fruix/docs/reports/phase1-guile-gnutls-freebsd.md

Phase 1.2 follow-up: local Guile-GnuTLS built on FreeBSD and checkout investigation advanced

Date: 2026-04-01

Summary

This step addressed the previously identified missing Guile (gnutls) blocker that prevented a Guix checkout from configuring on FreeBSD even when --with-courage was used.

Added harnesses/updates:

• tests/guix/build-local-guile-gnutls.sh
• updated tests/guix/run-derivation-generation-investigation.sh

The result is:

1. local Guile-GnuTLS can be built successfully on FreeBSD against the already validated fixed local Guile build
2. after making that module available, the Guix checkout configure step advances past the GnuTLS check
3. the next checkout blocker is now clearly identified as missing Guile-Git

Inputs used

Local Guile

The build used the previously validated fixed local Guile install:

• /tmp/guile-freebsd-validate-install/bin/guile

Guile-GnuTLS source identity

The source of truth was the current Guix package definition in ~/repos/guix/gnu/packages/tls.scm:

• package: guile-gnutls
• version: 5.0.1
• Guix nix-base32: 0kqngyx4520gjk49l6whjd2ss994kaj9rm78lli6p3q6xry0945i

Translated and verified SHA256:

b190047cee068f6b22a5e8d49ca49a2425ad4593901b9ac8940f8842ba7f164f

FreeBSD package dependency

The host did not have the C GnuTLS library installed, so this step installed:

• gnutls
• libtasn1
• nettle
• p11-kit

via:

sudo pkg install -y gnutls

FreeBSD-specific build findings

1. GNU make is required

Guile-GnuTLS uses GNU-make-specific pattern rules in guile/src/Makefile.am.

Attempting to build with FreeBSD base make failed with:

make[3]: don't know how to make core.x. Stop

Using gmake resolved that issue.

2. Guile-GnuTLS needs a FreeBSD-specific alloca include fix

The build then failed in guile/src/core.c with:

fatal error: 'alloca.h' file not found

On this FreeBSD host, alloca is available via stdlib.h, not alloca.h.

For validation, the harness applies a small source patch in the disposable tree:

#ifdef __FreeBSD__
#include <stdlib.h>
#else
#include <alloca.h>
#endif

With that patch applied, the build completed successfully.

Validation command

ENV_OUT=/tmp/guile-gnutls-env.sh \
METADATA_OUT=/tmp/guile-gnutls-metadata.txt \
./tests/guix/build-local-guile-gnutls.sh

Default install prefix used by the harness:

/tmp/guile-gnutls-freebsd-validate-install

Result

The local Guile-GnuTLS build succeeded.

Installed artifacts included:

• share/guile/site/3.0/gnutls.scm
• lib/guile/3.0/site-ccache/gnutls.go
• lib/guile/3.0/extensions/guile-gnutls-v-2.so.0.0.0

Module validation succeeded with the fixed local Guile build:

(use-modules (gnutls))

Observed validation result:

ok

The harness also writes an environment file that can be used to expose the built module tree to later commands.

Re-running the checkout investigation

After building Guile-GnuTLS, the derivation-generation investigation was re-run with:

GUILE_EXTRA_PREFIX=/tmp/guile-gnutls-freebsd-validate-install \
METADATA_OUT=/tmp/guix-derivation-investigation-with-gnutls.txt \
./tests/guix/run-derivation-generation-investigation.sh

The investigation still uses the requested experimental store/state paths:

• store: /frx/store
• local state: /frx/var
• sysconf: /frx/etc

Updated result

With (gnutls) available, the Guix checkout gets past the previous GnuTLS blocker.

The configure step now fails at the next missing Guile dependency:

configure: error: Guile-Git is missing; please install it.

This is a meaningful advancement because it proves the earlier GnuTLS blocker is genuinely cleared and that the checkout can proceed farther toward a usable pre-inst-env environment.

What this step demonstrates

This step demonstrates that:

1. missing Guile (gnutls) support on FreeBSD is not a dead end
2. a local, compatible Guile-GnuTLS build can be produced against the fixed local Guile build
3. FreeBSD now reaches the next concrete checkout blocker for Guix source-tree configuration: Guile-Git

Current blocker stack

The current checkout path toward real derivation generation is now blocked by:

1. unsupported-platform configure gating unless --with-courage is used
2. missing Guile-Git after GnuTLS support is supplied

The earlier missing (gnutls) blocker has been cleared for local validation purposes.

Recommended next step

Build or otherwise obtain Guile-Git compatible with the same fixed local Guile build, then re-run the derivation-generation investigation again.

That should reveal whether the next boundary lies in:

• another Guile module dependency
• pre-inst-env usability
• derivation emission
• daemon connectivity
• /frx/store/daemon assumptions