[callCabal2nix] copyFile: does not exist (No such file or directory) due to symlink file.

[Rizary]

Issue description

When I build using nix-build default.nix I got the following error:

ignoring (possibly broken) abi-depends field for packages
haddockPhase
installing
LICENSE: copyFile: does not exist (No such file or directory)
builder for '/nix/store/pbcchaj5zwzjp364hgq1g9p97jslrr11-hspec-core-2.5.1.drv' failed with exit code 1
cannot build derivation '/nix/store/wdnl0hxc9pk6455c7r6n6wjw57hx0d2w-hspec-2.5.1.drv': 1 dependencies couldn't be built
building '/nix/store/j4pag42mjj3dyfiyr4yb1ivh3pq18lns-uuid-types-1.0.3.drv'...

Then I look into the sourc repo https://github.com/hspec/hspec and found that inside hspec-* folder, all the LICENSE file were symlinked to the root folder.

Steps to reproduce

clone hspec and then make the following *.nix file in your separate project folder:

let

  # Import tools
  haskellPackages = pkgs.haskell.packages.ghc822;
  lib = pkgs.lib;
  servant         = import ./nixdeps/servant.nix;

  hspec-src       = ../hspec; # <--- where you put hspec git clone;

  fast = p: pkgs.haskell.lib.dontHaddock (pkgs.haskell.lib.dontCheck p);

  config = { allowUnfree = true; };
  overlays = [
    (newPkgs: oldPkgs: {
      myHaskellPackages = oldPkgs.haskell.packages.ghc822.override {
        overrides = newHaskellPkgs: oldHaskellPkgs: {
          servant =
            newHaskellPkgs.callCabal2nix "servant" "${servant}/servant" {};
          hspec =        
            fast (newHaskellPkgs.callCabal2nix "hspec" "${hspec-src}/" {});
          hspec-core =
            fast (newHaskellPkgs.callCabal2nix "hspec-core" "${hspec-src}/hspec-core" {});
       };
      };
    })
  ];

  nixpkgs = import ./nixdeps/nixpkgs.nix;
  pkgs = import nixpkgs { inherit config overlays; };
in
  {
    inherit (pkgs.myHaskellPackages) servant;
  }

Technical details

 - system: `"x86_64-linux"`
 - host os: `Linux 4.14.49, NixOS, 18.03.132684.f3c913d466f (Impala)`
 - multi-user?: `yes`
 - sandbox: `no`
 - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.0.4`
 - channels(root): `"nixos-18.03.132684.f3c913d466f"`
 - channels(rizilab): `"nixosUnstable-18.09pre142796.4b649a99d84, nixosUnstableSmall-18.09pre142840.e701948f5a3"`
 - nixpkgs: `/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos/nixpkgs`

Please run nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m" and paste the
results.

[roberth]

A workaround exists right now, by manually calling the cabal2nix tool and passing the --subpath option. It basically makes the builder cd into a subdirectory of src, so if pick the parent directory of your current src, the symlinks will work again.

The downside is that the src is bigger than necessary, which may cause unnecessary rebuilds when irrelevant parts of src change. If that's a concern, although I guess not, you could use filterSource to prevent that issue.

To make this approach work better in your example, you need a callCabal2nix that passes the extra arguments to haskellSrc2nix. This should be achievable with some attrset filtering in callCabal2nix ( pkgs/development/haskell-modules/make-package-set.nix).

[roberth]

@Rizary could you try #42658 to call cabal2nix with --subpath hspec-core and see if it resolves your problem?

[Rizary]

@roberth i will try it and let you know asap.

[stale]

Thank you for your contributions.

This has been automatically marked as stale because it has had no activity for 180 days.

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[viluon]

This is still important to me, as it seems to break stack install within nix-shell for ghc.nix.

[roberth]

@viluon Could you provide more details? stack install doesn't use the Nix sandbox to build your project and the ghc.nix repo only provides a shell which is likely to just work because it's all pinned. If that shell does break, you should create an issue on that repo and perhaps cross-reference it here.

[viluon]

@roberth Good point, my issue is probably of a different origin. I got a very similar error message and mistakenly thought it was a nixpkgs problem. Sorry!

[stale]

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