Can't execute 'groupadd' error on Linux

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1

Hello. I’ve been testing Nix install (the package manager) on multiple different Linux distros, and I’ve run into the same issue on multiple different ones. Mainly, this one right here:

env: can't execute 'groupadd': No such file or directory

This issue comes up, and the Nix install just comes to a halt right there. I am using the multi-user install setup for Nix.

I’m wondering, how do I fix this issue? I’ve noticed that on the multiple Linux distros, there’s an “addgroup” command, but not a “groupadd” command, meaning they’re different commands. I’ve tried to make “groupadd” a symlink for the “addgroup” command, but since the programs are different, it doesn’t work well.

Linux distros tested this on that result in the same error: TinyCore Linux 17.0, Puppy Linux (NoblePup32 24.04)

2

You need shadow utils/shadow tools or whatever your distro calls them.

Also as far as I remember, the daemon/multi user mode requires systemd or launcherd (or whatever the MacOS thingy is called).

So you’ll have to got with the single user/no-daemon installation.

3

Don’t think so, AFAICT you just need to configure your non-systemd service manager to automatically start nix-daemon as root. The NixOS/nix install script documents this, but NixOS/nix-installer seems to not support/document it.

4

The single user/no-daemon has an error when installing it on Puppy Linux (NoblePup32 24.04). The error looks like this

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And this is what happens when I try to do the single-user install on TinyCore Linux 17.0

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5

in the tinycore linux case, the install script is busted on systems that use busybox coreutils because busybox’s cp doesn’t support --preserve: installers: busybox cp in Alpine fails due to unsupported --preserve flags · Issue #13480 · NixOS/nix · GitHub

if you can grab gnu coreutils via its coreutils extension that’ll be the easiest and best way. based on a quick read of the tce-load script i think something around tce-load -wi coreutils is what you’re after for that.

otherwise you can patch the install script to patch the other install script to use -p instead of --preserve by adding something like sed -i 's/--preserve=ownership,timestamps/-p/' "$script" to the script curl downloads, after export INVOKED_FROM_INSTALL_IN=1. this may end up not being fun later.

in the puppy linux case, you’re doing a single-user installation as root. there are a bunch of ways to get around this problem but realistically none of them are particularly fun later, either. just use a non-root user.

6

I managed to get the install on Puppy Linux to work by logging in as a different user in the terminal via su - username and doing the single-user install for that user, but after the install, the commands nix-shell and nix don’t do anything, as if they aren’t recognized commands. That’s strange.

On TinyCore Linux, I ran the tce-load -wi coreutils command, then did the Nix single-user install, but I ran into this new error that says this:

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7

Did you follow the instructions and have sourced the shell script? And also made sure it is sourced by the users shells RC file?

8

Yeah I did it like this

echo 'export PATH="prefix/etc/profile.d/nix.sh:$PATH"' >> ~/.profile
source ~/.profile
9

That doesn’t source the script, that adds it as a location to look for executables tonPATH.