1.9.5 fails to install on NixOS

[RyanGibb]

While installing ocamlfind 1.9.5 in NixOS 22.05:

$ opam install "ocamlfind=1.9.5"
...
#=== ERROR while installing ocamlfind.1.9.5 ===================================#
# context     2.1.2 | linux/x86_64 | ocaml.4.13.1 | https://opam.ocaml.org#e1c20992
# path        ~/.opam/default/.opam-switch/build/ocamlfind.1.9.5
# command     ~/.opam/opam-init/hooks/sandbox.sh install make install
# exit-code   2
# env-file    ~/.opam/log/ocamlfind-103265-a0c709.env
# output-file ~/.opam/log/ocamlfind-103265-a0c709.out
### output ###
# [...]
# install -d "`dirname \"/home/ryan/.opam/default/lib/findlib.conf\"`"
# test -f "/home/ryan/.opam/default/lib/findlib.conf" || install -c findlib.conf "/home/ryan/.opam/default/lib/findlib.conf"
# make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/ryan/.opam/default/.opam-switch/build/ocamlfind.1.9.5'
# for p in findlib; do ( cd src/$p; make install ); done
# make[1]: Entering directory '/home/ryan/.opam/default/.opam-switch/build/ocamlfind.1.9.5/src/findlib'
# install -d "/home/ryan/.opam/default/lib/findlib"
# install -d "/home/ryan/.opam/default/bin"
# install -d "/nix/store/sx7m5a7xwh76jzb05g07f3nbhl44qw4z-ocaml-4.13.1/lib/ocaml"
# install: cannot change permissions of ‘/nix/store/sx7m5a7xwh76jzb05g07f3nbhl44qw4z-ocaml-4.13.1/lib/ocaml’: Read-only file system
# make[1]: *** [Makefile:126: install] Error 1
# make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/ryan/.opam/default/.opam-switch/build/ocamlfind.1.9.5/src/findlib'
# make: *** [Makefile:24: install] Error 2
...

Note that in nix, /nix/store is read only to ensure reproducibility.

I've found that the last available version on opam, 1.9.3, works fine.

[RyanGibb]

This happens with the NixOS packaged OCaml.

I've tried install OCaml through opam, but it fails for reasons that elude me even more:

$ opam init
...
[ERROR] The compilation of ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0 failed at "make -j7".

#=== ERROR while compiling ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0 =========================#
# context     2.1.2 | linux/x86_64 |  | https://opam.ocaml.org#42e749bd
# path        ~/.opam/default/.opam-switch/build/ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0
# command     ~/.opam/opam-init/hooks/sandbox.sh build make -j7
# exit-code   2
# env-file    /tmp/opam-ryan-127226/ocaml-base-compiler-127226-316a5f.env
# output-file /tmp/opam-ryan-127226/ocaml-base-compiler-127226-316a5f.out
### output ###
# [...]
# gcc -c -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -pthread -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -fno-common -fexcess-precision=standard -fno-tree-vrp -ffunction-sections -g -fPIC  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DCAML_NAME_SPACE  -DCAMLDLLIMPORT=  -o codefrag.bpic.o codefrag.c
# gcc -c -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -pthread -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -fno-common -fexcess-precision=standard -fno-tree-vrp -ffunction-sections -g  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DCAML_NAME_SPACE  -DCAMLDLLIMPORT=  \
#   -o prims.o prims.c
# rm -f libcamlrun.a && false rc libcamlrun.a  interp.b.o misc.b.o stacks.b.o fix_code.b.o startup_aux.b.o startup_byt.b.o freelist.b.o major_gc.b.o minor_gc.b.o memory.b.o alloc.b.o roots_byt.b.o globroots.b.o fail_byt.b.o signals.b.o signals_byt.b.o printexc.b.o backtrace_byt.b.o backtrace.b.o compare.b.o ints.b.o eventlog.b.o floats.b.o str.b.o array.b.o io.b.o extern.b.o intern.b.o hash.b.o[...]
# rm -f libcamlrund.a && false rc libcamlrund.a  interp.bd.o misc.bd.o stacks.bd.o fix_code.bd.o startup_aux.bd.o startup_byt.bd.o freelist.bd.o major_gc.bd.o minor_gc.bd.o memory.bd.o alloc.bd.o roots_byt.bd.o globroots.bd.o fail_byt.bd.o signals.bd.o signals_byt.bd.o printexc.bd.o backtrace_byt.bd.o backtrace.bd.o compare.bd.o ints.bd.o eventlog.bd.o floats.bd.o str.bd.o array.bd.o io.bd.o ex[...]
# make[2]: *** [Makefile:274: libcamlrun.a] Error 1
# make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
# make[2]: *** [Makefile:283: libcamlrund.a] Error 1
# make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/ryan/.opam/default/.opam-switch/build/ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0/runtime'
# make[1]: *** [Makefile:163: coldstart] Error 2
# make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/ryan/.opam/default/.opam-switch/build/ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0'
# make: *** [Makefile:311: world.opt] Error 2



