collection of “guix pull“ bug reports

[Simon Tournier]

Hi,

>>> https://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/62830
>>> https://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/63451
>>> https://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/63830
>>> https://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/64489
>>> https://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/64659
>>> https://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/64753
>>> https://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/64963

More are reported…

>>> Any idea about what could be unexpected or what needs some love?
>>
>> I haven't checked the above links, but I think something that would help
>> in this regard is better handling of network issues.  E.g, don't print a
>> backtrace on the first connection failure; retry maybe 3 times then
>> print a helpful error mentioning the network appears unreliable.
>
> IMHO, this collection raises two questions:
>
>   1. Why does it happen?  To say it explicitly, I am almost sure that
>   something is not smoothly working as expected on server side.  For
>   instance, I had ‘guix pull’ troubles with a machine and I am doubtful
>   that this machine has network issue (this machine is using the fast
>   network link of my Univ. employer :-))
>
>   2. What could be done on client side for reducing the annoyance?  I
>   agree that substitute failures should be better handled.  For example,
>   retry 3 times then display an error message.  Etc.

Well, most of the time, the error is transient so it is hard to debug.
On client side (#2), well I have ideas how to fake a faulty network on
my end.  What could be done on server side?

Cheers,
simon