`nix-env --upgrade` upgrades 'nix-2.3.10' to 'nix-2.3.10-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl' #118481

fishy · 2021-04-04T17:11:14Z

Describe the bug
I'm running nixpkgs on Debian testing on amd64. After doing nix-channel --update && nix-env --upgrade it upgraded 'nix-2.3.10' to 'nix-2.3.10-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl'.

After that upgrade is done, nix-env --upgrade --show-trace complains about attribute 'unsafeDiscardStringContext' missing:

$ nix-env --upgrade --show-trace
error: while evaluating anonymous function at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/top-level/impure.nix:15:1, called from undefined position:
while evaluating anonymous function at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/top-level/default.nix:19:1, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/top-level/impure.nix:83:1:
while evaluating anonymous function at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/booter.nix:42:1, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/top-level/default.nix:122:10:
while evaluating 'dfold' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/booter.nix:60:27, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/booter.nix:136:4:
while evaluating 'go' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/booter.nix:63:18, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/booter.nix:72:13:
while evaluating 'imap1' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/lists.nix:116:14, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/booter.nix:78:30:
while evaluating 'reverseList' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/lists.nix:393:17, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/booter.nix:85:6:
while evaluating anonymous function at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/default.nix:7:1, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/top-level/default.nix:118:12:
while evaluating 'elaborate' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/systems/default.nix:18:15, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/pkgs/top-level/default.nix:52:17:
while evaluating 'foldl' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/lists.nix:80:20, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/systems/default.nix:149:13:
while evaluating 'foldl'' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/lists.nix:82:16, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/lists.nix:86:8:
while evaluating the attribute 'parsed.abi.assertions' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/systems/default.nix:23:7:
while evaluating 'mkSystemFromString' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/systems/parse.nix:462:24, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/systems/default.nix:23:16:
while evaluating 'mkSkeletonFromList' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/systems/parse.nix:382:24, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/systems/parse.nix:462:49:
while evaluating 'splitString' at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/strings.nix:427:23, called from /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/systems/parse.nix:462:69:
attribute 'unsafeDiscardStringContext' missing, at /nix/store/jfqj09iqymfjy7l9z1lk5pbslww8nvl0-nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d/nixpkgs/lib/strings.nix:429:13

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Metadata
Please run nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m" and paste the result. (NOTE: this is after I did nix-env --rollback)

system: "x86_64-linux"
host os: Linux 5.10.0-5-amd64, Debian GNU/Linux, noversion
multi-user?: no
sandbox: yes
version: nix-env (Nix) 2.3.10
channels(fishy): "nixpkgs-21.05pre280331.54c1e44240d"
nixpkgs: /home/fishy/.nix-defexpr/channels/nixpkgs

Maintainer information:

# a list of nixpkgs attributes affected by the problem
attribute:
# a list of nixos modules affected by the problem
module:

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

symphorien · 2021-04-04T19:43:28Z

nix-env --upgrade upgrading packages to different packages because their name looks like a version bump is well known and not really fixable. cc NixOS/nixos-homepage#672
My opinionated advice: use home-manager.

The fact that nix-2.3.10-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl is broken may be viewed as a separate issue deserving further investigation.

nixos-discourse · 2021-04-06T19:20:32Z

This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/errors-upgrading-installing-packages-on-non-nix-os/12328/1

Ericson2314 · 2021-04-09T15:44:27Z

Definitely agree there is a larger issue here, but why on earth is the cross target coming after the version?! That is a big somewhere.

edolstra · 2021-04-13T09:53:31Z

The issue here is that the nixStatic package has a name nix-2.3.10-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl. This should be nix-static-2.3.10. The x86_64-unknown-linux-musl part is unhelpful to the user, and in any case features should be part of the pname, not the version.

This is a workaround for the issue a lot of people have been having where nix-env -u would think that nixStatic was a newer version of nix and “upgrade” it to that package, breaking setups in the process. Reference NixOS#118481

domenkozar · 2021-04-13T13:05:38Z

This is fixed in #119317

Check https://status.nixos.org/ for when it will reach the nixpkgs-unstable channel!

nixos-discourse · 2021-04-13T13:05:52Z

This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/errors-upgrading-installing-packages-on-non-nix-os/12328/2

sternenseemann · 2021-04-13T13:18:15Z

https://nixpk.gs/pr-tracker.html?pr=119317

DianaOlympos · 2021-04-15T12:49:52Z

I would like to reopen this and pin it, as it may affect a lot of people and break their install.

