statedir locations

statedir locations

[John Darrington]

It has come to my attention that guix packages (at least those with gnu build system)
default their statedirs to directories under /nix/store/.  Recall that the statedirs (ie: 
sharedstatedir localstatedir and runstatedir) are for installing data files *which the programs
modify while they run* [1].   Obviously a program cannot modify anything under /nix/store
I think we need to update the default configure flags.

J'

[1] http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/standards.html#Directory-Variables


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Re: statedir locations

[Ludovic Courtès]

John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> skribis:

> It has come to my attention that guix packages (at least those with gnu build system)
> default their statedirs to directories under /nix/store/.  Recall that the statedirs (ie: 
> sharedstatedir localstatedir and runstatedir) are for installing data files *which the programs
> modify while they run* [1].   Obviously a program cannot modify anything under /nix/store
> I think we need to update the default configure flags.

Yes.  We actually have a number of local modifications:

  $ grep -e --localstatedir gnu/packages/*.scm | wc -l
  5

I think we should change gnu-build-system.scm to pass
--localstatedir=/var, unless ‘configure-flags’ specify another setting.

I’ll do that in ‘core-updates’.

Thanks,
Ludo’.

Re: statedir locations

[Mark H Weaver]

ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

> John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> skribis:
>
>> It has come to my attention that guix packages (at least those with gnu build system)
>> default their statedirs to directories under /nix/store/.  Recall that the statedirs (ie: 
>> sharedstatedir localstatedir and runstatedir) are for installing data files *which the programs
>> modify while they run* [1].   Obviously a program cannot modify anything under /nix/store
>> I think we need to update the default configure flags.
>
> Yes.  We actually have a number of local modifications:
>
>   $ grep -e --localstatedir gnu/packages/*.scm | wc -l
>   5
>
> I think we should change gnu-build-system.scm to pass
> --localstatedir=/var, unless ‘configure-flags’ specify another setting.
>
> I’ll do that in ‘core-updates’.

What about 'sharestatedir' and 'runstatedir'?

      Mark

Re: statedir locations

[Ludovic Courtès]

Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org> skribis:

> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:
>
>> John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> skribis:
>>
>>> It has come to my attention that guix packages (at least those with gnu build system)
>>> default their statedirs to directories under /nix/store/.  Recall that the statedirs (ie: 
>>> sharedstatedir localstatedir and runstatedir) are for installing data files *which the programs
>>> modify while they run* [1].   Obviously a program cannot modify anything under /nix/store
>>> I think we need to update the default configure flags.
>>
>> Yes.  We actually have a number of local modifications:
>>
>>   $ grep -e --localstatedir gnu/packages/*.scm | wc -l
>>   5
>>
>> I think we should change gnu-build-system.scm to pass
>> --localstatedir=/var, unless ‘configure-flags’ specify another setting.
>>
>> I’ll do that in ‘core-updates’.
>
> What about 'sharestatedir' and 'runstatedir'?

‘runstatedir’ is in the not-yet-released Autoconf, but otherwise, yeah,
they all deserve the same treatment.

Ludo’.

Re: statedir locations

[Mark H Weaver]

ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

> Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org> skribis:
>
>> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:
>>
>>> John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> skribis:
>>>
>>>> It has come to my attention that guix packages (at least those with gnu build system)
>>>> default their statedirs to directories under /nix/store/.  Recall that the statedirs (ie: 
>>>> sharedstatedir localstatedir and runstatedir) are for installing data files *which the programs
>>>> modify while they run* [1].   Obviously a program cannot modify anything under /nix/store
>>>> I think we need to update the default configure flags.
>>>
>>> Yes.  We actually have a number of local modifications:
>>>
>>>   $ grep -e --localstatedir gnu/packages/*.scm | wc -l
>>>   5
>>>
>>> I think we should change gnu-build-system.scm to pass
>>> --localstatedir=/var, unless ‘configure-flags’ specify another setting.
>>>
>>> I’ll do that in ‘core-updates’.
>>
>> What about 'sharestatedir' and 'runstatedir'?
>
> ‘runstatedir’ is in the not-yet-released Autoconf, but otherwise, yeah,
> they all deserve the same treatment.

So there's a problem.  Lots of builds are now failing, because "make
install" often tries to create /var or /com and does not have sufficient
permissions to do so.

I'm not sure what to do about this.

