Serial line lock directory

Serial line lock directory

[Danny Milosavljevic]

Hi,

I'm trying to package minicom and there I get an error message 

  checking for com line lock directory... configure: error: No suitable lock directory

... which was checking for a (common) directory to put a file in (as a marker) when a serial device is in use (and removing the file to free the serial device).  This is supposed to prevent multiple different programs accidentally using the same serial line.

Where and how should this be done in Guix?

To reproduce:

diff --git a/gnu/packages/engineering.scm b/gnu/packages/engineering.scm
index 7ad93653e..fc6e4068c 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/engineering.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/engineering.scm
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
   #:use-module (gnu packages curl)
   #:use-module (gnu packages flex)
   #:use-module (gnu packages fontutils)
+  #:use-module (gnu packages freedesktop)
   #:use-module (gnu packages gd)
   #:use-module (gnu packages gettext)
   #:use-module (gnu packages ghostscript)
@@ -812,3 +813,21 @@ the 'showing the effect of'-style of operation.")
 for mathematical functions.  It also provides an machine-independent
 interface to select the best such procedures to use on a given system.")
     (license license:gpl3+)))
+
+(define-public minicom
+  (package
+    (name "minicom")
+    (version "2.7.1")
+    (source
+     (origin
+       (method url-fetch)
+       (uri (string-append "https://alioth.debian.org/frs/download.php/"
+                           "file/4215/" name "-" version ".tar.gz"))
+       (sha256
+        (base32
+         "1wa1l36fa4npd21xa9nz60yrqwkk5cq713fa3p5v0zk7g9mq6bsk"))))
+    (build-system gnu-build-system)
+    (home-page "https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/")
+    (synopsis "Serial terminal emulator")
+    (description "@code{minicom} is a serial terminal emulator.")
+    (license license:gpl2+)))

Re: Serial line lock directory

[Chris Marusich]

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Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> writes:

> I'm trying to package minicom and there I get an error message 
>
>   checking for com line lock directory... configure: error: No suitable lock directory
>
> ... which was checking for a (common) directory to put a file in (as a marker) when a serial device is in use (and removing the file to free the serial device).  This is supposed to prevent multiple different programs accidentally using the same serial line.
>
> Where and how should this be done in Guix?

That sounds like a directory which should exist in the localstatedir
(info '(standards) Directory Variables').  I haven't looked closely at
the package, but your package definition makes it look like it's using a
GNU build system, so hopefully it provides a way to configure the
value used for the localstatedir.

-- 
Chris

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Re: Serial line lock directory

[Ludovic Courtès]

Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com> skribis:

> Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> writes:
>
>> I'm trying to package minicom and there I get an error message 
>>
>>   checking for com line lock directory... configure: error: No suitable lock directory
>>
>> ... which was checking for a (common) directory to put a file in (as a marker) when a serial device is in use (and removing the file to free the serial device).  This is supposed to prevent multiple different programs accidentally using the same serial line.
>>
>> Where and how should this be done in Guix?
>
> That sounds like a directory which should exist in the localstatedir
> (info '(standards) Directory Variables').  I haven't looked closely at
> the package, but your package definition makes it look like it's using a
> GNU build system, so hopefully it provides a way to configure the
> value used for the localstatedir.

Probably it checks whether $localstatedir exist, and it doesn’t exist in
the build environment.  So you’ll have to somehow tweak ‘configure’ into
skipping that test, perhaps by setting the relevant ‘ac_cv_’ variable if
it exists.

HTH!

Ludo’.

Re: Serial line lock directory

[Danny Milosavljevic]

Hi Ludo,

On Wed, 07 Jun 2017 14:32:09 +0200
ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) wrote:

> Probably it checks whether $localstatedir exist, and it doesn’t exist in
> the build environment.  So you’ll have to somehow tweak ‘configure’ into
> skipping that test, perhaps by setting the relevant ‘ac_cv_’ variable if
> it exists.

Good point.

But which directory does GuixSD [intend to] use for serial locks?  The locks only make sense if every application actually uses the same directory for locks :)

Re: Serial line lock directory

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi Danny,

Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> skribis:

> On Wed, 07 Jun 2017 14:32:09 +0200
> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) wrote:
>
>> Probably it checks whether $localstatedir exist, and it doesn’t exist in
>> the build environment.  So you’ll have to somehow tweak ‘configure’ into
>> skipping that test, perhaps by setting the relevant ‘ac_cv_’ variable if
>> it exists.
>
> Good point.
>
> But which directory does GuixSD [intend to] use for serial locks?  The locks only make sense if every application actually uses the same directory for locks :)

I think /var/lock is what’s conventionally used so I’d stick to that.

Ludo’.