Friendly error message for users with special characters in user name…

…s on Windows (#200)

* installation on Windows with special characters in user names; issue #199

* check non-ASCII character or a space on Windows during _install_conda

* fix instructions for special characters in your user name

README.md

@@ -145,6 +145,38 @@ pkg> build Conda
 Note that Conda.jl 1.6 and above will use miniforge by default on x86_64, aarch64
 and ppc64le systems.
 
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+### Installation with special characters in user names
+
+If you have a special character in your user name (like an umlaut or an accent) the installation which defaults to
+directory `C:\Users\<username>\.julia\Conda\3` will fail on Windows. A space in your user name will also fail on any platform.
+This is a [known issue](https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/10239). The work-around is to install Miniconda to a user-writable directory outside of the home directory.
+Before installing `Conda.jl`, choose a directory without space and without special characters and set the environment variable `CONDA_JL_HOME` as follows inside a julia session:
+
+```julia
+ENV["CONDA_JL_HOME"] = raw"C:\Conda-Julia\3"
+using Pkg
+Pkg.build("Conda")
+```
+
+After restarting Julia, you can verify the new installation directory:
+
+```julia
+using Conda
+@show Conda.ROOTENV
+```
+
+If you use `IJulia` or `PyCall`, they need to be re-build:
+
+```julia
+using Pkg
+Pkg.build("PyCall")
+Pkg.build("IJulia")
+```
+
+
 ## Bugs and suggestions
 
 Conda has been tested on Linux, OS X, and Windows.

deps/build.jl

@@ -55,11 +55,11 @@ USE_MINIFORGE = lowercase(get(ENV, "CONDA_JL_USE_MINIFORGE", DefaultDeps.USE_MIN
 
 if isdir(ROOTENV) && MINICONDA_VERSION != DefaultDeps.MINICONDA_VERSION
     error("""Miniconda version changed, since last build.
-However, a root enviroment already exists at $(ROOTENV).
-Setting Miniconda version is not supported for existing root enviroments.
-To leave Miniconda version as, it is unset the CONDA_JL_VERSION enviroment variable and rebuild.
-To change Miniconda version, you must delete the root enviroment and rebuild.
-WARNING: deleting the root enviroment will delete all the packages in it.
+However, a root environment already exists at $(ROOTENV).
+Setting Miniconda version is not supported for existing root environments.
+To leave Miniconda version as, it is unset the CONDA_JL_VERSION environment variable and rebuild.
+To change Miniconda version, you must delete the root environment and rebuild.
+WARNING: deleting the root environment will delete all the packages in it.
 This will break many Julia packages that have used Conda to install their dependancies.
 These will require rebuilding.
 """)

src/Conda.jl

@@ -190,6 +190,23 @@ _quiet() = get(ENV, "CI", "false") == "true" ? `-q` : ``
 function _install_conda(env::Environment, force::Bool=false)
     if force || !isfile(Conda.conda)
         @assert startswith(abspath(Conda.conda), abspath(PREFIX)) "CONDA_EXE, $(conda), does not exist within $PREFIX"
+
+        if (' ' ∈ PREFIX) || (Sys.iswindows() && !isascii(PREFIX))
+            error("""Conda.jl cannot be installed to its default location $(PREFIX)
+as Miniconda does not support the installation to a directory with a space or a
+non-ASCII character on Windows. The work-around is to install Miniconda to a
+user-writable directory by setting the CONDA_JL_HOME environment variable. For
+example on Windows:
+
+ENV["CONDA_JL_HOME"] = raw"C:\\Conda-Julia\\3"
+using Pkg
+Pkg.build("Conda")
+
+The Julia session need to be restarted. More information is available at
+https://github.com/JuliaPy/Conda.jl.
+""")
+        end
+
         @info("Downloading miniconda installer ...")
         INSTALLER_DIR = tempdir()
         if Sys.isunix()