cabal-helper 0.8.0.2 miss dependencies in nixos

[YuMingLiao]

Issue description

Hi, I was trying to install cabal-helper, using channel nixos-unstable and nix-shell. And error happens:
these derivations will be built:

  /nix/store/6lf07ww2670mq85q59kbmkj1hqjrd8im-cabal-helper-0.8.0.2.drv
  /nix/store/l9zyy5gwlvh5wvgn8i80pbwbp4grpbka-ghc-8.4.3-with-packages.drv
building '/nix/store/6lf07ww2670mq85q59kbmkj1hqjrd8im-cabal-helper-0.8.0.2.drv'...
setupCompilerEnvironmentPhase
Build with /nix/store/yc8an71h8cah8w6fw0xykjxl68a8j1h7-ghc-8.4.3.
ignoring (possibly broken) abi-depends field for packages
ignoring (possibly broken) abi-depends field for packages
unpacking sources
unpacking source archive /nix/store/27g5a92f4s32mif60j426gd663iyrqvx-cabal-helper-0.8.0.2.tar.gz
source root is cabal-helper-0.8.0.2
setting SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH to timestamp 1518192504 of file cabal-helper-0.8.0.2/tests/UnitTests.hs
patching sources
Replace Cabal file with edited version from http://hackage.haskell.org/package/cabal-helper-0.8.0.2/revision/1.cabal.
compileBuildDriverPhase
setupCompileFlags: -package-db=/tmp/nix-build-cabal-helper-0.8.0.2.drv-0/setup-package.conf.d -j1 -threaded
[1 of 1] Compiling Main             ( Setup.hs, /tmp/nix-build-cabal-helper-0.8.0.2.drv-0/Main.o )
Linking Setup ...
configuring
configureFlags: --verbose --prefix=/nix/store/1f0612gn5apjs3m5vfcl12yssx5q9x11-cabal-helper-0.8.0.2 --libdir=$prefix/lib/$compiler --libsubdir=$pkgid --docdir=/nix/store/icpsmz8zcdgjciraa4i45gvr841isk95-cabal-helper-0.8.0.2-doc/share/doc/cabal-helper-0.8.0.2 --with-gcc=gcc --package-db=/tmp/nix-build-cabal-helper-0.8.0.2.drv-0/package.conf.d --ghc-option=-j1 --disable-split-objs --enable-library-profiling --profiling-detail=all-functions --disable-profiling --enable-shared --disable-coverage --enable-static --disable-executable-dynamic --disable-tests --enable-library-vanilla --enable-library-for-ghci --ghc-option=-split-sections --extra-lib-dirs=/nix/store/3cnh0n698w18l5g933wrx22zvkhcj8ik-ncurses-6.1/lib --extra-lib-dirs=/nix/store/bi9nx8f8kl8apgd544hkx2dsvlvr4zix-gmp-6.1.2/lib
Using Parsec parser
Warning: cabal-helper.cabal:125:3: The field "scope" is available since Cabal
[2,0]
Configuring cabal-helper-0.8.0.2...
CallStack (from HasCallStack):
  die', called at ./Distribution/Simple/Configure.hs:958:20 in Cabal-2.2.0.1-302vnEvwKgd3FEKLIV6HbI:Distribution.Simple.Configure
  configureFinalizedPackage, called at ./Distribution/Simple/Configure.hs:462:12 in Cabal-2.2.0.1-302vnEvwKgd3FEKLIV6HbI:Distribution.Simple.Configure
  configure, called at ./Distribution/Simple.hs:596:20 in Cabal-2.2.0.1-302vnEvwKgd3FEKLIV6HbI:Distribution.Simple
  confHook, called at ./Distribution/Simple/UserHooks.hs:67:5 in Cabal-2.2.0.1-302vnEvwKgd3FEKLIV6HbI:Distribution.Simple.UserHooks
  configureAction, called at ./Distribution/Simple.hs:178:19 in Cabal-2.2.0.1-302vnEvwKgd3FEKLIV6HbI:Distribution.Simple
  defaultMainHelper, called at ./Distribution/Simple.hs:115:27 in Cabal-2.2.0.1-302vnEvwKgd3FEKLIV6HbI:Distribution.Simple
  defaultMain, called at Setup.hs:11:8 in main:Main
Setup: Encountered missing dependencies:
Cabal >=1.14 && <1.26 || ==2.0.*,
template-haskell >=2.7.0.0 && <2.13,
temporary >=1.2.0.4 && <1.3

builder for '/nix/store/6lf07ww2670mq85q59kbmkj1hqjrd8im-cabal-helper-0.8.0.2.drv' failed with exit code 1
cannot build derivation '/nix/store/l9zyy5gwlvh5wvgn8i80pbwbp4grpbka-ghc-8.4.3-with-packages.drv': 1 dependencies couldn't be built
error: build of '/nix/store/l9zyy5gwlvh5wvgn8i80pbwbp4grpbka-ghc-8.4.3-with-packages.drv' failed

