mix release fails with {unreachable_package, cowlib}

[chemeris]

I'm trying to build a release for an app with many dependencies and mix release fails with the following error:

===> Running provider resolve_release
===> Solving Release smpp_gw-0.1.0
===> Provider (resolve_release) failed with: {error,
                                                     {rlx_prv_release,
                                                      {failed_solve,
                                                       {unreachable_package,
                                                        cowlib}}}}

At the same time I see _build/dev/lib/cowlib/ebin/cowlib.app perfectly present and _build/dev/lib is the first entry in the "Resolving OTP Applications from directories" list.

I'm using exrm 1.0.8 from Hex.

Any help would be appreciated. Happy to e-mail more debug output if needed.

[bitwalker]

Could you give distillery a try? It should work much better for you. If you cannot for some reason, can you push a repo which I can use to reproduce the issue?

[chemeris]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.
In few words, what's the difference between distillery and exrm? I.e. when should I use one or another

[bitwalker]

Distillery is a replacement for exrm, it's written entirely in Elixir, is much more configurable, has better support for umbrella projects, and is faster. There's basically no reason to use exrm over distillery unless you are already using it and have no desire to change between them.

[chemeris]

Thank you for the explanation. I've tried distillery and filed a bug report there, because it also fails to generate a release.