zef can't find install target of install itself there

[JJ]

On the heels of #430, what I'm trying to do is simply to have a Rakudo installation that uses /github/home as a home, as opposed to /home/raku (or any other user, for that matter). Alas, that does not seem to be possible

Context

Essentially, follow instructions to install zef in a standard way:

RUN git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ugexe/zef.git \
    && cd zef && ls -alt . && raku -I. bin/zef install . \
    && ls -alt ${WORKDIR} && ls -alt ${HOME} \
    && zef install Linenoise \
    && cd .. && rm -rf zef``

Expected Behavior

Install as usual

Actual Behavior

First a warning:

Use of uninitialized value element of type Any in string context.
Methods .^name, .raku, .gist, or .say can be used to stringify it to something meaningful.

Then, seconds later, an error:

===> CompUnit::Repository install target is not writeable/installable: /github/home/zef/auto
  in sub guess-path at /github/home/zef/lib/Zef/Config.rakumod (Zef::Config) line 21
Need a valid installation target to continue

Steps to Reproduce

FROM ghcr.io/jj/raku-gha

ENV PKGS="git" PKGS_TMP="make gcc linux-headers musl-dev" WORKDIR="/github/home" HOME=$WORKDIR
LABEL version="1.0.1" maintainer="[email protected]" rakuversion=$VER

USER root
RUN apk update && apk upgrade && apk add --no-cache $PKGS $PKGS_TMP
USER raku

# Environment
ENV PATH="${WORKDIR}/.raku/bin:${WORKDIR}/.raku/share/perl6/site/bin:${PATH}" \
    ENV="${WORKDIR}/.profile"

# Basic setup, programs and init
WORKDIR $WORKDIR
RUN git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ugexe/zef.git \
    && cd zef && ls -alt . && raku -I. bin/zef install . \
    && ls -alt ${WORKDIR} && ls -alt ${HOME} \
    && zef install Linenoise \
    && cd .. && rm -rf zef

USER root
RUN apk del $PGKS_TMP
USER raku

ENTRYPOINT ["raku"]

Your Environment

• raku -v

2021.10

[JJ]

Using

raku -I. bin/zef install --install-to=${HOME}/.raku .

as a workarond fixes it. However, I don't understand why that's not the default.

[ugexe]

Well the obvious question, and which the error message eludes to, is are your permissions set up properly?

as a workarond fixes it. However, I don't understand why that's not the default

You are changing $HOME, so you are quite literally changing the default.

[JJ]

Well the obvious question, and which the error message eludes to, is are your permissions set up properly?

They are, as far as I can tell. The directory /github/home/zef/auto does have permission to write.

as a workarond fixes it. However, I don't understand why that's not the default

You are changing $HOME, so you are quite literally changing the default.

Then the question is, is it using $HOME or some other default? And it fails if $HOME and the default are not the same?

[ugexe]

They are, as far as I can tell. The directory /github/home/zef/auto does have permission to write.

As far as I can tell the permissions are not setup properly for /github/raku/.raku. Yes the error references 'auto', but that isn't actually relevant (it just means 'auto' couldn't find a writable repository, which implies /github/raku/.raku did not have the correct permissions by it not being chosen).

Then the question is, is it using $HOME or some other default? And it fails if $HOME and the default are not the same?

I'm not sure I understand. The home repo points to %*ENV<HOME>/.raku, simple as that -- don't assume it does anything more.