microsoft / microsoft/WSL

symlinkJoin doesn't work on WSL

Open
#2,443 8 comments 3 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

feature
Dominant language
C++
Stars
33.7k
Forks
1.8k
Avg merge
3d 17h
Merged PRs (30d)
116

Description

Build 16257

Nixpkgs ghcWithPackages fails because symlinkJoin doesn't work. See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/26506

To reproduce, install nix, then using nix try to install ghc with packages. For example:

  • curl https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh
  • echo "{}: {foo=(import {}).haskellPackages.ghcWithPackages (h: [h.text]);}" > foo.nix
  • nix-env -f foo.nix -i -A foo

The following errors are produced:

installing ‘ghc-8.0.2-with-packages’
these derivations will be built:
  /nix/store/b8vq8x4zf7064k03br4arzwxq17q9ccn-ghc-8.0.2-with-packages.drv
building path(s) ‘/nix/store/6ngxwi2xpnzcivvkwiy78cjg09r9f1mc-ghc-8.0.2-with-packages’
.: File exists
..: File exists
.: File exists
..: File exists
lib: /nix/store/gyw8sz9pmg34hpwxs5rz1g90q8fvia3q-text-1.2.2.1/lib
share: /nix/store/gyw8sz9pmg34hpwxs5rz1g90q8fvia3q-text-1.2.2.1/share
rm: cannot remove '/nix/store/6ngxwi2xpnzcivvkwiy78cjg09r9f1mc-ghc-8.0.2-with-packages/bin/ghc': Permission denied
builder for ‘/nix/store/b8vq8x4zf7064k03br4arzwxq17q9ccn-ghc-8.0.2-with-packages.drv’ failed with exit code 1
error: build of ‘/nix/store/b8vq8x4zf7064k03br4arzwxq17q9ccn-ghc-8.0.2-with-packages.drv’ failed

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the documented nix-env commands on WSL and inspect the reported symlinkJoin errors, including the permission failure when removing the ghc link. Done means ghcWithPackages installs successfully on WSL without the File exists or Permission denied errors.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
shell
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.