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

Phase 1.2 follow-up: local Guile-Git stack built on FreeBSD and checkout investigation advanced again

Date: 2026-04-01

Summary

This step addressed the next checkout blocker found after local Guile-GnuTLS support was added on FreeBSD.

Added/updated files:

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

The new result is:

1. guile-bytestructures and guile-git can be built successfully on FreeBSD against the previously validated fixed local Guile build
2. these modules can be installed into the same local prefix already used for the Guile-GnuTLS validation copy
3. after making both (gnutls) and (git) available, the Guix checkout configure step advances again
4. the next checkout blocker is now Guile-JSON

Inputs used

Local Guile

The same fixed local Guile build was used:

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

Existing local dependency prefix

To keep checkout prerequisites together, this step installed into the existing prefix already populated by the earlier Guile-GnuTLS validation step:

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

That prefix now contains at least:

• Guile-GnuTLS
• Guile bytestructures
• Guile-Git

Guix source-of-truth package definitions

This step used the current Guix package definitions in ~/repos/guix/gnu/packages/guile.scm:

• guile-bytestructures
  • version 1.0.10
• guile-git
  • version 0.10.0

Because both Guix packages use git-fetch, the local harness cloned the matching upstream tags and recorded the resolved commits:

• guile-bytestructures tag 1.0.10
  • commit 27cadba6b69a01b38b33bb39b9766d713eb90c1b
• guile-git tag v0.10.0
  • commit 05d4a48c811f29c8db80ee6697fe658950fb503e

Host-side library dependency

The host already had the needed libgit2 package installed. The build used:

• libgit2 version 1.9.2

observed via:

pkg-config --modversion libgit2

Build findings

1. Git checkouts need autotools regeneration

Both packages were built from the Git source layout reflected by the Guix package definitions, so generated configure scripts were not assumed to exist.

Observed working bootstrap paths:

• guile-bytestructures: autoreconf -vfi
• guile-git: autoreconf -vfi via the harness fallback path

This matches the fact that the Guix package definitions already list autotools components among native inputs.

2. No new FreeBSD-specific source patch was needed here

Unlike the earlier Guile-GnuTLS build, neither guile-bytestructures nor guile-git required a FreeBSD-specific source patch during this validation step.

3. The Guile-Git version/export check now passes locally

Guix configure.ac checks not only that (git) can be loaded, but also that the module exports a sufficiently recent symbol:

• graph-descendant?

The local validation explicitly checked that this export is present and callable enough to satisfy the configure-time requirement.

Validation command

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

Default install prefix used by the harness:

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

Result

The local Guile dependency stack build succeeded.

Validated module loads:

(use-modules (bytestructures guile))
(use-modules (git))

Observed checks:

bytestructures module check: ok
guile-git module check: ok
Existing (gnutls) module in prefix: present

This means the same local prefix now satisfies at least the first two mandatory Guix checkout module requirements previously encountered on FreeBSD:

• (gnutls)
• (git) with graph-descendant?

Re-running the checkout investigation

After installing the Guile-Git stack, the derivation-generation investigation was re-run with:

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

The investigation still used the requested experimental directories:

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

Updated result

With both (gnutls) and (git) available, the Guix checkout configure step progresses farther and now fails at the next missing Guile dependency:

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

Relevant configure summary lines observed:

checking whether Guile-JSON is available and recent enough... no
configure: error: Guile-JSON is missing; please install it.

What this step demonstrates

This step demonstrates that:

1. the earlier Guile-Git blocker is genuinely cleared on FreeBSD when using the fixed local Guile build plus local dependency prefix
2. the checkout can now move one dependency layer deeper than before
3. the project is still in the checkout-prerequisite stage rather than the derivation/store/daemon stage
4. the next concrete prerequisite for reaching deeper Guix checkout usability on FreeBSD is Guile-JSON

Current blocker stack

The current checkout path is now blocked by:

1. unsupported-platform configure gating unless --with-courage is used
2. missing Guile-JSON after supplying:
   • Guile-GnuTLS
   • Guile-Git

The earlier missing blockers have now been cleared locally for validation:

• (gnutls)
• (git) / recent Guile-Git export requirement

Recommended next step

Obtain or build Guile-JSON compatible with the same fixed local Guile build, install it into the same local dependency prefix, and re-run the derivation-generation investigation again.

That will show whether the next boundary lies at:

• Guile-SQLite3
• Guile-Gcrypt
• Guile-zlib
• Guile-lzlib
• Guile-semver
• or finally something beyond configure-time Guile module prerequisites