GNU bug report logs - #76501
[PATCH 0/1] Fix deployment of smaller Hetzner instances

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>
To: guix-patches <at> gnu.org
Cc: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>, me <at> fabionatali.com
Subject: [PATCH 0/1] Fix deployment of smaller Hetzner instances
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:14:48 +0100

Hello Guix,

Fabio Natali reached out to me that there is an "out of disk space" issue when
deploying smaller instances with the hetzner-environment-type.

I thought I tried it on smaller instances. But either I didn't try it on the
smaller instances, or another theory: I tried it back in the day, but Guix got
larger in the meantime?

Looking closer I discovered that the size of the root partition of the rescue
system depends on the instance type, and is a lot smaller on those smaller ones.

On a cax11 instance, booted into the rescue system from which a minimal Guix
system is installed, "df -h" shows:

Filesystem                    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev                          1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /dev
[2a01:4ff:ff00::b007:1]:/nfs  1.2T  999G  151G  87% /root/.oldroot/nfs
overlay                       1.9G  1.9G     0 100% /
tmpfs                         1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                         768M  864K  767M   1% /run
tmpfs                         5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
/dev/sda1                      38G   44K   36G   1% /mnt
/dev/sda15                    244M  152K  244M   1% /mnt/boot/efi
tmpfs                         384M     0  384M   0% /run/user/0

The 1.9G of / on the the rescue system seem to be not enough to host Guix
installed as a foreign distro on the rescue system, plus the packages needed
to install the new Guix bootstrap system.

To fix this I came up with the following solution:

- before installing Guix on the rescue system, I make sure that /gnu/store has
  enough space.

- this is done by bind mounting /mnt/tmp/gnu/store (here /mnt is the root of
  the new Guix system having more disk space) to /gnu/store.

- then Guix is installed with apt-get on the rescue system using the store
  that points into the tmp directory of the new Guix system.

- A minimal Guix system is installed onto /mnt, rebooted and from there the
  final operating system config is applied. When the minimal Guix system
  boots, the /tmp/gnu/store is gone and not used anymore.

This seems to work. I have tried it and Fabio also reported that it works for
him.

What do you think of this strategy? Is there a better one?

I attached a patch for this and also changed the instance type that are used
in the tests to smaller ones, so this is covered for the future. Could you
please review it?

Fabio also asked me why I choose to use medium sized instances as the default
instead of the smallest. My thinking was so people trying this for the first
time have a good experience and not have to deal with an under-powered
instance. I would leave it that way. If you think we should default to smaller
ones, please let me know.

Unfortunatly the above solution did not work with the smallest CPX11 instance,
with 2 VCPUs, 2 GB of RAM and 40 GB disk space.

The rescue system only 970M:

root <at> rescue /usr/lib # df -h
Filesystem                    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev                          961M     0  961M   0% /dev
[2a01:4ff:ff00::b007:1]:/nfs  1.2T  999G  151G  87% /root/.oldroot/nfs
overlay                       970M  821M  150M  85% /
tmpfs                         970M     0  970M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                         388M  668K  388M   1% /run
tmpfs                         5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
/dev/sda1                      38G  1.3G   34G   4% /mnt
/dev/sda15                    241M  142K  241M   1% /mnt/boot/efi
tmpfs                         194M     0  194M   0% /run/user/0

Installing Guix via apt-get works. But when installing the minimal bootstrap
Guix system it fails with:

...
downloading from https://ci.guix.gnu.org/nar/lzip/lclbcq0jds63zal1p55g6v0mwz90s44y-guile-git-0.5.2 ...
downloading from https://ci.guix.gnu.org/nar/gzip/g2ajyl8xk9aarxrgjbng2hkj3qm2v0z2-tar-1.34 ...
downloading from https://ci.guix.gnu.org/nar/gzip/v06gnr579r0jmr36aha3wkbd1y27ccg7-disarchive-0.4.0 ...
downloading from https://ci.guix.gnu.org/nar/lzip/9nvx97hr8kkr26gzwni2fblfn0yq0xjw-guix-1.4.0rc2 ...

error (ignored): aborting transaction: cannot rollback - no transaction is active
guix system: error: committing transaction: database or disk is full

Not sure what to do about that. I added a note to the manual that CPX11
instances are not supported at the moment.

Thanks Roman.

