Debugging tips

Sometimes constructor fails to build the requested installer. Sometimes the installer builds, but there are errors when it is run in the target machine.

In this section we will talk about different techniques you can use to find out was wrong with your installers.

Run constructor in debug mode

When you run constructor, conda is called behind the scenes to solve the requested specs. You can enable advanced logging using the flags -v or --debug. These will be passed to conda. Be prepared for a lot of output!

Verbose conda

Whether it’s while running constructor to build an installer, or while the installer is running in the target machine, some instance of conda will be running behind the scenes. You can request more verbose output via the CONDA_VERBOSITY environment variable. It can take values from 1 to 4. You can also set CONDA_DEBUG to 1.

Verbose shell installers

The shell installers are simply shell scripts that invoke conda in certain events. This means you can enable bash verbosity via the -x flag:

$ bash -x ./Miniconda.sh
# or with verbose conda:
$ CONDA_VERBOSITY=3 bash -x ./Miniconda.sh

Verbose PKG installers

PKG installers are usually invoked graphically. You can check the native logs via ⌘+L. Note that you will need to choose the detailed view in the dropdown menu you’ll find in the top right corner.

In order to get more verbosity out of conda, you now know you need the CONDA_VERBOSITY variable. However, it needs to be set up before running the installer. One way from the command line would be:

$ CONDA_VERBOSITY=3 installer -pkg ./path/to/installer.pkg -target LocalSystem

See man installer for more details.

Verbose EXE installers

Windows installers do not have a verbose mode. By default, the graphical logs are only available in the “progress bar” dialog, by clicking on “Show details”. This text box is right-clickable, which will allow you to copy the contents to the clipboard (and then paste them in a text file, presumably).

If you want conda to print more details, then, run it from the CMD prompt like this:

> set "CONDA_VERBOSITY=3"
> cmd.exe /c start /wait your-installer.exe

Building logging-enabled EXE installers

There’s a way of building EXE installers that can write logs to a file; for this, you need a special nsis package configured to do so:

> conda install "nsis=*=*log*"

Then, you can invoke constructor normally after setting a special environment variable:

> set "NSIS_USING_LOG_BUILD=1"
> cmd.exe /c start /wait constructor .

The resulting EXE installer will always generate an install.log file in the target directory. It will contain the full logs, as available in the “Show details” dialog.