And the package author has confirmed that

the dependencies are declared in cabal-helper.cabal correctly but Setup.hs can't find them so they didn't get installed by Nix for some reason.

Steps to reproduce

nix-shell -p "haskell.packages.ghc843.ghcWithPackages (pkgs: with pkgs; [cabal-helper])" -p z3

Technical details

these paths will be fetched (0.00 MiB download, 0.00 MiB unpacked):
  /nix/store/m2mwfr63zh28wxy6zzmgns4vhjmyw0p1-nix-info
copying path '/nix/store/m2mwfr63zh28wxy6zzmgns4vhjmyw0p1-nix-info' from 'https://cache.nixos.org'...
 - system: `"x86_64-linux"`
 - host os: `Linux 4.14.54, NixOS, 18.09pre145679.dae9cf6106d (Jellyfish)`
 - multi-user?: `yes`
 - sandbox: `no`
 - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.0.4`
 - channels(root): `"nixos-18.09pre147850.2428f5dda13"`
 - channels(demo): `"nixos, nixpkgs-17.09.3263.9e1d8b74706"`
 - channels(ted): `"nixos-18.09pre149415.8395f9aa85e"`
 - nixpkgs: `/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos`

[mpickering]

What about cabal-helper-0.8.1.2 which has at least a relaxed bound on Cabal.

[YuMingLiao]

Hi @mpickering Thx for suggestion.

Right now, Cabal-helper in nixos-unstable is 0.8.0.2.
Hackage says it's 0.8.1.0, but
Hydra says the failure starts from 2018-05-23 cabal-helper-0.8.0.2.

That's what I know now.

Or is there any way to update the latest cabal-helper to nixos-channel?

[mpickering]

Like any normal Haskell package, you have to override the cabal-helper attribute.

let 
  nixpkgs = import <nixpkgs> {};
  extension = self: super: { cabal-helper = self.callHackage "cabal-helper" "0.8.1.0" {}; };
  hp = nixpkgs.haskellPackages.extend(extension);
in
  hp.cabal-helper

[YuMingLiao]

Thanks for the tip! @mpickering
I'll conquer nix expression...some day!

I guess it's not an issue in nixos, either. So I close it.

[YuMingLiao]

I can get cabal-helper-0.8.0.2 by this method.

[nix-shell:~/test/haskell-nix/project0]$ ghc-pkg list | grep cabal-helper
    cabal-helper-0.8.0.2

But I can't have it from 0.8.1.0 and the above.

building '/nix/store/jdsq5ggrjpd2pzjq0405npcr3z5klkmy-all-cabal-hashes-component-cabal-helper-0.8.1.0.drv'...
tar: */cabal-helper/0.8.1.0/cabal-helper.json: Not found in archive
tar: */cabal-helper/0.8.1.0/cabal-helper.cabal: Not found in archive
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
builder for '/nix/store/jdsq5ggrjpd2pzjq0405npcr3z5klkmy-all-cabal-hashes-component-cabal-helper-0.8.1.0.drv' failed with exit code 2
cannot build derivation '/nix/store/5y0q9095n32jfdpkvq10m37a8qr5yb79-cabal2nix-cabal-helper-0.8.1.0.drv': 1 dependencies couldn't be built
error: build of '/nix/store/5y0q9095n32jfdpkvq10m37a8qr5yb79-cabal2nix-cabal-helper-0.8.1.0.drv' failed
(use '--show-trace' to show detailed location information)

[YuMingLiao]

I've git clone the latest cabal-helper-0.8.1.2 and loose the upper bound of temporary. (In nixos-unstable, temporary is 1.3.0.0. And it compiles successfully.

Nowever, in nixos-unstable, the cabal-helper is 0.8.1.0.

I don't know why nixos-unstable doesn't have the lastest cabal-helper even I did nix-channel --update . Is there anyway to update cabal-helper to nixos-unstable?