Roman Scherer (1):
  gnu: machine: hetzner: Fix deployment on smaller instances.

 doc/guix.texi             | 4 +++-
 gnu/machine/hetzner.scm   | 9 ++++++++-
 tests/machine/hetzner.scm | 4 ++--
 3 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)


base-commit: 5f4c785fc3caa0fd960ebcf9c1ea6ab396b96f25
--
2.48.1

Message #8 received at 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>
To: 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>, me <at> fabionatali.com
Subject: [PATCH 1/1] gnu: machine: hetzner: Fix deployment on smaller
 instances.
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2025 13:22:01 +0100

* gnu/machine/hetzner.scm (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-os): Avoid out of
disk space error by bind mounting /mnt/tmp/gnu/store to /gnu/store.
* tests/machine/hetzner.scm: Test with smaller instances.
* doc/guix.texi: Mention unsupported instance.

Change-Id: If8bfb6733de493b51813b3e82e255849192f7cba
---
 doc/guix.texi             | 4 +++-
 gnu/machine/hetzner.scm   | 9 ++++++++-
 tests/machine/hetzner.scm | 4 ++--
 3 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index 83ba0f3292..51db3f9c77 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -45361,7 +45361,9 @@ Invoking guix deploy
 @code{"cx42"} corresponds to a x86_64 server that has 8 VCPUs, 16 GB of
 memory and 160 GB of storage, while @code{"cax31"} to the AArch64
 equivalent.  Other server types and their current prices can be found
-@uref{https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/#pricing, here}.
+@uref{https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/#pricing, here}.  The @code{"cpx11"}
+server type is currently not supported, since its rescue system is too
+small to bootstrap a Guix system from.
 
 @item @code{ssh-key}
 The file name of the SSH private key to use to authenticate with the
diff --git a/gnu/machine/hetzner.scm b/gnu/machine/hetzner.scm
index 1d9a3f4385..e87149a06a 100644
--- a/gnu/machine/hetzner.scm
+++ b/gnu/machine/hetzner.scm
@@ -551,6 +551,13 @@ (define (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-os machine ssh-session server)
 cp /root/.ssh/authorized_keys /mnt/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
 chmod 600 /mnt/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
 
+# Small instance don't have much disk space.  Bind mount the store of the
+# resuce system to the tmp directory of the new Guix system.
+mkdir -p /mnt/tmp/gnu/store
+mkdir -p /gnu/store
+mount --bind /mnt/tmp/gnu/store /gnu/store
+
+apt-get install guix --assume-yes
 cat > /tmp/guix/deploy/hetzner-os.scm << EOF
 (use-modules (gnu) (guix utils))
 (use-package-modules ssh)
@@ -605,7 +612,7 @@ (define (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-packages machine ssh-session)
      (format #f "#!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -eo pipefail
 apt-get update
-apt-get install guix cloud-initramfs-growroot --assume-yes"))
+apt-get install cloud-initramfs-growroot --assume-yes"))
     (format #t "successfully installed rescue system packages on '~a'\n" name)))
 
 (define (hetzner-machine-delete machine server)
diff --git a/tests/machine/hetzner.scm b/tests/machine/hetzner.scm
index 39eac4a4d5..1552bcb9a0 100644
--- a/tests/machine/hetzner.scm
+++ b/tests/machine/hetzner.scm
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ (define %arm-machine
    (environment hetzner-environment-type)
    (configuration (hetzner-configuration
                    (labels %labels)
-                   (server-type "cax41")
+                   (server-type "cax11")
                    (ssh-key %ssh-key-file)))))
 
 (define %x86-machine
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ (define %x86-machine
    (environment hetzner-environment-type)
    (configuration (hetzner-configuration
                    (labels %labels)
-                   (server-type "cpx51")
+                   (server-type "cx22")
                    (ssh-key %ssh-key-file)))))
 
 (define (cleanup machine)
-- 
2.48.1

Message #11 received at 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Fabio Natali <me <at> fabionatali.com>
To: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>, 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/1] gnu: machine: hetzner: Fix deployment on smaller
 instances.
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:06:25 +0000

On 2025-02-23, 13:22 +0100, Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com> wrote:
> * gnu/machine/hetzner.scm (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-os): Avoid out of
> disk space error by bind mounting /mnt/tmp/gnu/store to /gnu/store.
> * tests/machine/hetzner.scm: Test with smaller instances.
> * doc/guix.texi: Mention unsupported instance.

