Installer script on Fedora doesn't work properly

Installer script on Fedora doesn't work properly

[Jan Wielkiewicz]

Hello,

I'm trying to install Guix on Fedora using the install script, but
something is not right.
I ran the script as root, it installed everything properly, but running
"guix pull" ends up with an error message: "guix pull: failed to connect
to `/var/guix/daemon-socket/socket': No such file or directory".
I tried rebooting a few times, running "systemctl enable guix-daemon",
"systemctl start guix-daemon", but with the same result.
Any idea what's wrong?
I think the installer script should *just work at all times* - this is
crucial to make Guix popular on other distros.
My suggestion: if it's not already done, consider adding automated
tests, checking whether the installer script works on major
distributions (on a VM) and if Guix works there. This should be checked
every release.

P.S. I'm going to resume my work on Jami soon, I've been busy with my
exams lately :P


Jan Wielkiewicz

Re: Installer script on Fedora doesn't work properly

[jbranso]

I'm guessing that the systemd service to start the guix daemon failed...

Is there a way that you can manually enable & start the systemd daemon that guix ships with?

June 29, 2020 6:05 PM, "Jan Wielkiewicz" <tona_kosmicznego_smiecia@interia.pl> wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I'm trying to install Guix on Fedora using the install script, but
> something is not right.
> I ran the script as root, it installed everything properly, but running
> "guix pull" ends up with an error message: "guix pull: failed to connect
> to `/var/guix/daemon-socket/socket': No such file or directory".
> I tried rebooting a few times, running "systemctl enable guix-daemon",
> "systemctl start guix-daemon", but with the same result.
> Any idea what's wrong?
> I think the installer script should *just work at all times* - this is
> crucial to make Guix popular on other distros.
> My suggestion: if it's not already done, consider adding automated
> tests, checking whether the installer script works on major
> distributions (on a VM) and if Guix works there. This should be checked
> every release.
> 
> P.S. I'm going to resume my work on Jami soon, I've been busy with my
> exams lately :P
> 
> Jan Wielkiewicz

Re: Installer script on Fedora doesn't work properly

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Jan,

> I ran the script as root, it installed everything properly, but running
> "guix pull" ends up with an error message: "guix pull: failed to connect
> to `/var/guix/daemon-socket/socket': No such file or directory".

This means the daemon isn’t running.

If you use SELinux in enforcing mode then the daemon is probably
prevented from starting.

> I think the installer script should *just work at all times* - this is
> crucial to make Guix popular on other distros.

Sure.  We have a draft SELinux policy for systems like yours, but it is
probably no longer current as Fedora’s SELinux policy is not frozen in
time.  I encourage you to try it and help debug it to adjust it for
current versions of Fedora.

> My suggestion: if it's not already done, consider adding automated
> tests, checking whether the installer script works on major
> distributions (on a VM) and if Guix works there. This should be checked
> every release.

These recommendations wouldn’t help in your case.  We can’t feasibly
maintain a farm of different distros (some with SELinux and some
without) where we install Guix all the time.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Installer script on Fedora doesn't work properly

[Jan Wielkiewicz]

On Tue, 30 Jun 2020 14:07:44 +0200
Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> wrote:

> 
> Hi Jan,
Hi!

> 
> This means the daemon isn’t running.
> 
> If you use SELinux in enforcing mode then the daemon is probably
> prevented from starting.
I'm not aware of this - I just picked all default settings, not that
the choice was big.

> 
> Sure.  We have a draft SELinux policy for systems like yours, but it
> is probably no longer current as Fedora’s SELinux policy is not
> frozen in time.  I encourage you to try it and help debug it to
> adjust it for current versions of Fedora.
That's my first day running Fedora, but if someone gives me right
directions, I can help.

> 
> These recommendations wouldn’t help in your case.  We can’t feasibly
> maintain a farm of different distros (some with SELinux and some
> without) where we install Guix all the time.
> 
Even manual testing before making a release would be good. Btw
adding checkboxes to the issue tracker would make it easier for
everyone. Anyway, Guix should work on disributions considered to be
"industry standard" such as Debian, Fedora, etc. What about a list of
distributions Guix was tested on in the manual, with a link to it
somewhere on the main page.

The first impression is really important.


Jan Wielkiewcz

Re: Installer script on Fedora doesn't work properly

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Jan Wielkiewicz <tona_kosmicznego_smiecia@interia.pl> writes:

>> This means the daemon isn’t running.
>> 
>> If you use SELinux in enforcing mode then the daemon is probably
>> prevented from starting.
> I'm not aware of this - I just picked all default settings, not that
> the choice was big.

It’s not Guix, it’s Fedora.  Fedora ships with SELinux enabled by
default, which means that all software needs to have a policy that
declares in what context it runs and what other contexts it can access.

>> Sure.  We have a draft SELinux policy for systems like yours, but it
>> is probably no longer current as Fedora’s SELinux policy is not
>> frozen in time.  I encourage you to try it and help debug it to
>> adjust it for current versions of Fedora.
> That's my first day running Fedora, but if someone gives me right
> directions, I can help.

The first thing to do is to install the guix-daemon.cil file as
explained in the manual.  That file is part of the Guix source
repository.

Then as you start guix-daemon you need to look at
/var/log/audit/audit.log (or similar) to see why SELinux blocked the
daemon from running.

-- 
Ricardo