[tlbuild] tlmgr/install-tl bug: running out of disk space

[Johannes Hielscher]

Am Sun, 13 Mar 2022 11:24:39 +0900
schrieb Norbert Preining <norbert at preining.info>:

> Hi Johannes,
> 
> thanks for testing!!
> 
> > 1. I like, in principle, that install-tl is complaining that disk
> > space is short:  
> 
> You used the text installer, right?
Yes
> With that you should have seen a
> HUGE warning just above this line:

No, I haven't. See the (truncated) console output attached.

That is exactly what I would have wished to see, but it didn't pop up.
One thing to note is that I have let install-tl configure the
installation by importing the settings from a previous installation on
the same disk.

I literally just started the installer, hit `y` to take over all
settings from the TL2020 copy next to it, and then `I` to start the
installation.

I got the message, though, when I did not import the settings, but
started the install-tl configuration from scratch.

> > 
> > Enter command: I  
> 
> *** WARNING ****************************************************
> The installation requires $vars{'total_size'}M of disk space
> but only $vars{'free_size'}M is available.
> 
> You probably want to either clean up the destination filesystem,
> or choose a different installation location,
> or reduce what gets installed.
> 
> Press Enter to return to the menu, or i to install anyway.
> ****************************************************************

I like how the lowercase `i` violates the principle of least
astonishment (forces you to read what's happening, hard to
predict/automate lazy workarounds).

> 
> > Installing [1/4, time/total: ??:??/??:??]: hyphen-base [22k]
> > Insufficient disk space, but continuing anyway.Installing [2/4,
> > time/total: 00:00/00:00]: kpathsea [1087k]  
> 
> The warning here is going to STDERR and thus is shown so strange.
> I will simply disable it, I guess there is no need for it.
> 
> > 2. It depended on the mirror if Ctrl-C works or not.  
> > >From https://ctan.ijs.si/mirror/tlpretest/ , Ctrl-C does NOT
> > >abort  
> 
> That is **absolutely** unbelievable, since there is no single line
> dependent on the actual mirror. I guess it is a timing issue, that is,
> the Ctrl-C is received while the tar is running or while the perl code
> is running. I thought the signal handler would deal with that ...
> though ...

I tried it again, same phenomenon. I had to kill install-tl with
SIGTERM to get my shell back.
All HTTPS hosts that I tested hung with SSL_INIT, and install-tl is
not interruptible:
https://ctan.ijs.si/mirror/tlpretest/
https://ctan.dcc.uchile.cl/tlpretest/
https://texlive.info/tlpretest/

I then tried with http://ctan.dcc.uchile.cl/tlpretest/ because it also
offers non-SSLed HTTP, and it works like with Utah.
I conclude that the culprit indeed is HTTPS (and mirror issues might
just come atop of this).

To make things more complicated, I gave the installer another chance on
a different host, and there Ctrl-C works fine with a HTTPS mirror.
IIRC tlmgr/install-tl uses system curl if available. This might then be
a quirk of my local curl-7.81.0 on Manjaro (and/or the local certificate
configuration). Works fine with curl-7.64.0 on Debian. Sigh.

> 
> > 1. There might be an issue with the ijs.si servers and/or the
> > network between there and me (access via web browser intermittently
> > didn't work smoothly for some time either), or a DDoS protection.  
> 
> Nothing I/we can do about it.
> 
> > 2. HTTP vs. HTTPS? The Utah site is plain HTTP, while Ctrl-C with
> > IJS hung at SSL_INIT.  
> 
> No idea ..
> 
> > When the disk ran out of space again, install-tl throws the same
> > error  
> 
> Yes, that is as expected. You got above big fat warning and agreed to
> continue. We don't do anything more, mostly because *actual* free
> space and the one reported by "df" might not agree (COW file systems).
> 
> > I think we can live with the current behaviour. If someone's disk
> > runs out of space, there is really not much to do from the
> > install-tl side, and the user should sort out other issues first.  
> 
> And read the warning ....
> 
> Best
> 
> Norbert
> 
> --
> PREINING Norbert
> https://www.preining.info Fujitsu Research     +    IFMGA Guide
> +    TU Wien    +    TeX Live GPG: 0x860CDC13   fp: F7D8 A928 26E3
> 16A1 9FA0 ACF0 6CAC A448 860C DC13

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