[PATCH] gnu: nix: Update to 2.11.1.

Hi,

here's update of Nix daemon. Unfortunately, there is one test that doesn't return the location '/nix/store' so it's substituted.

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Petr

Hello,

I'd like to upstream this patch to Nix service and hear your thoughts on the matter.

The issue is that there are some packages that fail to build even on realtively powerful machine due to resource exhaustion - not enough RAM.

The solution for that is to extract and build the derivation on block device instead of tmpfs.

The solution for this is to specify the environment variable TMPDIR? and point it e.g. to `/var/tmp?`.

Unfortunately I'm not aware of any other way how to specify I'd like to build just this package in other directory (other than `/tmp`).

Also is there some other way how Guix handles this issue? I might be also used in Nix.

FIY the reason I have to use Nix is to build the Android image [1]

1 https://github.com/danielfullmer/robotnix

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Petr

Heyo,

phodina ???

Yes, this is an issue in Guix as well, e.g., when building disc

images.

No, Guix uses the exact same mechanism (and possibly code),

inherited directly from Nix.

‘directory’. Plz, no unnec. abbrev.

The concept LGTM. Calling it a ‘build directory’ might be

editorialising too much. Does Nix use it for anything else?

Kind regards,

T G-R

Hi Tobias,

thanks for feedback!

I've updated the patch so there is no abbreviation. I asked on Nix matrix channel and was told just for derivations. But I'm not expert so take it with grain of salt.

Ludo',

you have a lot insight into the build infrastructure and you also took the concepts from Nix.

What do you think about this approach? It should not be premanently set to block device as you loose throughput and increase latency, but it's neccessary for some derivations as not everybody can have powerful machine at their disposal.

Is there some way to share the approach with guix daemon? If I remeber correctly the derivation is offloaded to nix backend - the contents of `nix` directory (haven't yet had the chance to go through the C code).

I guess the machines behind 'https://ci.guix.gnu.org' have enough resources. Or is there some script that handles large derivations?

Also this might be interesting problem for embedded devices though offloading is definitely the best approach.

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Petr

Hi,

phodina <phodina@protonmail.com> skribis:

The manual documents it in the context of guix-daemon (info "(guix)

Build Environment Setup"):

You can influence the directory where the daemon stores build trees

via the ‘TMPDIR’ environment variable. However, the build tree within

the chroot is always called ‘/tmp/guix-build-NAME.drv-0’, where NAME is

the derivation name—e.g., ‘coreutils-8.24’. This way, the value of

‘TMPDIR’ does not leak inside build environments, which avoids

discrepancies in cases where build processes capture the name of their

build tree.

On Guix System, /tmp is not on tmpfs by default (maybe something to

change?); that’s also the case on build machines.

[...]

Rather something like: “The directory where build directory are stored

during builds.”

“This is useful to change if, for example, the default location does not

have enough space to hold build trees for big packages.”

(There’s no ‘chromium’ package in Guix.)

Then, instead of a long explanation, I’d just write something like:

This is similar to setting the @env{TMPDIR} environment variable for

@command{guix-daemon}. @ref{Build Environment Setup, @env{TMPDIR}},

for more info.

Could you send an updated patch?

Thanks,

Ludo’.

tags 58903 + moreinfo

quit

Hello Ludo’,

here's the updated patch with the text as you suggested. I removed the previous long paragraph which was to detailed and would only lengthen the Guix documentation :)

Also good idea to reference the guix daemon. Thanks.

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Petr

Hi,

phodina <phodina@protonmail.com> skribis:

Applied, thanks!

Ludo’.