Hello Guix users!
Today I had a strange error, when I ran a `guix shell` command:
~~~~
(repl-version 0 1 1)
(exception %exception (non-self-quoting 140737175054176 "#<&message message: \"unsupported
manifest format\">"))
~~~~
This happened with guix on foreign distro and that distro is a Xubuntu 22.04,
which I recently upgraded from 20.04 -> 22.04. After that, I think today was the
first time I ran that guix shell command. Because of the distribution upgrade, a
lot of things can have changed.
This is how I ran the command:
I have an `env.bash` file:
~~~~
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -Eeuxo pipefail
DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" > /dev/null 2>&1 && pwd)"
printf "script directory is: %s\n" "${DIR}"
guix time-machine \
--channels="${DIR}/channels.scm" -- \
shell \
--development \
--check \
--manifest="${DIR}/manifest.scm"
~~~~
The `manifest.scm` file is:
~~~~
(specifications->manifest
'("python"
"python-requests"
"python-docker"
"python-websocket-client"
"python-iniconfig"
"python-pytest"
"docker-compose"
))
~~~~
The `channels.scm` file is:
~~~~
(list (channel
(name 'guix)
(url"https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git";)
(branch "master")
(commit
"dbf09879710aefe6cedd9ed975cc2b79df01b755")
(introduction
(make-channel-introduction
"9edb3f66fd807b096b48283debdcddccfea34bad"
(openpgp-fingerprint
"BBB0 2DDF 2CEA F6A8 0D1D E643 A2A0 6DF2 A33A 54FA")))))
~~~~
However, I unfortunately already updated the `channels.scm` file using `guix
describe --format=channels > channels.scm`, so the above file is not the file,
with which I had the error, and I have no idea what the channel was before.
When I had the error, I simply ran `bash guix-env/env.bash`, to activate the
shell. Then I got an error and guix told me about a log file, some `*.log.gz`
file. That one I copied out of the GNU store directory and opened the contained
text file. It contained the error I wrote above.
I am aware, that without the exact `channels.scm` file, this might be
irreproducible. Sorry about it! When I hit the error, I thought: "Ahh well,
quickly update guix and see if it solves it." and I also did the guix describe
thingy to update the channel file, because my primary goal was to get the guix
shell working again. Only later I thought of still needed that old file, in
order to make a proper report. Sorry! After doing the following, it worked again:
~~~~
sudo -i
guix pull && guix package -u
(Ctrl+d)
guix pull && guix package -u
guix describe --format=channels > channels.scm
~~~~
My question now is, what could have caused the error? I thought, that, if I keep
`channels.scm` the same, I would get a reproducible environment, assuming, that
guix itself does not change behavior. Also the OS upgrade can of course have
interfered and I would not be able to tell. But perhaps my strategy to get
reproducible shells is not as safe as I thought? ("Can I still run in this
environment/shell in 5 years? In 10? With the same results?")
Best regards and apologies again for the not so precise information,
Zelphir
--
repositories:https://notabug.org/ZelphirKaltstahl
