Nixpkgs: nix-env -i fails due to "unsupported builtin function 'buildenv'"

[pandaman64]

Issue description

I cannot install any packages because building user environment fails each time.
The same error occurs when I try to nix-channel --update

Steps to reproduce

$ nix-env -iA nixpkgs.hello
installing 'hello-2.10'
these paths will be fetched (0.04 MiB download, 0.19 MiB unpacked):
  /nix/store/6mab2znnw7j96k3vsdw9vyckady29r46-hello-2.10
copying path '/nix/store/6mab2znnw7j96k3vsdw9vyckady29r46-hello-2.10' from 'https://cache.nixos.org'...
building '/nix/store/7i606nrnh2hyrpri4xmqvs6jnyn67qph-user-environment.drv'...
error: unsupported builtin function 'buildenv'
builder for '/nix/store/7i606nrnh2hyrpri4xmqvs6jnyn67qph-user-environment.drv' failed with exit code 1
error: build of '/nix/store/7i606nrnh2hyrpri4xmqvs6jnyn67qph-user-environment.drv' failed

Technical details

Please run nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m" and paste the
results.

$ nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m"
 - system: `"x86_64-linux"`
 - host os: `Linux 4.14.43, NixOS, 18.09pre140920.5b468ea6b1d (Jellyfish)`
 - multi-user?: `yes`
 - sandbox: `yes`
 - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.1pre6148_a4aac7f`
 - channels(pan): `"nixpkgs-18.09pre140731.c29d2fde74d"`
 - channels(root): `"nixos"`
 - nixpkgs: `/home/pan/.nix-defexpr/channels/nixpkgs`

[edolstra]

This happens because the client version is newer than the nix-daemon version.

[wizzup]

Not sure if this related or not. nix-env also failed on my system but I've got different message.

~~~~
[wizzup@ ~]$ nix-env -qa | grep -i hello
error: attribute 'callPackage' missing, at /nix/store/d2nk7k1rr1rv5ai9hwzssvy6gkxsknmn-nixos/nixos/pkgs/applications/altcoins/default.nix:76:11

[wizzup@ ~]$ nix-env -i hello
error: attribute 'callPackage' missing, at /nix/store/d2nk7k1rr1rv5ai9hwzssvy6gkxsknmn-nixos/nixos/pkgs/applications/altcoins/default.nix:76:11

[wizzup@ ~]$ nix-channel --list

[wizzup@ ~]$ sudo nix-channel --list
nixos https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-unstable

[wizzup@ ~]$ nix-shell -p nix-info --run "nix-info -m"

• system: "x86_64-linux"
• host os: Linux 4.14.43, NixOS, 18.09pre-git (Jellyfish)
• multi-user?: yes
• sandbox: no
• version: nix-env (Nix) 2.0.2
• channels(root): "nixos"
• channels(wizzup): ""
• nixpkgs: /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos

~~~~

[pandaman64]

Uninstalling nixUnstable did the trick.
(Actually, removing nixUnstable by nix-env -e failed due to the same error, so I rolled back to the very first generation and reinstalled every package except nixUnstable)

[matthewbauer]

@wizzup That's not good! Has "haskellPackages.callPackage" been removed? It's still used in a few places.

/cc @peti

[wizzup]

@matthewbauer Only nix-env seem to have problem. I still can use nix-shell and nixos-rebuild. Should I open a new issue?

~~~~
[wizzup@ ~]$ nix-shell -p hello

[nix-shell:~]$ which hello
/nix/store/84sxm540ssjq9k98xdcwc6hw6mrx972k-hello-2.10/bin/hello

[nix-shell:~]$ exit
[wizzup@ ~]$ nix-env -i hello
error: attribute 'callPackage' missing, at /nix/store/d2nk7k1rr1rv5ai9hwzssvy6gkxsknmn-nixos/nixos/pkgs/applications/altcoins/default.nix:76:11

[wizzup@ ~]$ nix-build '' -A hello
/nix/store/84sxm540ssjq9k98xdcwc6hw6mrx972k-hello-2.10
~~~~

[pandaman64]

I'm closing this as my problem is solved. Please open another one.

[DamonOehlman]

This happens because the client version is newer than the nix-daemon version.

Probably worth noting that if you have this problem on OSX (like I did) then the following will reload the nix-daemon

sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.nix-daemon.plist

[steve-chavez]

The fix for me whas to use sudo nix-env -i instead of nix-env -i.

Got the hint from https://discourse.nixos.org/t/is-nix-channel-update-broken-in-nix-2-1-on-darwin/873/3.