From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: myglc2 Subject: Re: successful installation, but problems updating Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2017 10:29:30 -0500 Message-ID: <86bmk8rfz9.fsf@gmail.com> References: <20171106091656.6e775deb@graviton.instanton> <20171106111829.1e07b138@hitpoints.browniehive.net> <87fu9mptdl.fsf@gmail.com> <20171110162818.GA11031@jasmine.lan> <8760ahpv8x.fsf@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:47687) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eDXj2-0000HZ-1S for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 11 Nov 2017 10:29:41 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eDXix-0003H4-1j for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 11 Nov 2017 10:29:40 -0500 Received: from mail-wm0-x22c.google.com ([2a00:1450:400c:c09::22c]:39132) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eDXiw-0003G5-QD for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 11 Nov 2017 10:29:34 -0500 Received: by mail-wm0-x22c.google.com with SMTP id l8so2202230wmg.4 for ; Sat, 11 Nov 2017 07:29:34 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <8760ahpv8x.fsf@gmail.com> (Chris Marusich's message of "Fri, 10 Nov 2017 15:30:22 -0800") List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-guix-bounces+gcggh-help-guix=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Help-Guix" To: Chris Marusich Cc: "help-guix@gnu.org" On 11/10/2017 at 15:30 Chris Marusich writes: > Hi Leo, > > Leo Famulari writes: > >> Substition is considered to fail when Guix is expecting a substitute but >> the server returns 404, 504, or some other unexpected problem occurs. It >> is not considered to fail if the server initially reports that no >> substitute is available. Hi Leo, this is a wonderful clarification of behavior that has confused me for 1.5 years! > > Thank you for the clarification. This is what I did not understand. I > read the manual and got the impression that when --fallback has not been > given, if a given substitute cannot be found (regardless of whether or > not a substitute server claimed to provide one), then Guix will not > build it. I see now that my understanding was mistaken. I had this mistaken impression too. > > I've attached a patch which tries to clarify this in the manual. What > do you think of it? Hey Chris, How about saying what Leo said right up front in the substitutes section. This allows the --fallback addition to be more brief. Rough draft below. WDYT? - George 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) doc/guix.texi | 11 +++++++++-- modified doc/guix.texi @@ -2120,6 +2120,13 @@ server. We call these pre-built items @dfn{substitutes}---they are substitutes for local build results. In many cases, downloading a substitute is much faster than building things locally. +When substitutes are enabled (the default) and a substitute is not +available the build will take place locally. If a substitute is +available but substitution fails, e.g., the substitute server returns +404, 504, times out, or some other unexpected problem occurs, guix stops +and reports an error unless --fallback or --keep-going options are +specified. + Substitutes can be anything resulting from a derivation build (@pxref{Derivations}). Of course, in the common case, they are pre-built package binaries, but source tarballs, for instance, which @@ -5192,8 +5199,8 @@ derivations has failed. Do not build the derivations. @item --fallback -When substituting a pre-built binary fails, fall back to building -packages locally. +Attempt to build locally instead of issuing an error when substitutes +are enabled and the substitution of a pre-built binary fails. @item --substitute-urls=@var{urls} @anchor{client-substitute-urls}