bug#32316: Build failure with installed guix that does not happen with pre-inst-env

bug#32316: Build failure with installed guix that does not happen with pre-inst-env

[Konrad Hinsen]

Dear Guix experts,

When updating my Guix installation after three weeks of absence, I
noticed a build failure:

   $ guix pull –commit=de596e99549d7764f370ab2ed3b756f620b1f23d
   $ guix build racket

   guix package: error: racket-fix-xform-issue.patch: patch not found

However, that patch file is there:

   $ ls -l .config/guix/latest/gnu/packages/patches/racket-fix-xform-issue.patch 
   -r--r--r-- 10 root root 2520 janv.  1  1970 .config/guix/latest/gnu/packages/patches/racket-fix-xform-issue.patch

Moreover, the same build works fine when I check out the same commit and
use pre-inst-env:

   $ cd ~/Development/guix
   $ guix environment guix
   $ git pull
   $ git checkout de596e99549d7764f370ab2ed3b756f620b1f23d
   $ ./bootstrap
   $ ./configure --localstatedir=/var
   $ make
   $ ./pre-inst-env guix build racket

I suspect that this is somehow caused by the new implementation of "guix
pull", but I don't know how I would go about debugging this, so I defer
to the experts.

Konrad.

bug#32316: Build failure with installed guix that does not happen with pre-inst-env

[Björn Höfling]

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Hi Konrad,

thanks for the precise error report.

On Mon, 30 Jul 2018 18:16:54 +0200
Konrad Hinsen <konrad.hinsen@fastmail.net> wrote:

> Dear Guix experts,
> 
> When updating my Guix installation after three weeks of absence, I
> noticed a build failure:
> 
>    $ guix pull –commit=de596e99549d7764f370ab2ed3b756f620b1f23d
>    $ guix build racket

Could it be the case that in your `guix build ...` you are not using
the guix you pulled?

What does `guix --version` say?

Where does `which guix` point to?

It should point to

~/.config/guix/current/bin/guix

I suspect you have an older version of Guix (i.e. "before the new
implementation") in your $PATH with a higher precedence (more to the
beginning of the $PATH variable). See what `echo $PATH` says. If that
is the case, adapt your path.

HTH,

Björn


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bug#32316: Build failure with installed guix that does not happen with pre-inst-env

[Konrad Hinsen]

Hi Björn,

> thanks for the precise error report.

Thanks for your quick reply!

> Could it be the case that in your `guix build ...` you are not using
> the guix you pulled?
>
> What does `guix --version` say?
>
> Where does `which guix` point to?
>
> It should point to
>
> ~/.config/guix/current/bin/guix

It points to $HOME/.guix-profile/bin/guix, and since I have the package
"guix" installed in my profile, that looks OK to me. At the very least I
am used to it: guix has always been in my profile, and has always worked
well that way.

But I do see how this could cause various failures after a guix pull,
because the guix in my profile has to work with the updated stuff the
pull has placed under ~/.config. So perhaps the real mystery is that I
haven't had any trouble before. And I wonder what strategy to adopt to
avoid it - remove guix from my profile? There was a good reason to
install it last year, but I don't remember what it was. If installing
guix into a profile is not a good idea, perhaps the guix package should
disappear or be renamed to something that indicates its true purpose?

BTW, since I updated my profile with the pre-inst-env guix, I now also
have a new guix in my profile and the build failure has disappeared.

Konrad.

bug#32316: Build failure with installed guix that does not happen with pre-inst-env

[Julien Lepiller]

Le Tue, 31 Jul 2018 11:42:14 +0200,
Konrad Hinsen <konrad.hinsen@fastmail.net> a écrit :

> Hi Björn,
> 
> > thanks for the precise error report.  
> 
> Thanks for your quick reply!
> 
> > Could it be the case that in your `guix build ...` you are not using
> > the guix you pulled?
> >
> > What does `guix --version` say?
> >
> > Where does `which guix` point to?
> >
> > It should point to
> >
> > ~/.config/guix/current/bin/guix  
> 
> It points to $HOME/.guix-profile/bin/guix, and since I have the
> package "guix" installed in my profile, that looks OK to me. At the
> very least I am used to it: guix has always been in my profile, and
> has always worked well that way.
> 
> But I do see how this could cause various failures after a guix pull,
> because the guix in my profile has to work with the updated stuff the
> pull has placed under ~/.config. So perhaps the real mystery is that I
> haven't had any trouble before. And I wonder what strategy to adopt to
> avoid it - remove guix from my profile? There was a good reason to
> install it last year, but I don't remember what it was. If installing
> guix into a profile is not a good idea, perhaps the guix package
> should disappear or be renamed to something that indicates its true
> purpose?
> 
> BTW, since I updated my profile with the pre-inst-env guix, I now also
> have a new guix in my profile and the build failure has disappeared.
> 
> Konrad.

You're experiencing the change to the (not so) new guix pull. Now a
complete guix is installed in ~/.config/guix/current. The guix
installed in your profile doesn't look for packages in that directory,
but uses its own definitions. This has a side-effect: whenever you try
to update your profile, not only does your guix not use the newer guix,
but the only guix package it knows of is a least 1 commit *before* your
current guix, hence downgrading guix (and package definitions) at every
update.

Make sure you uninstall guix from your profile and add
~/.config/guix/current/bin to your PATH. Then you should be able to use
the freshly pulled guix.

bug#32316: Thanks!

[Konrad Hinsen]

Hi Julien,

I missed your reply because it arrived while I was on vacation, so I was
made aware of it only by the message about the bug being closed.

Thanks for your clear explanation, I will uninstall guix from my
profile!

Konrad.