Install elixir from source on Travis-ci

Installing elixir from source is actually quite simple if you have make and erlang. It’s basically cloneing the git repo and tell make to compile it.

https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir#compiling-from-source

As @LostKobrakai suggest, just compile elixir in the before_script/install section of an erlang based image.

Hmmm, no luck so far. Here is my current .travis.yml with some additional debug commands in it:

language: erlang

otp_release: 
  - '21.2'

before_script:
  - git clone https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir.git
  - cd elixir
  - git checkout v1.7.1
  - make compile
  - rm -rf .git
  - make
  - sudo make install
  - cd ..

script:
  - ls
  - pwd
  - mix test

But mix test is failing with an error starting the logger:

=SUPERVISOR REPORT==== 17-Jan-2019::16:36:39.404684 ===
    supervisor: {local,'Elixir.Logger.Supervisor'}
    errorContext: start_error
    reason: noproc
    offender: [{pid,undefined},
               {id,'Elixir.Logger.ErrorHandler'},
               {mfargs,
                   {'Elixir.Logger.Watcher',watcher,
                       [error_logger,'Elixir.Logger.ErrorHandler',
                        {true,false,500},
                        link]}},
               {restart_type,permanent},
               {shutdown,5000},
               {child_type,worker}]

$ mix test
=SUPERVISOR REPORT==== 17-Jan-2019::16:36:39.404684 ===
    supervisor: {local,'Elixir.Logger.Supervisor'}
    errorContext: start_error
    reason: noproc
    offender: [{pid,undefined},
               {id,'Elixir.Logger.ErrorHandler'},
               {mfargs,
                   {'Elixir.Logger.Watcher',watcher,
                       [error_logger,'Elixir.Logger.ErrorHandler',
                        {true,false,500},
                        link]}},
               {restart_type,permanent},
               {shutdown,5000},
               {child_type,worker}]
=CRASH REPORT==== 17-Jan-2019::16:36:39.404631 ===
  crasher:
    initial call: Elixir.Logger.Watcher:init/1
    pid: <0.90.0>
    registered_name: []
    exception exit: noproc
      in function  gen:do_for_proc/2 (gen.erl, line 228)
      in call from gen_event:rpc/2 (gen_event.erl, line 239)
      in call from 'Elixir.Logger.Watcher':init/1 (lib/logger/watcher.ex, line 66)
      in call from gen_server:init_it/2 (gen_server.erl, line 374)
      in call from gen_server:init_it/6 (gen_server.erl, line 342)
    ancestors: ['Elixir.Logger.Supervisor',<0.84.0>]
    message_queue_len: 0
    messages: []
    links: [<0.85.0>]
    dictionary: []
    trap_exit: false
    status: running
    heap_size: 376
    stack_size: 27
    reductions: 253
  neighbours:
=CRASH REPORT==== 17-Jan-2019::16:36:39.416703 ===
  crasher:
    initial call: application_master:init/4
    pid: <0.83.0>
    registered_name: []
    exception exit: {{shutdown,
                         {failed_to_start_child,'Elixir.Logger.ErrorHandler',
                             noproc}},
                     {'Elixir.Logger.App',start,[normal,[]]}}
      in function  application_master:init/4 (application_master.erl, line 138)
    ancestors: [<0.82.0>]
    message_queue_len: 1
    messages: [{'EXIT',<0.84.0>,normal}]
    links: [<0.82.0>,<0.43.0>]
    dictionary: []
    trap_exit: true
    status: running
    heap_size: 376
    stack_size: 27
    reductions: 193
  neighbours:
=INFO REPORT==== 17-Jan-2019::16:36:39.417765 ===
    application: logger
    exited: {{shutdown,
                 {failed_to_start_child,'Elixir.Logger.ErrorHandler',noproc}},
             {'Elixir.Logger.App',start,[normal,[]]}}
    type: temporary
** (Mix) Invalid Elixir version requirement ~> 1.5 in mix.exs file
The command "mix test" exited with 1.

The full travis run can be viewed here: https://travis-ci.com/axelson/elixir_sense/builds/97716464

Also puzzling is the last line of output:

** (Mix) Invalid Elixir version requirement ~> 1.5 in mix.exs file

But it isn’t an invalid requirement… I would expect something more like what I get if I set the requirement to ~> 1.8:

** (Mix) You're trying to run :elixir_sense on Elixir v1.7.1 but it has declared in its mix.exs file it supports only Elixir ~> 1.8

I’ll take a closer look from home.

Okay, solved it.

It seems as if due to restriction of how travis CI works, elixir isn’t really installed after running make install.

After I changed the script to use the elixir directly from the source folder, it worked. Also I prepared the git checkout already in a way, that you should be able to create a build matrix easily.

Latest build log: https://travis-ci.com/axelson/elixir_sense/builds/97754187
PR: Fix installation and usage of elixir in travis builds by NobbZ · Pull Request #1 · axelson/elixir_sense · GitHub

Wow, thanks for seeing that through. I’ll get it merged down soon (hopefully later today).

Here’s an updated example for anyone coming to this later (I had to remove any environment variables that depend on another environment variable):

language: erlang

otp_release:
  - '21.2'

env:
  EX_HOME: ${TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR}/elixir
  EX_BIN: ${TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR}/elixir/bin
  EX_VSN: 1.7.1

before_script:
  - git clone https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir.git ${EX_HOME}
  - pushd ${EX_HOME}
  - git checkout v${EX_VSN}
  - make
  - popd
  - ${EX_BIN}/elixir ${EX_BIN}/mix local.hex --force
  - ${EX_BIN}/elixir ${EX_BIN}/mix local.rebar --force

script:
  - ${EX_BIN}/elixir ${EX_BIN}/mix deps.get
  - MIX_ENV=test ${EX_BIN}/elixir ${EX_BIN}/mix deps.compile
  - ${EX_BIN}/elixir ${EX_BIN}/mix test