Failed to get Nix info: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'nix'

Issue originally created by mguthaus on 2025-02-18T14:57:09Z

Description

Using the most recent OpenLane2 (2.3.6), I get an error when I run openlane --dockerized. I do not have Nix installed on my host machine. The error is:

Failed to get Nix info: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'nix'

Expected Behavior

I expect it to not produce the error.

Environment report

I used pip install openlane, so i did not clone openlane.

Reproduction material

No material needed. Just run:
openlane --dockerized

Relevant log output

$ openlane --dockerized
Failed to get Nix info: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'nix'
[06:54:24] INFO     Running containerized command:                                                                                                                                      container.py:249
docker run --rm --name 576cd69d-3108-49c4-9f22-839975534b96 -i -t --user 1000:1000 -v /home/mrg:/home/mrg -v /home/mrg/.volare:/home/mrg/.volare -e PDK_ROOT=/home/mrg/.volare -w /home/mrg/demo -v /tmp/tmppppcpvwgopenlane_docker:/tmp -e TMPDIR=/tmp -e DISPLAY=:0 -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix -v /home/mrg/.Xauthority:/.Xauthority --network host --security-opt seccomp=unconfined ghcr.io/efabless/openlane2:2.3.6 zsh
OpenLane Container (2.3.6):/home/mrg/demo%

Start from the openlane --dockerized entry point and the code that reports “Failed to get Nix info” when the nix executable is absent. Reproduce the command without Nix installed, then verify that the dockerized flow runs without emitting this error.