From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org>
Subject: Re: statedir locations
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 00:05:04 -0500
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In-Reply-To: <874n4piish.fsf@gnu.org> ("Ludovic
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To: Ludovic =?utf-8?Q?Court=C3=A8s?= <ludo@gnu.org>
Cc: guix-devel@gnu.org

ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Court=C3=A8s) writes:

> Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org> skribis:
>
>> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Court=C3=A8s) writes:
>>
>>> John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au> skribis:
>>>
>>>> It has come to my attention that guix packages (at least those with gn=
u build system)
>>>> default their statedirs to directories under /nix/store/.  Recall that=
 the statedirs (ie:=20
>>>> sharedstatedir localstatedir and runstatedir) are for installing data =
files *which the programs
>>>> modify while they run* [1].   Obviously a program cannot modify anythi=
ng under /nix/store
>>>> I think we need to update the default configure flags.
>>>
>>> Yes.  We actually have a number of local modifications:
>>>
>>>   $ grep -e --localstatedir gnu/packages/*.scm | wc -l
>>>   5
>>>
>>> I think we should change gnu-build-system.scm to pass
>>> --localstatedir=3D/var, unless =E2=80=98configure-flags=E2=80=99 specif=
y another setting.
>>>
>>> I=E2=80=99ll do that in =E2=80=98core-updates=E2=80=99.
>>
>> What about 'sharestatedir' and 'runstatedir'?
>
> =E2=80=98runstatedir=E2=80=99 is in the not-yet-released Autoconf, but ot=
herwise, yeah,
> they all deserve the same treatment.

So there's a problem.  Lots of builds are now failing, because "make
install" often tries to create /var or /com and does not have sufficient
permissions to do so.

I'm not sure what to do about this.

      Mark