /gnu/store/l6309vrm95cwpmcwgjj5xgdddp6vfly5-mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2
> From
> https://ci.guix.gnu.org/file/mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2/sha256/0jibyvyv2jy8dq5ij0j00iq3v74r0y90dcjc3dkspc
> fbnn37cphn... download failed
> "https://ci.guix.gnu.org/file/mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2/sha256/0jibyvyv2jy8dq5ij0j00iq3v74r0y
> 90dcjc3dkspcfbnn37cphn" 404 "Not Found"
> 
> Starting download of
> /gnu/store/l6309vrm95cwpmcwgjj5xgdddp6vfly5-mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2
> From
> https://tarballs.nixos.org/sha256/0jibyvyv2jy8dq5ij0j00iq3v74r0y90dcjc3dkspcfbnn37cphn...
> download failed
> "https://tarballs.nixos.org/sha256/0jibyvyv2jy8dq5ij0j00iq3v74r0y90dcjc3dkspcfbnn37cph
> n" 404 "Not Found"
> 
> Starting download of
> /gnu/store/l6309vrm95cwpmcwgjj5xgdddp6vfly5-mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2
> From
> https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/content/sha256:165e7686b5cbb1ab671b4cb2069207999c3d700
> 44002190b6ec84bb1fdf62b4a/raw/... downloading from
> https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1/content/sha256:165e7686b5cbb1ab671b4cb2069
> 207999c3d70044002190b6ec84bb1fdf62b4a/raw/ ...
> ............
> successfully built
> /gnu/store/6aih7gpx3p1dpsbdhkri7mk3qqnqkk9x-mono-4.8.1.tar.bz2.drv
> building
> /gnu/store/qs8jgc33jpwwmzq7ppdiv49qll6q32sl-mono-4.8.1.tar.xz.drv...
> mono-4.4.1/ mono-4.4.1/test-driver
> mono-4.4.1/support/
> mono-4.4.1/support/syslog.c
> mono-4.4.1/support/supportw.h
> ....
> 
> --end of log fratgment--
> 
> 
> as seen above, somehow the old version was downloaded from a cached
> copy at softwareheritage archives, and it proceeds to build.   This
> should not proceed but fail for wrong checksum.
> 
> 
> 

This is somewhat unfortunate, but also kind of expected behaviour.
Fixed output derivations don't have version information as far as I
know and part of the usefulness of cryptographic checksums on them is
that they can be downloaded from anywhere, even when their original
servers go down.
There isn't really any practical way I can see for testing if the
checksum is correct when the URL is wrong. How should Guix know what
file it should download?
I think the best workflow is to `use guix refresh -u` instead of
manually updating the package, but sadly that doesn't always work,
although I think the git based updater was merged recently, which
should improve your chances of success.