Error in remote ... Subprocess is busy or cannot start within {renv} project

[arnold-c]

Unfortunately I seem to be running into an issue using {pak} within an {renv} project. It's returning the following error:

r$> pak::pkg_install("depmixS4")                                                                                                                                                                                          
Error in remote(function(...) get("pkg_install_make_plan", asNamespace("pak"))(...),  : 
  Subprocess is busy or cannot start

The installation works with {pak} outside the {renv} project, and install.packages() works within the {renv} project.

Here's the output of pak::pak_sitrep() and Sys.info().

r$> pak::pak_sitrep()                                                                                                                                                                                                     
* pak version:
- 0.1.2.9001
* Version information:
- pak platform: x86_64-apple-darwin17.0 (current: x86_64-apple-darwin17.0, compatible)
- pak repository: - (local install?)
* Optional packages installed:
- tibble
* Library path:
- /Users/user/Documents/Repos/Data4Action/renv/library/R-4.1/x86_64-apple-darwin17.0
- /private/var/folders/09/rm_8fq2958z_d2f_fp3s3y2w172j91/T/Rtmp4cHOgA/renv-system-library
* Private library is embedded.

r$> Sys.info()                                                                                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                sysname                                                                                                 release 
                                                                                               "Darwin"                                                                                                "20.6.0" 
                                                                                                version                                                                                                nodename 
"Darwin Kernel Version 20.6.0: Mon Aug 30 06:12:20 PDT 2021; root:xnu-7195.141.6~3/RELEASE_ARM64_T8101"                                                                                "callum-work-mbp-13.lan" 
                                                                                                machine                                                                                                   login 
                                                                                               "x86_64"                                                                                                  "root" 
                                                                                                   user                                                                                          effective_user 
                                                                                              "user"                                                                                               "user"

I have uninstalled and reinstalled both the developmental version (errors above), and the CRAN version (different error below).

r$> pak::pkg_install("depmixS4")                                                                                                                                                                                          
Error in rethrow_call_with_cleanup(c_processx_wait, private$status, as.integer(timeout),  : 
  attempt to apply non-function
Type .Last.error.trace to see where the error occurred

r$> .Last.error.trace                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 Stack trace:

 1. pak::pkg_install("depmixS4")
 2. pak:::remote(function(...) get("pkg_install_make_plan", asNamespace("pak"))(...),  ...
 3. pak:::restart_remote_if_needed()
 4. rs$wait(100)
 5. process_wait(self, private, timeout)
 6. rethrow_call_with_cleanup(c_processx_wait, private$status, as.integer(timeout),  ...

 x attempt to apply non-function 

[gaborcsardi]

We'll have better renv support soonish.

[duccioa]

Hello,
I have the same problem with {renv} 1.0.2 and {pak} 0.6, the first time in an R session that I try to install a package. If I run again the same command just after the error in the same session, it works.

Here's the error (I am installing with 'install.packages' and RENV_CONFIG_PAK_ENABLED = TRUE but it's the same with pak::pkg_install) :

install.packages("openxlsx")
#> Error in remote(function(...) get("pkg_install_make_plan", asNamespace("pak"))(...),  : 
#>   Subprocess is busy or cannot start

#> Traceback (most recent calls last):
#> 6: install.packages("openxlsx")
#> 5: install(pkgs)
#> 4: renv_pak_install(packages, libpaths, project)
#> 3: pak$pkg_install(pkg = packages, lib = lib, upgrade = TRUE)
#> 2: remote(function(...) get("pkg_install_make_plan", asNamespace("pak"))(...), 
#>       list(pkg = pkg, lib = lib, upgrade = upgrade, ask = ask, 
#>            start = start, dependencies = dependencies, loaded = loaded_packages(lib)))
#> 1: stop("Subprocess is busy or cannot start")

pak::pak_sitrep()
#> * pak version:
#> - 0.6.0
#> * Version information:
#> - pak platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (current: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compatible)
#> - pak repository: - (local install?)
#> * Optional packages installed:
#> - pillar
#> * Library path:
#> - /xxx/xxx/xxx/myproject/renv/library/R-4.1/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
#> - /home/duccio/.cache/R/renv/sandbox/R-4.1/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/9a444a72
#> * Private library is embedded.

Here are my system's and session's info but it's the same on a Mac.

Sys.info()
#>                                                            sysname 
#>                                                            "Linux" 
#>                                                            release 
#>                                           "6.4.6-76060406-generic" 
#>                                                            version 
#> "#202307241739~1692717645~22.04~5597803 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue A" 
#>                                                           nodename 
#>                                                           "pop-os" 
#>                                                            machine 
#>                                                           "x86_64" 
#>                                                              login 
#>                                                           "user" 
#>                                                               user 
#>                                                           "user" 
#>                                                     effective_user 
#>                                                           "user"

sessionInfo()
#> R version 4.1.2 (2021-11-01)
#> Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (64-bit)
#> Running under: Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS
#> 
#> Matrix products: default
#> BLAS:   /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/blas/libblas.so.3.10.0
#> LAPACK: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lapack/liblapack.so.3.10.0
#> 
#> locale:
#>  [1] LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C              
#>  [3] LC_TIME=en_GB.UTF-8        LC_COLLATE=en_GB.UTF-8    
#>  [5] LC_MONETARY=en_GB.UTF-8    LC_MESSAGES=en_GB.UTF-8   
#>  [7] LC_PAPER=en_GB.UTF-8       LC_NAME=C                 
#>  [9] LC_ADDRESS=C               LC_TELEPHONE=C            
#> [11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_GB.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C       
#> 
#> attached base packages:
#> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     
#> 
#> loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
#>  [1] digest_0.6.33     withr_2.5.0       R.methodsS3_1.8.2 lifecycle_1.0.3  
#>  [5] magrittr_2.0.3    reprex_2.0.2      evaluate_0.21     rlang_1.1.1      
#>  [9] cli_3.6.1         fs_1.6.3          R.utils_2.12.2    R.oo_1.25.0      
#> [13] vctrs_0.6.3       rmarkdown_2.24    styler_1.10.2     tools_4.1.2      
#> [17] R.cache_0.16.0    glue_1.6.2        purrr_1.0.2       xfun_0.40        
#> [21] yaml_2.3.7        fastmap_1.1.1     compiler_4.1.2    htmltools_0.5.6  
#> [25] knitr_1.43```

[gaborcsardi]

Yes, this is a known issue: rstudio/renv#1628

[duccioa]

ah, sorry, I didn't find that. Thank you

[gaborcsardi]

So this is now fixed in dev pak. Linux binaries will be available within an hour, the rest tomorrow.

OTOH,

1. I am not sure how to tell renv to use dev pak, and
2. Pass P3M repos to pak, if they should be used rstudio/renv#1678 means that it is not great to use pak for renv projects, with P3M.