The fix was never release to unstable because hydra is broken on unstable. And a lot of people run unstable locally on their dev env.

domenkozar · 2021-04-15T13:15:32Z

I'm working on unblocking the channel.

domenkozar · 2021-04-16T10:20:25Z

Done

magthe · 2021-04-16T13:57:04Z

Are there any instructions on how to fix it on a local install?

My nix-env --upgrade is still erroring out with

error: attribute 'unsafeDiscardStringContext' missing, at /nix/store/swryhbsm4cfwfr61g67gmladvigmpw68-nixpkgs-src/lib/strings.nix:730:5
(use '--show-trace' to show detailed location information)

sternenseemann · 2021-04-16T14:05:54Z

I think people had success with using nix-env --rollback until they had a matching nix-daemon and nix version again.

domenkozar · 2021-04-16T15:53:12Z

You need to update nixpkgs, if you're using channels that's nix-channel --update.

If you're using niv see https://nix.dev/tutorials/towards-reproducibility-pinning-nixpkgs.html

mgudemann · 2021-04-21T14:27:48Z

Is there another solution apart from nix-env --rollback? I don't seem to have an old-enough generation available.

domenkozar · 2021-04-22T14:58:14Z

Assuming you're on linux you could try:

$(nix-store -r /nix/store/frrxf7qwl5dixa9p591wx9029pv8v066-nix-2.3.10)/bin/nix-env --upgrade

mgudemann · 2021-04-22T17:48:06Z

@domenkozar thanks, this helped

ghost · 2022-02-21T20:18:31Z

I am still encountering this issue with cross-compiled copies of nix. This is necessary for a repeatable bootstrap process on mips64el.

$ nix-build /nix/nixpkgs/ -A pkgsCross.mips64el-linux-gnuabi64.nixStatic
/nix/store/la7rzvxm7wgwqjqz397lrmbgbkwfl653-nix-static-mips64el-unknown-linux-musl-2.3.16

and then on the target machine:

$ /nix/store/la7rzvxm7wgwqjqz397lrmbgbkwfl653-nix-static-mips64el-unknown-linux-musl-2.3.16/bin/nix-env -iA hello
error: attribute 'unsafeDiscardStringContext' missing, at /nix/nixpkgs/lib/strings.nix:442:13
(use '--show-trace' to show detailed location information)

Can anybody enlighten me as to why the name of the directory in which the nix binary lives causes this error?

Is there a better way to use nixpkgs to cross-compile a standalone nix binary that will work on a system that does not yet have a /nix/store?

Also, nix expects to find certain non-executable resources (like the *.nix files in share/nix/) using a path which is hardwired at compile time. Is there a way to override that path at runtime, in order to explain to nix that it has been moved to a different location?

In the past I have used the Debian compiler/assembler/libraries to compile nix from source code, then used that to bootstrap. That's how I originally got mips64el working. However that process was tricky and not very repeatable, and as part of the upstreaming process I'd really like to have a documented bootstrap process that starts by using an amd64 machine to cross-compile the nix binary that will be used for bootstrapping. I'm having quite a difficult time doing that.

sternenseemann · 2022-02-21T21:01:54Z

I think in your case the issue is rather that what nix assumes to be <nixpkgs> doesn't exist, namely the /nix/nixpkgs directory, which is not a special /nix path, but rather has been created by you manually on your other machine, I assume. Seems that maybe NIX_PATH leaked into the mips machine or the nix binary.

ghost · 2022-02-22T06:31:03Z

I think in your case the issue is rather that what nix assumes to be <nixpkgs> doesn't exist, namely the /nix/nixpkgs directory,

Unfortunately that is not the issue; I copied (git clone) /nix/nixpkgs from the machine which built nix to the machine on which I'm running it.

