bug#63868: [reconfigure, shepherd] error: remove: unbound variable

bug#63868: [reconfigure, shepherd] error: remove: unbound variable

[Attila Lendvai]

$ sudo guix system reconfigure ...
[...]
building /gnu/store/8by5a6wqlxm3fw27xh3a6zzzwfczjpcm-install-bootloader.scm.drv...
guix system: bootloader successfully installed on '(/boot/efi)'
guix system: warning: exception caught while executing 'eval' on service 'root':
error: remove: unbound variable
guix system: warning: some services could not be upgraded
hint: To allow changes to all the system services to take effect, you will need to reboot.

$

(notice the empty line before the prompt; may or may not be relevant)

this is all foggy.  the only certain part is that i get the above printed with a recent commit, but when i rolled back the guix channel to:

(commit "f9af75b2c34aab564c821b5bacebd8570777a535")

then it finished without the above error.

when it happens it also seems to break booting. it hang rather early, not long after grub.

it's happening on a server where i'd like to keep downtime low, so i didn't do double checks. i just rolled back, reconfigured, and it worked afterwards.

HTH,

-- 
• attila lendvai
• PGP: 963F 5D5F 45C7 DFCD 0A39
--
“Choice implies consciousness - a high degree of consciousness. Without it, you have no choice. Choice begins the moment you disidentify from the mind and its conditioned patterns, the moment you become present....Nobody chooses dysfunction, conflict, pain. Nobody chooses insanity. They happen because there is not enough presence in you to dissolve the past, not enough light to dispel the darkness. You are not fully here. You have not quite woken up yet. In the meantime, the conditioned mind is running your life.”
	— Eckhart Tolle (1948–)

bug#63868: [reconfigure, shepherd] error: remove: unbound variable

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Attila Lendvai <attila@lendvai.name> skribis:

> $ sudo guix system reconfigure ...
> [...]
> building /gnu/store/8by5a6wqlxm3fw27xh3a6zzzwfczjpcm-install-bootloader.scm.drv...
> guix system: bootloader successfully installed on '(/boot/efi)'
> guix system: warning: exception caught while executing 'eval' on service 'root':
> error: remove: unbound variable
> guix system: warning: some services could not be upgraded
> hint: To allow changes to all the system services to take effect, you will need to reboot.

‘remove’ is a core binding (available by default) so I don’t see how we
can get that error.

> this is all foggy.  the only certain part is that i get the above printed with a recent commit, but when i rolled back the guix channel to:
>
> (commit "f9af75b2c34aab564c821b5bacebd8570777a535")
>
> then it finished without the above error.
>
> when it happens it also seems to break booting. it hang rather early, not long after grub.
>
> it's happening on a server where i'd like to keep downtime low, so i didn't do double checks. i just rolled back, reconfigured, and it worked afterwards.

Weird.  Are there any hints in /var/log/messages?

Thanks,
Ludo’.

bug#63868: [reconfigure, shepherd] error: remove: unbound variable

[Attila Lendvai]

close 63868
stop


TL;DR HEAD of master doesn't exhibit this anymore, it works fine.


> Weird. Are there any hints in /var/log/messages?


nothing sticks out to me.

i saw it on another machine since then, similar config. i had more opportunity to experiment there, and the first commit where the error shows up is this one:

services: Error in MODIFY-SERVICES when services don't exist
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/commit/?id=dbbc7e946131ba257728f1d05b96c4339b7ee88b

one commit prior in the history works fine: ae707b62e71b1fae054eb422412384bcc8d39fa9

i've tried to play around with different commits, and also reverting this one on top of other commits, but it took too long to recompile stuff locally... and meanwhile some changes in master eliminated this issue, so this is all kinda moot now.

but i have double checked, and the above commit is the one that consistently leads to this error for me.

--
• attila lendvai
• PGP: 963F 5D5F 45C7 DFCD 0A39
--
“To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell.

And so it is with science.”
	— Richard Feynman (1918–1988)

bug#63868: [reconfigure, shepherd] error: remove: unbound variable

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Attila Lendvai <attila@lendvai.name> skribis:

> services: Error in MODIFY-SERVICES when services don't exist
> https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/commit/?id=dbbc7e946131ba257728f1d05b96c4339b7ee88b
>
> one commit prior in the history works fine: ae707b62e71b1fae054eb422412384bcc8d39fa9

There were problems with that commit that have been mostly fixed now:

  https://issues.guix.gnu.org/63921

How this could explain what you describe, I don’t know, not having a
clear picture of what happened.

I’m closing but please reopen with additional info if you think there’s
still something wrong.

Thanks,
Ludo’.