Static binaries for releases

[itamarst]

As someone else commented on lobste.rs, it would be nice to have pre-generated static binaries so users who don't have Nix and Haskell setup don't have to install a whole new toolchain to use Neuron.

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[text below added by @srid]

• Static binaries for Linux (and Windows, through WSL2)
• Static binaries for macOS
• Host static binaries for release, and link to from docs

[srid]

I could use some help on this. It seems we will need to use this: https://github.com/nh2/static-haskell-nix#static-haskell-nix

[itamarst]

FWIW a semi-static executable that only depends on libc would probably be fine for most people? Like what you get from Go and Rust, often. Unless you're linking against some other C libraries.

[srid]

FWIW, this is what the current executable links to (on linux):

$ ldd (which neuron)
        linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffe79d92000)
        libm.so.6 => /nix/store/pnd2kl27sag76h23wa5kl95a76n3k9i3-glibc-2.27/lib/libm.so.6 (0x00007f7bb2490000)
        libz.so.1 => /nix/store/3bfzi6w3067hbdyl15vmypjn4q6az9j6-zlib-1.2.11/lib/libz.so.1 (0x00007f7bb2471000)
        liblua.so.5.3 => /nix/store/yaim51rzjyrp2dia8d954fywnwkp77na-lua-5.3.5/lib/liblua.so.5.3 (0x00007f7bb2436000)
        libncursesw.so.6 => /nix/store/zp8v7wkbplvmzyds87icn1rk070hizdc-ncurses-6.1-20190112/lib/libncursesw.so.6 (0x00007f7bb23c4000)
        libpthread.so.0 => /nix/store/pnd2kl27sag76h23wa5kl95a76n3k9i3-glibc-2.27/lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007f7bb23a3000)
        librt.so.1 => /nix/store/pnd2kl27sag76h23wa5kl95a76n3k9i3-glibc-2.27/lib/librt.so.1 (0x00007f7bb2397000)
        libutil.so.1 => /nix/store/pnd2kl27sag76h23wa5kl95a76n3k9i3-glibc-2.27/lib/libutil.so.1 (0x00007f7bb2392000)
        libdl.so.2 => /nix/store/pnd2kl27sag76h23wa5kl95a76n3k9i3-glibc-2.27/lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f7bb238d000)
        libgmp.so.10 => /nix/store/av3zmkb577zk4ds4xhzixdhvdvh726r7-gmp-6.1.2/lib/libgmp.so.10 (0x00007f7bb22f7000)
        libffi.so.6 => /nix/store/j1gs46vkawlk9mz8lc9g0xfi94hwrcv7-libffi-3.2.1/lib/libffi.so.6 (0x00007f7bb22eb000)
        libc.so.6 => /nix/store/pnd2kl27sag76h23wa5kl95a76n3k9i3-glibc-2.27/lib/libc.so.6 (0x00007f7bb2135000)
        /nix/store/pnd2kl27sag76h23wa5kl95a76n3k9i3-glibc-2.27/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 => /nix/store/9hy6c2hv8lcwc6clnc1p2jf09cs5q9dp-glibc-2.30/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f7bb2628000)

[pjones]

FWIW I've been working on building static Haskell binaries for a couple of weeks now. I bundled all my work into my nix-hs tool. If you're open to the idea of moving this project over to nix-hs I'd be glad to help.

[srid]

@pjones Note that neuron uses reflex-platform (which has its own nixpkgs pinned), for GHCJS support (all of ./neuron/src/lib must compile on GHCJS) that is required for the upcoming web app (see #182).

That said, for compiling neuron itself we use only GHC (not GHCJS), so in theory it should be possible to support static binary builds in reflex-platform; though it pinning an older nixpkgs version might make it all tricky.

EDIT: neuron doesn't use reflex-platform anymore.

[pjones]

Neither nix-hs nor static-haskell-nix care which pinned version of nixpkgs you are using as long as it can produce a working GHC compiled/linked with musl. I imagine that you'd want to use GHCJS directly (without reaching through static-haskell-nix) but use GHC via the statically compiled route.

When I have some time I'll take a look at the current build system and try to understand it.

[srid]

#262 might be a useful step towards this. cf. NixOS/nixpkgs#43795 (comment)

[srid]

We now have a docker image (autoupdates in CI) that weighs ~100MB: https://neuron.zettel.page/c6176636.html

[hazayan]

Static binaries are still an easier way to allow packaging for other distribution / operating systems.

[TanayB11]

I think that it is extremely important to get binaries going as soon as possible. I love the idea, but I definitely do not want to install a brand new package manager and Haskell support just to run this.

What I love about Neuron is that it's lightweight and portable; while that's definitely true with the markdown files, it's not true with Neuron itself yet. It should be as simple as a brew install or a brew cask install to get going. A Docker image is fine for now, but it won't cut it because on a PC the daemon has to be running 24/7.

[srid]

haskell.nix officially supports building static binaries: https://input-output-hk.github.io/haskell.nix/tutorials/cross-compilation/#static-executables-with-musl-libc

not sure if switching to it is worth it.

[srid]

I managed to produce a static Linux executable:

So the upcoming release of Neuron will have static executables, at least for Linux. And possibly macOS as well if I don't hit any annoying issues.

[srid]

macOS binaries could not be built; see the linked PR comments for details. If somebody wants to give it a try, start by replacing pkgsMusl with pkgsStatic in ./static.nix. Then run nix-build static.nix (it will build for long time).

The upcoming release should contain at minimum Linux static binaries.

[srid]

v1.0 got released. The official Linux static binary is linked from here: https://neuron.zettel.page/install.html

I will close this; if somebody wants macOS binaries, let's open a new issue for that.

[RoyiAvital]

Any chance for a native Static Binaries for Windows?

[srid]

@RoyiAvital Unlikely, but you can use wsl.exe to run the Linux static binary.

[RoyiAvital]

The issue is I don't want (Others just can't for instance Windows Home users) to install WSL.
It doesn't make sense to do it for a single application.

What's the blocker for having a static native binary for Windows?

[srid]

Mainly because I don't use Windows, and I like to stay in Nix ecosystem so that I can spend my time programming rather than battling packaging systems. That said, if others are interested in contributing Windows support I'd be happy to accept as long as it doesn't introduce non-Nix maintenance burden for me. Since neuron is essentially a Haskell package it should be theoritically possible, as others have done it, eg: https://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/jkyvr7/how_to_write_an_installer_for_your_haskell/

…

[srid]

btw, WSL is available for Windows Home users

WSL 2 is available on all SKUs where WSL is currently available, including Windows 10 Home.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl2-faq

[RoyiAvital]

@srid , any chance opening a dedicated issue for the Windows support effort?