Re: Newbie user question: How to delete all files in /gnu/store related to a package definition?

[Julien Lepiller]

Hi Rodrigo,

>   ,----
>   | finding garbage collector roots...
>   | guix gc: error: cannot delete path
> `/gnu/store/2j9gykgj0axgg193pd6hvrmnzqbz88nm-font-noto-color-emoji-2.034.drv'
> since it is still alive
>   | Exit code: 123
>   `----

As it says, that store path is still alive, but why?

When you install a package, remove a package, or do anything in your
user profile, guix will create a new "generation" of the profile that
contains the same items as the previous generation, except for what you
asked it to do. So when removing a package with `guix remove foo`, you
cerate a new generation of the profile, where package "foo" is not
present.

Old generations of your profile are considered live, and are protected
against garbage collection, so you can roll back to them easily in case
something goes wrong with the new generation.

Try this:

guix package --roll-back

Now, you should be able to use your font again!

You can list the generations with

guix package --list-generations

and go back to the most recent one with

guix package --switch-generation=<n> where <n> is the generation number
given in the previous command.

You can also remove old generations of your profile, for instance, all
but the current one:

guix package --delete-generations

and then, you should be able to collect that store path :)

HTH!