Symlink generated by `nix build` and the `--store` parameter is incorrect

[edude03]

Here is an easy example to reproduce:

docker run -ti lnl7/nix:2.0 bash
bash-4.4# mkdir test
bash-4.4# nix build --store $PWD/test nixpkgs.hello
[2 copied (24.0 MiB), 6.0 MiB DL]
bash-4.4# ls -al result
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 54 Jun 30 05:49 result -> /nix/store/6mab2znnw7j96k3vsdw9vyckady29r46-hello-2.10
bash-4.4# ls /nix/store/6mab2znnw7j96k3vsdw9vyckady29r46-hello-2.10
ls: cannot access '/nix/store/6mab2znnw7j96k3vsdw9vyckady29r46-hello-2.10': No such file or directory

However if you concatenate the path the symlink generates with the store path like so:

bash-4.4# ls $PWD/test/nix/store/6mab2znnw7j96k3vsdw9vyckady29r46-hello-2.10
bin  share

It works.

For now my workaround is setting $NIX_CUSTOM_STORE and doing output_path = $NIX_CUSTOM_STORE$(readlink result)

[stale]

I marked this as stale due to inactivity. → More info

[stale]

I closed this issue due to inactivity. → More info

[Tomaszal]

This seems to still be an issue as of Nix 2.11.1

[iensu]

Still an issue in 2.15.1

[keks]

Still an issue in 2.19.1

[keks]

Still an issue in 2.20.4.

[gleachkr]

Is changing the symlink actually the right thing to do? If you build with nix build --store, then the built binaries are linked against files under /nix rather than under your custom store location. So generally they won't work (they might coincidentally work if you also have a regular nix store floating around with the dependencies installed, or if they're statically linked).

But if you nix run --store $YOUR_STORE nixpkgs#bashInteractive, you'll enter an environment with your store bind-mounted to /nix, in which case the symlinks ought to work properly.

[keks]

then the built binaries are linked against files under /nix rather than under your custom store location

Hm, maybe they should be linked against the store provided in the command instead?