$ ls /nix/nixpkgs/lib/strings.nix
/nix/nixpkgs/lib/strings.nix

The path /nix/nixpkgs is getting picked up from ~/.nix-defexpr/default.nix, which I deliberately set. I tried removing that file and indicating the location of nixpkgs manually, and got the same error:

$ /nix/store/la7rzvxm7wgwqjqz397lrmbgbkwfl653-nix-static-mips64el-unknown-linux-musl-2.3.16/bin/nix-env -f /nix/nixpkgs/ -iA hello
error: attribute 'unsafeDiscardStringContext' missing, at /nix/nixpkgs/lib/strings.nix:442:13
(use '--show-trace' to show detailed location information)

I'm quite sure something is wonky with the binary that is being built, rather than the environment in which it is running.

ghost · 2022-02-23T11:54:58Z

I was able to work around this by simply using nix 2.4 instead, in case that helps anybody else.

nix-build -A pkgsCross.mips64el-linux-gnuabi64.pkgsStatic.nix_2_4

fishy added the 0.kind: bug label Apr 4, 2021

sternenseemann mentioned this issue Apr 13, 2021

nixStatic: set derivation name to "nix-static-${version}" #119310

Closed

10 tasks

domenkozar closed this as completed Apr 13, 2021

leon-barrett mentioned this issue Apr 14, 2021

Getting error: attribute 'unsafeDiscardStringContext' missing while full update on Linux NixOS/nix#4704

Closed

domenkozar reopened this Apr 15, 2021

domenkozar pinned this issue Apr 15, 2021

fabaff unpinned this issue Apr 15, 2021

domenkozar closed this as completed Apr 16, 2021

SFrijters mentioned this issue Apr 17, 2021

nix-shell -p: unsafeDiscardStringContext missing error #119739

Closed

sternenseemann mentioned this issue Sep 26, 2021

[RFC 0107] Nixpkgs version attribute usage normalization NixOS/rfcs#107

Closed

ghost mentioned this issue Feb 21, 2022

mips64el support #161158

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`nix-env --upgrade` upgrades 'nix-2.3.10' to 'nix-2.3.10-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl' #118481

`nix-env --upgrade` upgrades 'nix-2.3.10' to 'nix-2.3.10-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl' #118481

fishy commented Apr 4, 2021 •

edited

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symphorien commented Apr 4, 2021

nixos-discourse commented Apr 6, 2021

Ericson2314 commented Apr 9, 2021

edolstra commented Apr 13, 2021

domenkozar commented Apr 13, 2021

nixos-discourse commented Apr 13, 2021

sternenseemann commented Apr 13, 2021

DianaOlympos commented Apr 15, 2021

domenkozar commented Apr 15, 2021

domenkozar commented Apr 16, 2021

magthe commented Apr 16, 2021

sternenseemann commented Apr 16, 2021

domenkozar commented Apr 16, 2021

mgudemann commented Apr 21, 2021

domenkozar commented Apr 22, 2021

mgudemann commented Apr 22, 2021

ghost commented Feb 21, 2022 •

edited by ghost

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sternenseemann commented Feb 21, 2022

ghost commented Feb 22, 2022 •

edited by ghost

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ghost commented Feb 23, 2022

nix-env --upgrade upgrades 'nix-2.3.10' to 'nix-2.3.10-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl' #118481

nix-env --upgrade upgrades 'nix-2.3.10' to 'nix-2.3.10-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl' #118481

Comments

fishy commented Apr 4, 2021 • edited Loading

symphorien commented Apr 4, 2021

nixos-discourse commented Apr 6, 2021

Ericson2314 commented Apr 9, 2021

edolstra commented Apr 13, 2021

domenkozar commented Apr 13, 2021

nixos-discourse commented Apr 13, 2021

sternenseemann commented Apr 13, 2021

DianaOlympos commented Apr 15, 2021

domenkozar commented Apr 15, 2021

domenkozar commented Apr 16, 2021

magthe commented Apr 16, 2021

sternenseemann commented Apr 16, 2021

domenkozar commented Apr 16, 2021

mgudemann commented Apr 21, 2021

domenkozar commented Apr 22, 2021

mgudemann commented Apr 22, 2021

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ghost commented Feb 22, 2022 • edited by ghost Loading

ghost commented Feb 23, 2022

`nix-env --upgrade` upgrades 'nix-2.3.10' to 'nix-2.3.10-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl' #118481

`nix-env --upgrade` upgrades 'nix-2.3.10' to 'nix-2.3.10-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl' #118481

fishy commented Apr 4, 2021 •

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