Hi All.

Thanks Roman for your work on 'hetzner-environment-type', it's really
cool that 'guix deploy' gets expanded with other integrations and
features. Also thanks for getting back to me so quickly when I reached
out the other day.

I confirm that the patch works well for me. I was able to provision
various cx22 (and above) Hetzner instances with it.

Just a cosmetic thing, here it should be "rescue":

> +# Small instance don't have much disk space.  Bind mount the store of the
> +# resuce system to the tmp directory of the new Guix system.

Thanks, best wishes, Fabio.


-- 
Fabio Natali
https://fabionatali.com

Message #14 received at 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>
To: Fabio Natali <me <at> fabionatali.com>
Cc: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>, 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/1] gnu: machine: hetzner: Fix deployment on smaller
 instances.
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2025 11:27:36 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

I also opened a support ticket at Hetzner with the request to have more
disk space on the rescue system of smaller instances. They said they
handed the request over to their customers team and will prioritize it,
depending on demand.

@Fabio / anyone listening: If you want to see this happening, maybe also
send them an email about this ;)

Fabio Natali <me <at> fabionatali.com> writes:

> On 2025-02-23, 13:22 +0100, Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com> wrote:
>> * gnu/machine/hetzner.scm (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-os): Avoid out of
>> disk space error by bind mounting /mnt/tmp/gnu/store to /gnu/store.
>> * tests/machine/hetzner.scm: Test with smaller instances.
>> * doc/guix.texi: Mention unsupported instance.
>
> Hi All.
>
> Thanks Roman for your work on 'hetzner-environment-type', it's really
> cool that 'guix deploy' gets expanded with other integrations and
> features. Also thanks for getting back to me so quickly when I reached
> out the other day.
>
> I confirm that the patch works well for me. I was able to provision
> various cx22 (and above) Hetzner instances with it.
>
> Just a cosmetic thing, here it should be "rescue":
>
>> +# Small instance don't have much disk space.  Bind mount the store of the
>> +# resuce system to the tmp directory of the new Guix system.
>
> Thanks, best wishes, Fabio.

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #17 received at 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Fabio Natali <me <at> fabionatali.com>
To: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>
Cc: 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/1] gnu: machine: hetzner: Fix deployment on smaller
 instances.
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:20:58 +0000

On 2025-02-25, 11:27 +0100, Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com> wrote:
> I also opened a support ticket at Hetzner with the request to have more
> disk space on the rescue system of smaller instances. They said they
> handed the request over to their customers team and will prioritize it,
> depending on demand.
>
> @Fabio / anyone listening: If you want to see this happening, maybe also
> send them an email about this ;)

Hi Roman,

Absolutely, good idea and glad to do that. I think the Guix Foundation
has a Hetzner account too, we could think of sending an email from that
account too. I'll try and reach out to someone at the Guix Foundation
(Tanguy? Chris?) to suggest this.

Shall we generally indicate that we've run into issues with the size of
the rescue system - or do we have any number that we can attach to our
request? E.g. anything above X GB on all instances (including the
smallest ones)?

This is orthogonal and probably worth a separate thread but I wonder how
this works with the other guix deploy backend, the DigitalOcean one, and
if there's any similar limitation there.

Thanks, best wishes, Fabio.


-- 
Fabio Natali
https://fabionatali.com

Message #20 received at 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>
To: Fabio Natali <me <at> fabionatali.com>
Cc: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>, 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/1] gnu: machine: hetzner: Fix deployment on smaller
 instances.
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2025 09:52:33 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi Fabio,

Fabio Natali <me <at> fabionatali.com> writes:

> On 2025-02-25, 11:27 +0100, Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com> wrote:
>> I also opened a support ticket at Hetzner with the request to have more
>> disk space on the rescue system of smaller instances. They said they
>> handed the request over to their customers team and will prioritize it,
>> depending on demand.
>>
>> @Fabio / anyone listening: If you want to see this happening, maybe also
>> send them an email about this ;)
>
> Hi Roman,
>
> Absolutely, good idea and glad to do that. I think the Guix Foundation
> has a Hetzner account too, we could think of sending an email from that
> account too. I'll try and reach out to someone at the Guix Foundation
> (Tanguy? Chris?) to suggest this.
>
> Shall we generally indicate that we've run into issues with the size of
> the rescue system - or do we have any number that we can attach to our
> request? E.g. anything above X GB on all instances (including the
> smallest ones)?

