Guix 1.4 unable to pull with --no-substitutes

Guix 1.4 unable to pull with --no-substitutes

[tobtoht]

Hi,

Using guix 1.4.0 as a starting point on a foreign distro, I'm unable to
complete a pull without substitutes.

Steps to reproduce:

$ install guix using the installer script (or apt install guix)
$ export GUIX_BUILD_OPTIONS="--no-substitutes"
$ guix pull

It then proceeds to build a number of packages, including guile 3.0.7. Tests 
for this package fail as described here: https://issues.guix.gnu.org/48392

I have tried building it at least a dozen times and the tests fail each time.

Context:

A project I am involved with uses guix time-machine + guix shell to set up a
build environment that is used to build portable binaries for a desktop 
application. For security and auditability reasons, the build process is 
bootstrappable and verifiably reproducible.

Multiple builders build the software using guix. The results are signed, 
submitted to a central repository, and compared.

To ensure the build is in fact bootstrappable, and to detect potential 
non-determinism in guix packages, I want to encourage builders to build the 
manifest without substitutes.

I'd like to provide mostly distribution-agnostic documentation. Instructing 
builders to build a more recent version of guix from source would make this
process less accessible.

Questions:

1. Why does it attempt to build guile 3.0.7? The version of guile defined in
   the latest version of guix (or the time-machine pinned commit) is 3.0.9.

2. Is there a way to avoid having to build guile 3.0.7? (While still using
   the guix provided by the installer script as a starting point.)

3. If not, is it possible to skip the test phase for this specific package?

4. If not, is there anything I can do to make the tests less likely to fail?

Re: Guix 1.4 unable to pull with --no-substitutes

[Simon Tournier]

Hi,

On Sat, 31 Aug 2024 at 20:44, tobtoht <tob@featherwallet.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Using guix 1.4.0 as a starting point on a foreign distro, I'm unable to
> complete a pull without substitutes.

Well, sadly people are also reporting failures with substitutes.

        bug#72353: guix pull bug
        Shyam Laximan <shyamlx@hotmail.com>
        Mon, 29 Jul 2024 09:06:19 +0000
        id:LV8P220MB1267AFA90FF9DCA6E27A2EE7B5B72@LV8P220MB1267.NAMP220.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM
        https://issues.guix.gnu.org/72353
        https://issues.guix.gnu.org/msgid/LV8P220MB1267AFA90FF9DCA6E27A2EE7B5B72@LV8P220MB1267.NAMP220.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM
        https://yhetil.org/guix/LV8P220MB1267AFA90FF9DCA6E27A2EE7B5B72@LV8P220MB1267.NAMP220.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM

        bug#72110: bug in brand new installation during pull
        Rainer Glaschick <rainer@glaschick.de>
        Sun, 14 Jul 2024 14:23:44 +0200
        id:1e2b40f0-203e-4821-ac60-3f6429eac998@glaschick.de
        https://issues.guix.gnu.org/72110
        https://issues.guix.gnu.org/msgid/1e2b40f0-203e-4821-ac60-3f6429eac998@glaschick.de
        https://yhetil.org/guix/1e2b40f0-203e-4821-ac60-3f6429eac998@glaschick.de

        bug#72028: &nar-error during guix pull on Linux Mint
        Spencer via Bug reports for GNU Guix <bug-guix@gnu.org>
        Tue, 09 Jul 2024 20:47:01 -0700
        id:50ecaa90-d0ab-4ad9-b5a0-714ca2427c4c@app.fastmail.com
        https://issues.guix.gnu.org/72028
        https://issues.guix.gnu.org/msgid/50ecaa90-d0ab-4ad9-b5a0-714ca2427c4c@app.fastmail.com
        https://yhetil.org/guix/50ecaa90-d0ab-4ad9-b5a0-714ca2427c4c@app.fastmail.com

        bug#71691: Bug found while running 'guix pull'
        "Matthew Tuel" <dev@itslolgical.com>
        Thu, 20 Jun 2024 20:41:40 -0500
        id:a03a98df-3563-4af2-95d5-37080fbac2c6@app.fastmail.com
        https://issues.guix.gnu.org/71691
        https://issues.guix.gnu.org/msgid/a03a98df-3563-4af2-95d5-37080fbac2c6@app.fastmail.com
        https://yhetil.org/guix/a03a98df-3563-4af2-95d5-37080fbac2c6@app.fastmail.com

        bug#71437: error: You found a bug: the program '/gnu/store/vbxf3hm2c0wsj2l37ms44k2isiw98ijq-compute-guix-derivation'
        Anthony Bucci <abucci@bucci.onl>
        Sat, 08 Jun 2024 11:16:34 -0400
        id:8ddd53fb-752b-4a14-93fb-4518fc4b6dac@bucci.onl
        https://issues.guix.gnu.org/71437
        https://issues.guix.gnu.org/msgid/8ddd53fb-752b-4a14-93fb-4518fc4b6dac@bucci.onl
        https://yhetil.org/guix/8ddd53fb-752b-4a14-93fb-4518fc4b6dac@bucci.onl

etc.

Well, maybe without substitutes the issues are different.  I do not know…


> 1. Why does it attempt to build guile 3.0.7? The version of guile defined in
>    the latest version of guix (or the time-machine pinned commit) is 3.0.9.
>
> 2. Is there a way to avoid having to build guile 3.0.7? (While still using
>    the guix provided by the installer script as a starting point.)
>
> 3. If not, is it possible to skip the test phase for this specific package?
>
> 4. If not, is there anything I can do to make the tests less likely to fail?

I have not investigated so sorry for not answering.

About #3 and #4, I do not know any mean to avoid running the test suite
of some dependencies for “guix pull”.

Cheers,
simon