Using nix for dev ops, with holochain rsm - example

Connoropolous · October 6, 2020, 10:13pm

I figured out how to use holonix to template a configuration for install dna-util and holochain binaries into a nix-shell.

See these two files:
config.nix

github.com

h-be/acorn-hc/blob/d1353248d2c0076be8ed66eee0282fe056cb7de9/config.nix

{
 # extend the shell with buildInputs specific to this project
 buildInputs = [ ];

 # configure holonix itself
 holonix = {

  # true = use a github repository as the holonix base (recommended)
  # false = use a local copy of holonix (useful for debugging)
  use-github = true;

  # configure the remote holonix github when use-github = true
  github = {

   # can be any github ref
   # branch, tag, commit, etc.
   ref = "v0.0.84";

   # the sha of what is downloaded from the above ref
   # note: even if you change the above ref it will not be redownloaded until

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default.nix

github.com

h-be/acorn-hc/blob/d1353248d2c0076be8ed66eee0282fe056cb7de9/default.nix

# This is an example of what downstream consumers of holonix should do
# This is also used to dogfood as many commands as possible for holonix
# For example the release process for holonix uses this file
let

 # point this to your local config.nix file for this project
 # example.config.nix shows and documents a lot of the options
 config = import ./config.nix;

 # START HOLONIX IMPORT BOILERPLATE
 holonix = import (
  if ! config.holonix.use-github
  then config.holonix.local.path
  else fetchTarball {
   url = "https://github.com/${config.holonix.github.owner}/${config.holonix.github.repo}/tarball/${config.holonix.github.ref}";
   sha256 = config.holonix.github.sha256;
  }
 ) { config = config; use-stable-rust = true; };
 # END HOLONIX IMPORT BOILERPLATE

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The trick was using use-stable-rust: true flag.

Connoropolous · October 10, 2020, 4:36pm

I was trying to use this nix configuration to also run my tests on circleci, but that wasn’t working. I was having compiler/linker errors, when running the cargo install ... steps.

This is my circleci file, which also references the holonix docker image as a base image

github.com

h-be/acorn-hc/blob/dc74e7c819b4bc54a8f150bcd9645ae8b851e1ea/.circleci/config.yml#L3-L11


jobs:
  tests:
    docker:
      - image: holochain/holonix:latest
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run:
          no_output_timeout: 20m
          command: nix-shell --run acorn-test

I just figured out how to overcome this compiler issue…
that is to use export NIX_ENFORCE_PURITY=0
within the nix shell, before running the cargo step

harlan · October 21, 2020, 6:33am

Thanks @Connoropolous! Are you running this on mac successfully btw? Asking because the holochain readme says its currently linux only, no mac, buuuuuut I should think that nix should make it platform independent…

Connoropolous · October 21, 2020, 6:42pm

Yep, running fine on mac! not sure why they stated that actually, because they actually even have a CI run for mac on commits/PRs

harlan · October 24, 2020, 8:09am

For others going down this road, I documented my (minor) issues getting acorn-hc (which has these excellent nix configs baked in) up and running on a fresh (no RSM) mac here: https://github.com/h-be/acorn-hc/issues/106 .

Notably, if you hit an issue during a cargo build step which includes:

failed to authenticate when downloading repository
attempted ssh-agent authentication, but none of the usernames `git` succeeded

This is actually a known cargo issue, and the recommended fix is to add (or add to)
~/.cargo/config
the following config:

[net]
git-fetch-with-cli = true

– from https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/issues/2078#issuecomment-434388584

Connoropolous · October 24, 2020, 4:10pm

Ah yes, I’ve heard this issue.

It will be fixed when this PR gets merged, because it changes the git deps to https instead of ssh