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diff --git a/doc/manual/troubleshooting.xml b/doc/manual/troubleshooting.xml new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..ec8c4c924fc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/manual/troubleshooting.xml @@ -0,0 +1,92 @@ +<appendix xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" + xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> + +<title>Troubleshooting</title> + + +<para>This section provides solutions for some common problems. See +the <link xlink:href="http://bugs.strategoxt.org/browse/NIX">Nix +bug tracker</link> for a list of currently known issues.</para> + + +<section><title>Collisions in <command>nix-env</command></title> + +<para>Symptom: when installing or upgrading, you get an error message such as + +<screen> +$ nix-env -i docbook-xml +... +adding /nix/store/s5hyxgm62gk2...-docbook-xml-4.2 +collision between `/nix/store/s5hyxgm62gk2...-docbook-xml-4.2/xml/dtd/docbook/calstblx.dtd' + and `/nix/store/06h377hr4b33...-docbook-xml-4.3/xml/dtd/docbook/calstblx.dtd' + at /nix/store/...-builder.pl line 62.</screen> + +</para> + +<para>The cause is that two installed packages in the user environment +have overlapping filenames (e.g., +<filename>xml/dtd/docbook/calstblx.dtd</filename>. This usually +happens when you accidentally try to install two versions of the same +package. For instance, in the example above, the Nix Packages +collection contains two versions of <literal>docbook-xml</literal>, so +<command>nix-env -i</command> will try to install both. The default +user environment builder has no way to way to resolve such conflicts, +so it just gives up.</para> + +<para>Solution: remove one of the offending packages from the user +environment (if already installed) using <command>nix-env +-e</command>, or specify exactly which version should be installed +(e.g., <literal>nix-env -i docbook-xml-4.2</literal>).</para> + +<para>Alternatively, you can modify the user environment builder +script (in +<filename><replaceable>prefix</replaceable>/share/nix/corepkgs/buildenv/builder.pl</filename>) +to implement some conflict resolution policy. E.g., the script could +be modified to rename conflicting file names, or to pick one over the +other.</para> + +</section> + + +<section><title><quote>Too many links</quote> error in the Nix +store</title> + + +<para>Symptom: when building something, you get an error message such as + +<screen> +... +<literal>mkdir: cannot create directory `/nix/store/<replaceable>name</replaceable>': Too many links</literal></screen> + +</para> + +<para>This is usually because you have more than 32,000 subdirectories +in <filename>/nix/store</filename>, as can be seen using <command>ls +-l</command>: + +<screen> +$ ls -l /nix/store +drwxrwxrwt 32000 nix nix 4620288 Sep 8 15:08 store</screen> + +The <literal>ext2</literal> file system is limited to an inode link +count of 32,000 (each subdirectory increasing the count by one). +Furthermore, the <literal>st_nlink</literal> field of the +<function>stat</function> system call is a 16-bit value.</para> + +<para>This only happens on very large Nix installations (such as build +machines).</para> + +<para>Quick solution: run the garbage collector. You may want to use +the <option>--max-links</option> option.</para> + +<para>Real solution: put the Nix store on a file system that supports +more than 32,000 subdirectories per directory, such as ReiserFS. +(This doesn’t solve the <literal>st_nlink</literal> limit, but +ReiserFS lies to the kernel by reporting a link count of 1 if it +exceeds the limit.)</para> + +</section> + + + +</appendix> |