Nix env installation fails on Ubuntu 18.04; causes poor dev experience for Windows users

[pospi]

I'm trying to get nix-env --install working for Holonix-based projects. I'm pretty sure I need this to get a live development experience working for those on Windows; as they are running Windows IDEs with Virtualbox VMs (or perhaps cloud dev infrastructure... doesn't matter either way as it's all SSH in the end).

So, what I need is a way for the Nix environment to be loaded and active at the moment the IDE's remote development tools connect to it. The only way I can see of doing this with Nix is by installing the environment. (If there are other ways, please let me know!)

It seems clear that this issue is causing a lot of productivity loss for a great number of devs; in fact I don't know anybody running Windows who has successfully gotten rls running in their editor. (possible relation to #72)

Anyway, the setup seems to be too broken to resolve itself. Even when running NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 NIXPKGS_ALLOW_BROKEN=1 nix-env --install there are still failures related to uritools. Logs follow, any help much appreciated:

error: while evaluating the attribute 'drvPath' at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/lib/customisation.nix:158:7:
while evaluating the attribute 'propagatedBuildInputs' of the derivation 'Mopidy-Iris-3.43.0' at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/mk-python-derivation.nix:105:3:
while evaluating the attribute 'out.outPath' at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/lib/customisation.nix:151:13:
while evaluating the attribute 'propagatedBuildInputs' of the derivation 'mopidy-local-images-1.0.0' at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/mk-python-derivation.nix:105:3:
while evaluating 'getOutput' at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/lib/attrsets.nix:464:23, called from undefined position:
while evaluating anonymous function at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/generic/make-derivation.nix:156:17, called from undefined position:
while evaluating the attribute 'uritools' at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix:5588:3:
while evaluating 'callPackageWith' at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/lib/customisation.nix:117:35, called from /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix:5588:14:
while evaluating 'makeOverridable' at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/lib/customisation.nix:67:24, called from /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/lib/customisation.nix:121:8:
while evaluating anonymous function at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/pkgs/development/python-modules/uritools/default.nix:1:1, called from /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/lib/customisation.nix:69:16:
while evaluating 'makeOverridablePythonPackage' at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix:31:37, called from /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/pkgs/development/python-modules/uritools/default.nix:3:1:
while evaluating 'makeOverridable' at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/lib/customisation.nix:67:24, called from /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix:33:12:
while evaluating anonymous function at /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/mk-python-derivation.nix:28:1, called from /nix/store/yfq30q1kfwz0y8znywdvk2cp6a3y432z-nixpkgs-20.03pre210078.90441b4b47f/nixpkgs/lib/customisation.nix:69:16:
uritools-3.0.0 not supported for interpreter python2.7

[pospi]

Alternative workaround: @thedavidmeister can you recommend a distro where nix-env --install is known to work?

[thedavidmeister]

@pospi nix-env on ubuntu and debian and mac and is tested by the CI

check the dockerfile and also this for troubleshooting :) https://forum.holochain.org/t/ubuntu-and-debian-troubleshooting-brain-dump/1007

[pospi]

@sdelvalle57 have you managed to get things working in your Ubuntu VM yet?