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[core] Improve error message when GNU tar is missing #17179

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[core] Improve error message when GNU tar is missing #17179

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10 changes: 8 additions & 2 deletions core/core-configuration-layer.el
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -1717,9 +1717,15 @@ RNAME is the name symbol of another existing layer."
(oset pkg lazy-install nil))
(t (configuration-layer//warning "Cannot install package %S."
pkg-name)))
('error
(error
(configuration-layer//error
(concat "\nAn error occurred while installing %s " "(error: %s)\n")
(concat "An error occurred while installing %s " "(error: %s)"
(when (and (equal err '(wrong-type-argument package-desc nil))
(and (listp location) (eq 'recipe (car location)))
(boundp 'quelpa--tar-type)
(not (eq quelpa--tar-type 'gnu)))
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@fnussbaum fnussbaum Nov 17, 2025 •
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This does not cover the case where (quelpa--tar-type) evaluates to gnu because of the fallback:

(defun quelpa--tar-type ()
  "Return `bsd' or `gnu' depending on type of Tar executable.
Tests and sets variable `quelpa--tar-type' if not already set."
  (or quelpa--tar-type
      (when (and quelpa-build-tar-executable
                 (file-executable-p quelpa-build-tar-executable))
        (setq quelpa--tar-type
              (let ((v (shell-command-to-string
                        (format "%s --version" quelpa-build-tar-executable))))
                (cond ((string-match-p "bsdtar" v) 'bsd)
                      ((string-match-p "GNU tar" v) 'gnu)
                      (t 'gnu)))))))

Not sure how common this case is. Perhaps we would need to duplicate a part of this function's implementation to cover this case.

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@bcc32 bcc32 Nov 17, 2025

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If I remember correctly, the issues have all been with bsdtar which is installed on MacOS, right? AFAICT that will actually print bsdtar so the fallback should not happen in that scenario at least:

$ /usr/bin/tar --version
bsdtar 3.5.3 - libarchive 3.7.4 zlib/1.2.12 liblzma/5.4.3 bz2lib/1.0.8

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@fnussbaum fnussbaum Nov 17, 2025

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If I remember correctly, the issues have all been with bsdtar which is installed on MacOS, right?

This should be the most common case. Though on OpenBSD, apparently the default tar does not support the --version flag at all. There was also an issue on Android, but I'm not sure if having a default "non-gnu" tar installed there is common.

". It looks like GNU tar is not installed, or `quelpa-build-tar-executable' \
needs to be customized to a GNU tar executable."))
pkg-name
err)
(spacemacs//redisplay))))))
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