plist file is never created but the installer assumes it is

[cdmistman]

Error

Error: 
   0: Install failure
   1: Error executing action
   2: Action `create_nix_hook_service` errored
   3: Failed to execute command with status 5 `"launchctl" "bootout" "system" "/Library/LaunchDaemons/systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook.plist"`, stdout: 
      stderr: Boot-out failed: 5: Input/output error

I've verified that the file /Library/LaunchDaemons/systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook.plist doesn't exist at the time when the installer is prompting permission to proceed with uninstalling following this error.

Metadata

key	value
version	0.27.0
os	macos
arch	aarch64

[cdmistman]

it seems this is similar to the user's error in #1187 i'm going to be investigating this ITT though I have to leave soon and I'm already behind on finishing a task because of nix not surviving a macos update :(

[cdmistman]

so despite the file not existing, launchctl does acknowledge the existence of the service

$ "launchctl" "print" "system/systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook"
system/systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook = {
        active count = 0
        path = /Library/LaunchDaemons/systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook.plist
        type = LaunchDaemon
        state = not running

        program = /bin/sh
        arguments = {
                /bin/sh
                -c
                /bin/wait4path /nix/nix-installer && /nix/nix-installer repair
        }

        stdout path = /nix/.nix-installer-hook.out.log
        stderr path = /nix/.nix-installer-hook.err.log
        default environment = {
                PATH => /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
        }

        environment = {
                XPC_SERVICE_NAME => systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook
        }

        domain = system
        minimum runtime = 10
        exit timeout = 5
        runs = 2
        last exit code = 0

        semaphores = {
                successful exit => 0
        }

        spawn type = daemon (3)
        jetsam priority = 40
        jetsam memory limit (active) = (unlimited)
        jetsam memory limit (inactive) = (unlimited)
        jetsamproperties category = daemon
        jetsam thread limit = 32
        cpumon = default
        probabilistic guard malloc policy = {
                activation rate = 1/1000
                sample rate = 1/0
        }

        properties = inferred program | managed LWCR | has LWCR
}
$ ls -al /Library/LaunchDaemons 
total 32
drwxrwxr-x   6 root  wheel   192 Oct  9 16:19 .
drwxr-xr-x  68 root  wheel  2176 Oct  4 00:16 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   619 Apr  1  2023 com.docker.socket.plist
-rwx------   1 root  wheel   601 Nov 18  2023 com.nordvpn.macos.helper.plist
-rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   681 Jan 22  2024 com.sparklabs.ViscosityHelper.plist
-rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   569 Oct  9 16:19 org.nixos.darwin-store.plist

[cdmistman]

here's some more logs that are helpful:

$ cat /nix/.nix-installer-hook.out.log
cat: /nix/.nix-installer-hook.out.log: No such file or directory
$ ls -al /nix                         
total 120680
drwxr-xr-x  10 root    wheel        320 Oct  9 16:20 .
drwxr-xr-x  20 root    wheel        640 Sep 30 22:10 ..
drwx------   4 root    wheel        128 Oct  9 16:19 .Spotlight-V100
d-wx--x--t   3 root    wheel         96 Oct  9 16:19 .Trashes
drwx------   6 root    wheel        192 Oct  9 16:19 .fseventsd
-rwxr-xr-x   1 colton  staff   61746704 Oct  9 15:16 nix-installer
-rw-r--r--   1 root    wheel      39012 Oct  9 16:20 receipt.json
drwxrwxr-t@ 58 root    nixbld      1856 Oct  9 16:20 store
drwxr-xr-x   3 root    wheel         96 Oct  9 16:19 temp-install-dir
drwxr-xr-x@  4 root    wheel        128 Oct  9 16:19 var

[cdmistman]

after rebooting i verified that the plist file still doesn't exist, but when i re-run nix-installer install it succeeds and the plist file exists

[jonringer]

This seems to be reproducible by doing:

• Install on mac
• running /nix/nix-installer uninstall
• then trying to install again

I haven't confirmed, but I'm assuming launchctl has some stale state. And rebooting allows for it to "flush" the stale state, then it can proceed with installation.

[cole-h]

This seems to be reproducible by doing:

* Install on mac

* running `/nix/nix-installer uninstall`

* then trying to install again

I haven't confirmed, but I'm assuming launchctl has some stale state. And rebooting allows for it to "flush" the stale state, then it can proceed with installation.

Thanks for that hint -- the actual steps I took to reproduce were:

1. Install
2. Reboot
3. Uninstall
4. Install

(To reproduce, you need to reboot after installing because otherwise the nix hook won't be "active" in launchd's eyes -- it only runs on startup.) That was able to show me the failed bootout at the first try. I think your hunch that there is stale launchctl state is correct, but I think we can fix this by using the service identifier (system/systems.determinate.....) instead of the path to the unit (/Library/LaunchDaemons/systems.det.....).

For anybody who comes across this issue in the future, you should be able to fix this by running the following command and then re-attempting the install:

sudo launchctl bootout system/systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook

(the unit that the installer complained about is system/systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook in this case, but it may work for any other services it complains about)

(#1257 should fix these bootout issues once and for all)