[question] why cannot I just have the package itself only instead of a couple of other packages?

[haohaolee]

Hi Hivemind,

I am a beginner of devbox. I want to use the new version of cmake, so I devbox add cmake and devbox shell, but when I tried to look for my compiler, I found that:

(devbox) devbox@2ed203d41893:~/code$ which -a gcc
/nix/store/zlzz2z48s7ry0hkl55xiqp5a73b4mzrg-gcc-wrapper-12.3.0/bin/gcc
/nix/store/0b9bsznqs6pdg42dxcwvrlmarjn2p6a1-gcc-12.3.0/bin/gcc
/usr/bin/gcc
/bin/gcc
(devbox) devbox@2ed203d41893:~/code$ gcc -v
Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=/nix/store/0b9bsznqs6pdg42dxcwvrlmarjn2p6a1-gcc-12.3.0/bin/gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/nix/store/0b9bsznqs6pdg42dxcwvrlmarjn2p6a1-gcc-12.3.0/libexec/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/12.3.0/lto-wrapper
Target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
Configured with: ../gcc-12.3.0/configure --prefix=/nix/store/eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-gcc-12.3.0 --with-gmp-include=/nix/store/eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-gmp-6.3.0-dev/include --with-gmp-lib=/nix/store/eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-gmp-6.3.0/lib --with-mpfr-include=/nix/store/eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-mpfr-4.2.1-dev/include --with-mpfr-lib=/nix/store/eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-mpfr-4.2.1/lib --with-mpc=/nix/store/eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-libmpc-1.3.1 --with-native-system-header-dir=/nix/store/eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-glibc-2.38-23-dev/include --with-build-sysroot=/ --program-prefix= --enable-lto --disable-libstdcxx-pch --without-included-gettext --with-system-zlib --enable-static --enable-languages=c,c++ --disable-multilib --enable-plugin --disable-libcc1 --with-isl=/nix/store/eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-isl-0.20 --disable-bootstrap --build=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --host=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --target=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix
Supported LTO compression algorithms: zlib
gcc version 12.3.0 (GCC)

I didn't intend to install gcc, and the installed gcc hide my system one:

(devbox) devbox@2ed203d41893:~/code$ /usr/bin/gcc -v
Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=/usr/bin/gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/9/lto-wrapper
OFFLOAD_TARGET_NAMES=nvptx-none:hsa
OFFLOAD_TARGET_DEFAULT=1
Target: x86_64-linux-gnu
Configured with: ../src/configure -v --with-pkgversion='Ubuntu 9.4.0-1ubuntu1~20.04.2' --with-bugurl=file:///usr/share/doc/gcc-9/README.Bugs --enable-languages=c,ada,c++,go,brig,d,fortran,objc,obj-c++,gm2 --prefix=/usr --with-gcc-major-version-only --program-suffix=-9 --program-prefix=x86_64-linux-gnu- --enable-shared --enable-linker-build-id --libexecdir=/usr/lib --without-included-gettext --enable-threads=posix --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-nls --enable-clocale=gnu --enable-libstdcxx-debug --enable-libstdcxx-time=yes --with-default-libstdcxx-abi=new --enable-gnu-unique-object --disable-vtable-verify --enable-plugin --enable-default-pie --with-system-zlib --with-target-system-zlib=auto --enable-objc-gc=auto --enable-multiarch --disable-werror --with-arch-32=i686 --with-abi=m64 --with-multilib-list=m32,m64,mx32 --enable-multilib --with-tune=generic --enable-offload-targets=nvptx-none=/build/gcc-9-9QDOt0/gcc-9-9.4.0/debian/tmp-nvptx/usr,hsa --without-cuda-driver --enable-checking=release --build=x86_64-linux-gnu --host=x86_64-linux-gnu --target=x86_64-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix
gcc version 9.4.0 (Ubuntu 9.4.0-1ubuntu1~20.04.2)

Why is like this and how can I resolve it?

Thanks

[haohaolee]

I found the answer myself: devbox shell --omit-nix-env=true

But I am wondering why this switch is not even mentioned in devbox help shell?

[savil]

@haohaolee to explain a bit about what's happening here. That gcc from nix store is introduced by the nix environment. We added this --omit-nix-env as a temporary measure for devbox global to work properly.

That --omit-nix-env is a hidden flag for now, because we don't like the design of users needing to opt-in to the nix environment versus not. Instead Devbox should be smart enough to include the parts of nix-environment that certain packages need. However, that work is still uncertain in scope.

[mikeborodin]

is the same possible for devbox run ?