Can't build NixOS from source with a chroot store

[ElvishJerricco]

This looks like a Nix bug to me, not a problem in nixpkgs. If you use a chroot store, Nix is unable to build a NixOS VM without substituters. You get a Permission denied error regardless of whether you use a multi-user or single-user install of Nix.

nix build --no-link --store $(pwd)/foo --substituters "" --cores 30 -I nixpkgs=channel:nixos-19.03 -f "<nixpkgs/nixos>" --arg configuration '{}' vm
[11 built]
error: moving build output '/nix/store/kjqdwl76vp9wclcxpw2xmh0z73rq95py-documentation-highlighter' from the sandbox to the Nix store: Permission denied

[yorickvP]

I suspect that nix-build running without root rights will fail to move nonwritable paths out of the sandbox, while the usual mode of operation allows this.

[domenkozar]

See #3321

[nixos-discourse]

This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/docker-build-issue/9495/1

[yorickvP]

Please check again on master after #4312

[stale]

I marked this as stale due to inactivity. → More info