      Mark

Re: statedir locations

[Ludovic Courtès]

Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org> skribis:

> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:
>
>> Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org> skribis:
>>
>>> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:
>>>
>>>> John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> skribis:
>>>>
>>>>> It has come to my attention that guix packages (at least those with gnu build system)
>>>>> default their statedirs to directories under /nix/store/.  Recall that the statedirs (ie: 
>>>>> sharedstatedir localstatedir and runstatedir) are for installing data files *which the programs
>>>>> modify while they run* [1].   Obviously a program cannot modify anything under /nix/store
>>>>> I think we need to update the default configure flags.
>>>>
>>>> Yes.  We actually have a number of local modifications:
>>>>
>>>>   $ grep -e --localstatedir gnu/packages/*.scm | wc -l
>>>>   5
>>>>
>>>> I think we should change gnu-build-system.scm to pass
>>>> --localstatedir=/var, unless ‘configure-flags’ specify another setting.
>>>>
>>>> I’ll do that in ‘core-updates’.
>>>
>>> What about 'sharestatedir' and 'runstatedir'?
>>
>> ‘runstatedir’ is in the not-yet-released Autoconf, but otherwise, yeah,
>> they all deserve the same treatment.
>
> So there's a problem.  Lots of builds are now failing, because "make
> install" often tries to create /var or /com and does not have sufficient
> permissions to do so.

Indeed (notice that I’m reading mail in the wrong order.)

Ludo’.

Re: statedir locations

[Ludovic Courtès]

ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) skribis:

> John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> skribis:
>
>> It has come to my attention that guix packages (at least those with gnu build system)
>> default their statedirs to directories under /nix/store/.  Recall that the statedirs (ie: 
>> sharedstatedir localstatedir and runstatedir) are for installing data files *which the programs
>> modify while they run* [1].   Obviously a program cannot modify anything under /nix/store
>> I think we need to update the default configure flags.
>
> Yes.  We actually have a number of local modifications:
>
>   $ grep -e --localstatedir gnu/packages/*.scm | wc -l
>   5
>
> I think we should change gnu-build-system.scm to pass
> --localstatedir=/var, unless ‘configure-flags’ specify another setting.
>
> I’ll do that in ‘core-updates’.

Done in 65529e49ff5b9052544271b1b7923feed4312849.

Ludo’.

Re: statedir locations

[Ludovic Courtès]

ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) skribis:

> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) skribis:
>
>> John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> skribis:
>>
>>> It has come to my attention that guix packages (at least those with gnu build system)
>>> default their statedirs to directories under /nix/store/.  Recall that the statedirs (ie: 
>>> sharedstatedir localstatedir and runstatedir) are for installing data files *which the programs
>>> modify while they run* [1].   Obviously a program cannot modify anything under /nix/store
>>> I think we need to update the default configure flags.
>>
>> Yes.  We actually have a number of local modifications:
>>
>>   $ grep -e --localstatedir gnu/packages/*.scm | wc -l
>>   5
>>
>> I think we should change gnu-build-system.scm to pass
>> --localstatedir=/var, unless ‘configure-flags’ specify another setting.
>>
>> I’ll do that in ‘core-updates’.
>
> Done in 65529e49ff5b9052544271b1b7923feed4312849.

I was overconfident: the patch broke everything, because
Automake-generated makefiles typically try to mkdir $localstatedir:

  http://hydra.gnu.org/eval/45514

So I just reverted it, and I think we’re stuck with the status quo until
someone has a better idea.

For the longer term, we could submit an Automake patch such that it
doesn’t insist on creating $localstatedir et al.

Ludo’.

Re: statedir locations

[John Darrington]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1127 bytes --]

On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 10:23:16AM +0100, Ludovic Court??s wrote:
     
     I was overconfident: the patch broke everything, because
     Automake-generated makefiles typically try to mkdir $localstatedir:
     
       http://hydra.gnu.org/eval/45514
     
     So I just reverted it, and I think we???re stuck with the status quo until
     someone has a better idea.

So the status quo is, that these packages mkdir /nix/store.../var/com .
Presumably they do that for a reason, viz the program needs to write
to these directories.   But they will not be able to do that because /nix/store
is immutable.  These programs will then break. :(

     
     For the longer term, we could submit an Automake patch such that it
     doesn???t insist on creating $localstatedir et al.

That sounds like a good idea.  In the meantime, couldn't we patch the generated Makefile.in so that it will not die if the mkdir fails?

J'
     

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Re: statedir locations

[Ludovic Courtès]

John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> skribis:

> On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 10:23:16AM +0100, Ludovic Court??s wrote:
>      
>      I was overconfident: the patch broke everything, because
>      Automake-generated makefiles typically try to mkdir $localstatedir:
>      
>        http://hydra.gnu.org/eval/45514
>      
>      So I just reverted it, and I think we???re stuck with the status quo until
>      someone has a better idea.
>
> So the status quo is, that these packages mkdir /nix/store.../var/com .
> Presumably they do that for a reason, viz the program needs to write
> to these directories.

Right.  Apparently Automake doesn’t emit anything for packages that do
not use the ‘localstate’ prefix.

> But they will not be able to do that because /nix/store is immutable.
> These programs will then break. :(

Well, yes.

>      For the longer term, we could submit an Automake patch such that it
>      doesn???t insist on creating $localstatedir et al.
>
> That sounds like a good idea.  In the meantime, couldn't we patch the generated Makefile.in so that it will not die if the mkdir fails?

Yes, as done for DBus for instance.  Unfortunately, I don’t see any
obvious way to do that patching automatically.

Thanks,
Ludo’.