bug#21068: guix system: error: build failed: path `/gnu/store/..-grub.cfg' is not valid

bug#21068: guix system: error: build failed: path `/gnu/store/..-grub.cfg' is not valid

[Germano Gabbianelli]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1310 bytes --]

Hello,
I am using lubuntu 14.04 and I installed the binary version of guix 
following the documentation ( 
https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Binary-Installation.html#Binary-Installation 
)

Then I ran `guix pull`, made a new partition (ext4) and tried to run 
`guix system init` on it:

$ sudo guix system init /mnt/etc/config.scm /mnt

The config.scm is attached. The interesting part is that I specified to 
install grub on /dev/sda9 ( the root partition for guix) instead of 
/dev/sda. The command failed saying that "Embedding is not possible" ( 
here details: https://paste.debian.net/282642/ ).

Following the advice got from Mark on the IRC channel I tried specifing 
the --no-grub flag, but got an other error:

tyrion ~$ sudo guix system init --no-grub /mnt/etc/config.scm /mnt
[sudo] password for tyrion:
warning: failed to install locale: Invalid argument
/gnu/store/q32xg8nmyjwrl5yc18hj7ay5h4rgzkgy-system

initializing operating system under '/mnt'...
guix system: error: build failed: path 
`/gnu/store/hill6gywff6p2c3h1zbc7h5xj0cr4yn2-grub.cfg' is not valid

I also trying reinstalling guix by deleting /gnu, /var/guix, and 
/var/log/guix (and also wiping the partition with rm)
and following again the documentation. Tried again the last command and 
got the same error again.

[-- Attachment #2: config.scm --]
[-- Type: text/x-scheme, Size: 1951 bytes --]

;; This is an operating system configuration template
;; for a "desktop" setup with X11.

(use-modules (gnu) (gnu system nss))
(use-service-modules desktop)
(use-package-modules xfce ratpoison wicd avahi xorg certs)

(operating-system
  (host-name "gnu")
  (timezone "Europe/Rome")
  (locale "en_US.UTF-8")

  ;; Assuming /dev/sdX is the target hard disk, and "root" is
  ;; the label of the target root file system.
  (bootloader (grub-configuration (device "/dev/sda9")))
  (file-systems (cons*
                  (file-system
                    (device "/dev/sda9")
                    (mount-point "/")
                    (type "ext4"))
                  (file-system
                    (device "/dev/sda3")
                    (mount-point "/mnt/win")
                    (type "ntfs"))
                  (file-system
                    (device "/dev/mapper/home")
                    (mount-point "/home")
                    (type "ext4"))
                  %base-file-systems))
  (mapped-devices (list (mapped-device
                          (source "/dev/sda8")
                          (target "home")
                          (type luks-device-mapping))))

  (users (list (user-account
                (name "tyrion")
                (group "users")
                (supplementary-groups '("wheel" "netdev" "audio" "video"))
                (home-directory "/home/tyrion"))))

  ;; Add Xfce and Ratpoison; that allows us to choose
  ;; sessions using either of these at the log-in screen.
  (packages (cons* xfce ratpoison    ;desktop environments
                   xterm wicd avahi  ;useful tools
                   nss-certs         ;for HTTPS access
                   %base-packages))

  ;; Use the "desktop" services, which include the X11
  ;; log-in service, networking with Wicd, and more.
  (services %desktop-services)

  ;; Allow resolution of '.local' host names with mDNS.
  (name-service-switch %mdns-host-lookup-nss))

bug#21068: guix system: error: build failed: path `/gnu/store/..-grub.cfg' is not valid

[Ludovic Courtès]

Germano Gabbianelli <tyrion.mx@gmail.com> skribis:

> tyrion ~$ sudo guix system init --no-grub /mnt/etc/config.scm /mnt
> [sudo] password for tyrion:
> warning: failed to install locale: Invalid argument
> /gnu/store/q32xg8nmyjwrl5yc18hj7ay5h4rgzkgy-system
>
> initializing operating system under '/mnt'...
> guix system: error: build failed: path
> `/gnu/store/hill6gywff6p2c3h1zbc7h5xj0cr4yn2-grub.cfg' is not valid

This could be due to how you fiddled manually with /gnu/store and
/var/guix.  In general, one should never manually touch these
directories; instead, one should use ‘guix gc’ and similar commands.