<><> Error report <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
┌─ The following actions failed
│ λ build ocaml-base-compiler 4.14.0
└─
┌─ The following changes have been performed (the rest was aborted)
│ ∗ install base-bigarray         base
│ ∗ install base-threads          base
│ ∗ install base-unix             base
│ ∗ install ocaml-options-vanilla 1
└─

<><> ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0 troubleshooting <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
=> A failure in the middle of the build may be caused by build parallelism
      (enabled by default).
      Please file a bug report at
   https://github.com/ocaml/opam-repository/issues
=> You can try installing again including --jobs=1
      to force a sequential build instead

And using opam init --jobs=1:

[ERROR] The compilation of ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0 failed at "make -j1".

#=== ERROR while compiling ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0 =========================#
# context     2.1.2 | linux/x86_64 |  | https://opam.ocaml.org#42e749bd
# path        ~/.opam/default/.opam-switch/build/ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0
# command     ~/.opam/opam-init/hooks/sandbox.sh build make -j1
# exit-code   2
# env-file    /tmp/opam-ryan-137563/ocaml-base-compiler-137563-669216.env
# output-file /tmp/opam-ryan-137563/ocaml-base-compiler-137563-669216.out
### output ###
# [...]
# gcc -c -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -pthread -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -fno-common -fexcess-precision=standard -fno-tree-vrp -ffunction-sections -g  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DCAML_NAME_SPACE  -DCAMLDLLIMPORT=  -o bigarray.b.o bigarray.c
# gcc -c -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -pthread -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -fno-common -fexcess-precision=standard -fno-tree-vrp -ffunction-sections -g  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DCAML_NAME_SPACE  -DCAMLDLLIMPORT=  -o main.b.o main.c
# gcc -c -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -pthread -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -fno-common -fexcess-precision=standard -fno-tree-vrp -ffunction-sections -g  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DCAML_NAME_SPACE  -DCAMLDLLIMPORT=  -o memprof.b.o memprof.c
# gcc -c -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -pthread -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -fno-common -fexcess-precision=standard -fno-tree-vrp -ffunction-sections -g  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DCAML_NAME_SPACE  -DCAMLDLLIMPORT=  -o domain.b.o domain.c
# gcc -c -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -pthread -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -fno-common -fexcess-precision=standard -fno-tree-vrp -ffunction-sections -g  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DCAML_NAME_SPACE  -DCAMLDLLIMPORT=  -o skiplist.b.o skiplist.c
# gcc -c -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -pthread -Wall -Wdeclaration-after-statement -fno-common -fexcess-precision=standard -fno-tree-vrp -ffunction-sections -g  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DCAML_NAME_SPACE  -DCAMLDLLIMPORT=  -o codefrag.b.o codefrag.c
# rm -f libcamlrun.a && false rc libcamlrun.a  interp.b.o misc.b.o stacks.b.o fix_code.b.o startup_aux.b.o startup_byt.b.o freelist.b.o major_gc.b.o minor_gc.b.o memory.b.o alloc.b.o roots_byt.b.o globroots.b.o fail_byt.b.o signals.b.o signals_byt.b.o printexc.b.o backtrace_byt.b.o backtrace.b.o compare.b.o ints.b.o eventlog.b.o floats.b.o str.b.o array.b.o io.b.o extern.b.o intern.b.o hash.b.o[...]
# make[2]: *** [Makefile:274: libcamlrun.a] Error 1
# make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/ryan/.opam/default/.opam-switch/build/ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0/runtime'
# make[1]: *** [Makefile:163: coldstart] Error 2
# make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/ryan/.opam/default/.opam-switch/build/ocaml-base-compiler.4.14.0'
# make: *** [Makefile:311: world.opt] Error 2

[dra27]

I think the original error may be fixed by #54 - I think you can test that by running opam pin add ocamlfind git+https://github.com/AltGr/ocamlfind.git#fix-install-syscomp

For the other error, binutils doesn't appear to be properly available - the false rc is a result of failing to find the ar command. Can @timbertson help with that?

[RyanGibb]

I think the original error may be fixed by #54 - I think you can test that by running opam pin add ocamlfind git+https://github.com/AltGr/ocamlfind.git#fix-install-syscomp

Yep, that fixed it! Strangely this occurs when I appear to be using the coreutils install though.

For the other error, binutils doesn't appear to be properly available - the false rc is a result of failing to find the ar command. Can @timbertson help with that?

Ah yes, I think this is due to opam not handling external dependencies for NixOS (related to ocaml/opam#5124). Installing bintools-unwrapped (and using jobs=1) fixes this.

Thanks, @dra27!\