bug#41481: Can't build glibc-mesboot0

[Roel Janssen <roel@gnu.org>]

On Sat, 2020-05-23 at 16:19 +0200, Roel Janssen wrote:
> Hi Mathieu,
> 
> Thanks for the fast response!
> 
> On Sat, 2020-05-23 at 15:31 +0200, Mathieu Othacehe wrote:
> > Hello Roel,
> > 
> > > I installed Guix System on my computer but I am facing two
> > > problems:
> > > 
> > > 1. "guix pull" returns:
> > > Updating channel 'guix' from Git repository at '
> > > https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git'...
> > > Building from these channels:
> > >   guix      https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git	28e9a11
> > > guix pull: error: glibc-bootstrap-system-2.2.5.patch: patch not
> > > found
> > > 
> > > I worked around that by doing:
> > > $ find /gnu/store -name "glibc-bootstrap-system-2.2.5.patch"
> > > $ mkdir ~/dummy; cd ~/dummy; ln -s <the-location-of-this-file>
> > > $ export GUIX_PACKAGE_PATH=~/dummy
> > > 
> > > Is there a proper way to fix this?
> > 
> > This has been fixed by 179e6c524ae4957e6ace83f72a5651767f786ca4. I
> > guess
> > that if you pull again it should be fixed.
> 
> Right, so this will fix itself once I can do a 'guix pull'.
> 
> > > 2. Installing emacs fails because the build of glibc-mesboot0
> > > fails
> > > with:
> > > 
> > > patch: **** Can't open patch file
> > > /gnu/store/wcz8d4vkcjs7c6m56mz3lsbkxgvnb17v-glibc-bootstrap-
> > > system-
> > > 2.2.5.patcherror 02:  
> > > command "patch" "--force" "-p1" "-i"
> > > "/gnu/store/wcz8d4vkcjs7c6m56mz3lsbkxgvnb17v-glibc-bootstrap-
> > > system-
> > > 2.2.5.patch" failed with status 2
> > 
> > I don't know what forces a build of glibc-mesboot0, but this looks
> > like:
> > https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-guix/2020-05/msg00335.html.
> > 
> > Is your store on an NVME disk, without encryption, by any chance?
> 
> No, but it is on an SSD (Samsung EVO 850), and there are two NVME
> drives in the system, but these are not mounted.  So I think I should
> dodge that bug.
> 
> Is there a substitute available for glibc-mesboot0?

To answer this myself: Yes, it is substitutable!  At first I didn't
have substitutes enabled when running "guix pull" for the first time.  

I then enabled substitutes, thinking it would automatically pick that
up.  That didn't work though..

After doing "guix gc" (presumably removing the glibc-mesboot0
derivation) I was able to complete "guix pull".

I'm closing this bug report, because the actual problem looks very
similar to what is described in the earlier referenced bug report. 
Even though I don't use an NVME drive for the filesystem that contains
/gnu/store.

Kind regards,
Roel Janssen