Xemacs @21.4.22_16+sumo: archivefetch failure in trace mode: error: realpath failed: Permission denied

[spiralbit]

Trying to install Xemacs 21.4.22_16 on a MacOS 10.13.6 machine. Xcode version 10.1

Getting this error and the end of what looks like an install which is going OK;

:debug:main Tracemode will respect recursively collected port dependencies:
:debug:main Executing org.macports.main (xemacs)
:debug:main dropping privileges: euid changed to 504, egid changed to 501.
:debug:archivefetch archivefetch phase started at Sat Apr 11 12:01:49 BST 2020
:msg:archivefetch --->  Fetching archive for xemacs
:debug:archivefetch realpath failed: Permission denied
:debug:archivefetch     while executing
:debug:archivefetch "realpath $normalizedPath"
:debug:archivefetch     (procedure "appendEntry" line 19)
:debug:archivefetch     invoked from within
:debug:archivefetch "appendEntry $sandbox $path "-""
:debug:archivefetch     (procedure "deny" line 2)
:debug:archivefetch     invoked from within
:debug:archivefetch "deny trace_sandbox $xcode_path"
:debug:archivefetch     (procedure "porttrace::trace_start" line 108)
:debug:archivefetch     invoked from within
:debug:archivefetch "porttrace::trace_start $workpath"
:debug:archivefetch     (procedure "target_run" line 82)
:debug:archivefetch     invoked from within
:debug:archivefetch "{*}$handler $ditem"
:error:archivefetch realpath failed: Permission denied
:error:archivefetch See /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_macports_release_tarballs_ports_editors_xemacs/xemacs/main.log for details.

[spiralbit]

Full logfile.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

:debug:sysinfo Xcode none

This is what we'd expect to see if you only have the Command Line Tools installed, but you said Xcode 10.1? Where is it installed? Does xcode-select -print-path report the correct location?

[spiralbit]

Hi Joshua,

Xcode is installed in /Applications. I had to manually install it as the AppStore stopped shipping the later versions to older macs. Originally I had a 9.x version of Xcode installed via the AppStore but I uninstalled that as part of an upgrade attempt which then failed (as Apple stopped shipping them to older macs), so I had to manually download 10.1 and install in /Applications. My iMac is a Mid 2010 model and the most recent o/s I can run is 10.13.6 High Sierra. I could possibly run a later version of Xcode, but I think 10.1 is approaching the maximum version possible on my machine.

The xcode-select command reports /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer which is where Xcode is installed. Perhaps there is some additional installation action required for ports to see Xcode properly?

Thanks very much, David.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

Installing Xcode via any method (App Store or manual download from Apple Developer web site) is fine. The value you show for xcode-select is fine and normal. No additional steps are required to tell MacPorts about your Xcode installation.

The attached main.log actually documents 6 separate installation attempts. The first attempt tried to download an archive, failed to find one, then tried to build from source:

:debug:archivefetch archivefetch phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:38:32 BST 2020
:debug:fetch fetch phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:38:32 BST 2020
:debug:checksum checksum phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:38:32 BST 2020
:debug:extract extract phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:38:33 BST 2020
:debug:patch patch phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:38:39 BST 2020
:debug:configure configure phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:38:40 BST 2020
:debug:build build phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:39:10 BST 2020

It failed because of a texinfo error:

:info:build lispref/ldap.texi:108: misplaced }

My understanding is that this type of error occurs when you try to use a modern version of texinfo to build old texi files.

The second attempt tried to download an archive, failed to find one, then resumed the previously failed build:

:debug:archivefetch archivefetch phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:40:57 BST 2020
:debug:build build phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:40:57 BST 2020

It failed for the reason described in #59502:

:info:build Malformed UTF-8 character: \xe4\x2c\x20 (unexpected non-continuation byte 0x2c, immediately after start byte 0xe4; need 3 bytes, got 1) in pattern match (m//) at /opt/local/share/texinfo/Texinfo/ParserNonXS.pm line 3364.
:info:build Malformed UTF-8 character (fatal) at /opt/local/share/texinfo/Texinfo/ParserNonXS.pm line 3364.

This is also a problem of trying to build old texi files with modern texinfo, so solving this issue will probably solve the issue seen in the first attempt.

Both of the first two attempts occurred when, as far as MacPorts was able to determine, Xcode was not installed.

The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth attempts took place when Xcode 10.1 was installed. For these attempts, MacPorts tried to download an archive and stopped there:

:debug:archivefetch archivefetch phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:50:47 BST 2020

:debug:archivefetch archivefetch phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:55:17 BST 2020

:debug:archivefetch archivefetch phase started at Sat Apr 11 11:56:19 BST 2020

:debug:archivefetch archivefetch phase started at Sat Apr 11 12:01:49 BST 2020

These attempts all failed for the same reason: the inexplicable realpath failed: Permission denied error. I don't know why this is happening. I can't find any other occurrences of this error on the Internet. The presence or absence of Xcode should have no influence on our ability to fetch archives. Ports can't really influence the archive fetch stage, so any failure here is happening in MacPorts base and is unrelated to the specific port you're installing.

The archive that MacPorts failed to download for you back on April 11, 2020 now exists on our server. It was created December 4, 2020. If you sudo port clean xemacs and try again, with luck you should receive that archive and hopefully avoid the problems you saw before. Or you might continue to see the realpath failed: Permission denied error with this or any other port, since it comes from MacPorts base and we don't know why it's happening for you.