> I also trying reinstalling guix by deleting /gnu, /var/guix, and
> /var/log/guix (and also wiping the partition with rm)

To be safe, could you start anew again, and report back?

  sudo rm -rf /gnu /var/guix
  # reinstall from binary tarball

>   (bootloader (grub-configuration (device "/dev/sda9")))

There’s a mistake here: it should be “/dev/sda” (say), not “/dev/sda9”
(the latter designates a partition, whereas the former designates a
disk.)  It doesn’t matter here since you passed --no-grub, but it would
otherwise lead to a ‘grub-install’ failure.

HTH,
Ludo’.

bug#21068: guix system: error: build failed: path `/gnu/store/..-grub.cfg' is not valid

[Germano Gabbianelli]

On 16/07/15 15:37, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
> This could be due to how you fiddled manually with /gnu/store and
> /var/guix.  In general, one should never manually touch these
> directories; instead, one should use ‘guix gc’ and similar commands.
I did not fiddle with those directory. I only removed them to reinstall 
guix.
>> I also trying reinstalling guix by deleting /gnu, /var/guix, and
>> /var/log/guix (and also wiping the partition with rm)
> To be safe, could you start anew again, and report back?
>
>    sudo rm -rf /gnu /var/guix
>    # reinstall from binary tarball
I did it, for the third time. I always get the same error:

guix system: error: build failed: path 
`/gnu/store/kv217jzyir2wx0lwwxl7ljpwc4fzafpi-grub.cfg' is not valid

This time I used guix 0.8.3.

>>    (bootloader (grub-configuration (device "/dev/sda9")))
> There’s a mistake here: it should be “/dev/sda” (say), not “/dev/sda9”
> (the latter designates a partition, whereas the former designates a
> disk.)  It doesn’t matter here since you passed --no-grub, but it would
> otherwise lead to a ‘grub-install’ failure.
I tried removing that line, but if I do I get an error saying "missing 
field initializers (bootloader)".
So I also tried to specify a non existent disk (i.e. /dev/sdb), so it 
does not complain about the bootloader options, but I still get the 
"path 'grub.cfg' is not valid" error.

bug#21068: guix system: error: build failed: path `/gnu/store/..-grub.cfg' is not valid

[Germano Gabbianelli]

I also tried burning guixsd to an external usb stick and installing 
directly from that, but it failed with the same error.

bug#21068: guix system: error: build failed: path `/gnu/store/..-grub.cfg' is not valid

[Alex Kost]

Germano Gabbianelli (2015-07-26 16:25 +0300) wrote:

> On 16/07/15 15:37, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
>> This could be due to how you fiddled manually with /gnu/store and
>> /var/guix.  In general, one should never manually touch these
>> directories; instead, one should use ‘guix gc’ and similar commands.
> I did not fiddle with those directory. I only removed them to reinstall
> guix.
>>> I also trying reinstalling guix by deleting /gnu, /var/guix, and
>>> /var/log/guix (and also wiping the partition with rm)
>> To be safe, could you start anew again, and report back?
>>
>>    sudo rm -rf /gnu /var/guix
>>    # reinstall from binary tarball
> I did it, for the third time. I always get the same error:
>
> guix system: error: build failed: path
> `/gnu/store/kv217jzyir2wx0lwwxl7ljpwc4fzafpi-grub.cfg' is not valid
>
> This time I used guix 0.8.3.
>
>>>    (bootloader (grub-configuration (device "/dev/sda9")))
>> There’s a mistake here: it should be “/dev/sda” (say), not “/dev/sda9”
>> (the latter designates a partition, whereas the former designates a
>> disk.)  It doesn’t matter here since you passed --no-grub, but it would
>> otherwise lead to a ‘grub-install’ failure.
> I tried removing that line, but if I do I get an error saying "missing
> field initializers (bootloader)".
> So I also tried to specify a non existent disk (i.e. /dev/sdb), so it
> does not complain about the bootloader options, but I still get the
> "path 'grub.cfg' is not valid" error.

I have just built your config.scm successfully.  (I'm not suru but) it
looks like you either have a broken store or some stale files in the
partition you want to initialize the system to.

Could you try the following from your Lubuntu (without 'sudo'):

  guix pull
  guix system build --no-grub /path/to/your/config.scm

If the system has been built successfully (it definitely should), make
sure your partition is absolutely empty (!) and init the system there:

  sudo -E guix system init --no-grub /path/to/your/config.scm <mount-point>

-- 
Alex