error: build failed: committing transaction: disk I/O error

error: build failed: committing transaction: disk I/O error

[Mark H Weaver]

In recent weeks on my system, it has become fairly common for the daemon
to get into a bad state, where all build attempts fail with messages
like this:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
mhw:~/guix-core-updates$ ./pre-inst-env guix build -n emacs
error (ignored): aborting transaction: cannot rollback - no transaction is active
guix build: error: build failed: committing transaction: disk I/O error
mhw:~/guix-core-updates$ 
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Restarting 'guix-daemon' always fixes it, until the next time.  Note
that this happens on the master branch too, not just core-updates.  This
is on my MIPS system (YeeLoong 8101B with Loongson 2F CPU).  I'm not
sure if that's relevant.

Has anyone else seen this?

Unfortunately, I don't have a clear memory of what changes I made to my
system around the time this problem time began.  Possibilities include:

1. I switched to using Guix programs and libraries exclusively in my
   user session, and using them to build Guix itself, around that time.

2. I updated the upstream nix sources for the daemon around that time.

3. I switched to a modern version of Linux (3.13.x) around that time,
   which I'm pleased to report is now rock solid on my YeeLoong (uptime
   13 days so far, under continuous heavy load).

Any ideas?  When I get a chance, I'll attach 'strace' and/or 'gdb' to
the daemon and gather more info.

      Mark

Re: error: build failed: committing transaction: disk I/O error

[Ludovic Courtès]

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

> In recent weeks on my system, it has become fairly common for the daemon
> to get into a bad state, where all build attempts fail with messages
> like this:
>
> mhw:~/guix-core-updates$ ./pre-inst-env guix build -n emacs
> error (ignored): aborting transaction: cannot rollback - no transaction is active
> guix build: error: build failed: committing transaction: disk I/O error
> mhw:~/guix-core-updates$ 

(The message comes from SQLite.)

> Restarting 'guix-daemon' always fixes it, until the next time.  Note
> that this happens on the master branch too, not just core-updates.  This
> is on my MIPS system (YeeLoong 8101B with Loongson 2F CPU).  I'm not
> sure if that's relevant.
>
> Has anyone else seen this?

No, but could it have something to do with the file system or SQLite
issues encountered on MIPS?

  http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2013-10/msg00185.html

Ludo’.

Re: error: build failed: committing transaction: disk I/O error

[Mark H Weaver]

ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

> Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org> skribis:
>
>> In recent weeks on my system, it has become fairly common for the daemon
>> to get into a bad state, where all build attempts fail with messages
>> like this:
>>
>> mhw:~/guix-core-updates$ ./pre-inst-env guix build -n emacs
>> error (ignored): aborting transaction: cannot rollback - no transaction is active
>> guix build: error: build failed: committing transaction: disk I/O error
>> mhw:~/guix-core-updates$ 
>
> (The message comes from SQLite.)

I looked into this further, and the problem is that sqlite is trying to
mmap a 32K page, but my kernel is configured for 64K pages, so the mmap
fails.

It appears that I'll need to apply a fix for sqlite, once I figure out
how to do so.  Unfortunately, it seems possible that the page size is
effectively part of the file format, and that fixing this would render
existing sqlite databases unreadable on MIPS.  I'm awaiting moderator
approval to subscribe to their mailing lists, and will consult with the
developers ASAP.

    Thanks,
      Mark