Certain paths don't link if multi outputs are used

[doronbehar]

I've opened a thread on the forums about the issue but getting no replies I hope I can get some attention here. I'd be happy to contribute a fix but I don't know even where to look..

Describe the bug

Trying to install GNU's make info manuals to my user environment via nix-env -iA nixos.gnumake.info but from some reason they are not found in my ~/.nix-profile/share/info.

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

nix-env -iA nixos.gnumake.info
ls -l ~/.nix-profile/share/info/make*

Expected behavior

make* files are found.

Additional context

I tried the following commands / workarounds but non helped:

1. Running nix-env -iA nixos-unstable.gnumake.all
2. Running nix-env -iA nixos-unstable.gnumake while gnumake's meta.outputsToInstall is overrided in my ~/.config/nixpkgs/config.nix to include "info" as so:

    gnumake = pkgs.gnumake.overrideAttrs (oldAttrs: rec {
      meta.outputsToInstall = [ "info" "out" ];
    });

As explained here.

I can see the package's info files in /nix/store/...-gnumake-info/share/info/ but from some reason they are not linked to my profile! This problem is there for every package with and "info" output (e.g (using git grep in nixpkgs) groff.info).

Metadata

Please run nix run nixpkgs.nix-info -c nix-info -m and paste the result.

• system: "x86_64-linux"
• host os: Linux 5.2.2, NixOS, 19.09pre186326.62cb4f72282 (Loris)
• multi-user?: yes
• sandbox: yes
• version: nix-env (Nix) 2.2.2
• channels(root): "nixos-19.09pre186326.62cb4f72282"
• channels(doron): "nixos-unstable-19.09pre186326.62cb4f72282"
• nixpkgs: /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos

Maintainer information:

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

[matthewbauer]

GNU Info requires an index (install-info) to work correctly so you need some way to generate the dir index declaratively. There are a few solutions available:

• home-manager's info module (https://github.com/rycee/home-manager/blob/master/modules/programs/info.nix) via programs.info.enable and home.packages
• NixOS's documentation module (https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/nixos/modules/misc/documentation.nix) via environment.systemPackages
• The ad-hoc Nixpkgs way: https://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/#sec-gnu-info-setup

[doronbehar]

I think GNU info's dir index is not relevant to the issue. The point is, that the .info files from the package are not even linked to the profile at the expected location (~/.nix-profile/share/info/) only when the output is split. A 'proof' for that is that I can run info <program> for packages that provide a .info file in their single output's $out/share/info/ (e.g package octave).

I'll summarize:

• If a package has multiple outputs and one of them is "info", nix-env -iA <package>.info doesn't link the .info files ~/.nix-profile/share/info.
• On the other hand, if a package has only "out" output, the .info files are linked O.K.

[doronbehar]

BTW the same issue goes with ncurses' dev output which provides the executable infocmp (I needed it for a script of mine) - installing nixpkgs.ncurses.dev doesn't make this executable available in ~/.nix-profile/bin/. I've applied the following overlay:

self: super:

{
  ncurses = super.ncurses.overrideAttrs (oldAttrs: rec {
    meta = oldAttrs.meta // {
      outputsToInstall = oldAttrs.outputs;
    };
  });
}

Almost identical to the overlay suggested by @lilyball in the discourse thread.

[matthewbauer]

I actually have a PR that actually would fix this, but it was considered too much of a breaking change:

#44168

[lilyball]

It looks like your PR installs all outputs. I can see why that may be considered undesirable. Fixing the issue where nix-env -iA nixos.gnumake.info doesn't actually install the info pages seems quite valuable though.

[nixos-discourse]

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

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/could-weve-implemented-multi-output-packages-better/6597/5

[nixos-discourse]

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

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/missing-man-pages/4680/7

[stale]

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

[doronbehar]

Still an issue.

[stale]

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

[doronbehar]

This is no longer an issue with nix profile. Personally I think we should move forward from nix-env and consider this a resolved issue, but I'll leave this issue open for nix-env users.

[bdesham]

@doronbehar Interesting. Where can I read more about nix profile? (It’s difficult to Google and this wiki page has a minimal amount of information.) Is it available on OSes other than NixOS?

[doronbehar]

@bdesham nix profile is available if you use nixUnstable. I have a vague memory that you use Darwin? I don't know how to switch to nixUnstable on Darwin, possibly possible via home-manager, but on NixOS there is:

https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/unstable/options.html#opt-nix.package .

[bdesham]

@doronbehar Thanks!

[stale]

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