The current approach works with the smallest ARM instance, cax11, and it
has 1.9GB free space when booted into the rescue system. Maybe ask for a
bit more than this, just to be safe.

> This is orthogonal and probably worth a separate thread but I wonder how
> this works with the other guix deploy backend, the DigitalOcean one, and
> if there's any similar limitation there.

On Digital Ocean guix deploy does not use a resuce system, but instead
boots into a Debian system that then gets "infected" with a Guix system,
by installing it on top of the Debian system, and moving directories
like /etc around. I tried this initially, but run into issues with the
network not resolving hosts anymore when /etc got moved. It looked like
the infect script used for Digitial Ocean is tied to a specific Debian
version, that wasn't available on Hetzner.

> Thanks, best wishes, Fabio.

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #23 received at 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>
To: 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>
Subject: [PATCH v2] gnu: machine: hetzner: Fix deployment on smaller instances.
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2025 19:24:46 +0100

* gnu/machine/hetzner.scm (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-os): Avoid out of
disk space error by bind mounting /mnt/tmp/gnu/store to /gnu/store.
* tests/machine/hetzner.scm: Test with smaller instances.
* doc/guix.texi: Mention unsupported instance.

Change-Id: If8bfb6733de493b51813b3e82e255849192f7cba
---
 doc/guix.texi             | 4 +++-
 gnu/machine/hetzner.scm   | 9 ++++++++-
 tests/machine/hetzner.scm | 4 ++--
 3 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index a036c85c31..f0891da924 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -45380,7 +45380,9 @@ Invoking guix deploy
 @code{"cx42"} corresponds to a x86_64 server that has 8 VCPUs, 16 GB of
 memory and 160 GB of storage, while @code{"cax31"} to the AArch64
 equivalent.  Other server types and their current prices can be found
-@uref{https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/#pricing, here}.
+@uref{https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/#pricing, here}.  The @code{"cpx11"}
+server type is currently not supported, since its rescue system is too
+small to bootstrap a Guix system from.
 
 @item @code{ssh-key}
 The file name of the SSH private key to use to authenticate with the
diff --git a/gnu/machine/hetzner.scm b/gnu/machine/hetzner.scm
index 1d9a3f4385..bc8d2efbd3 100644
--- a/gnu/machine/hetzner.scm
+++ b/gnu/machine/hetzner.scm
@@ -551,6 +551,13 @@ (define (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-os machine ssh-session server)
 cp /root/.ssh/authorized_keys /mnt/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
 chmod 600 /mnt/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
 
+# Small instance don't have much disk space.  Bind mount the store of the
+# rescue system to the tmp directory of the new Guix system.
+mkdir -p /mnt/tmp/gnu/store
+mkdir -p /gnu/store
+mount --bind /mnt/tmp/gnu/store /gnu/store
+
+apt-get install guix --assume-yes
 cat > /tmp/guix/deploy/hetzner-os.scm << EOF
 (use-modules (gnu) (guix utils))
 (use-package-modules ssh)
@@ -605,7 +612,7 @@ (define (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-packages machine ssh-session)
      (format #f "#!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -eo pipefail
 apt-get update
-apt-get install guix cloud-initramfs-growroot --assume-yes"))
+apt-get install cloud-initramfs-growroot --assume-yes"))
     (format #t "successfully installed rescue system packages on '~a'\n" name)))
 
 (define (hetzner-machine-delete machine server)
diff --git a/tests/machine/hetzner.scm b/tests/machine/hetzner.scm
index 39eac4a4d5..1552bcb9a0 100644
--- a/tests/machine/hetzner.scm
+++ b/tests/machine/hetzner.scm
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ (define %arm-machine
    (environment hetzner-environment-type)
    (configuration (hetzner-configuration
                    (labels %labels)
-                   (server-type "cax41")
+                   (server-type "cax11")
                    (ssh-key %ssh-key-file)))))
 
 (define %x86-machine
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ (define %x86-machine
    (environment hetzner-environment-type)
    (configuration (hetzner-configuration
                    (labels %labels)
-                   (server-type "cpx51")
+                   (server-type "cx22")
                    (ssh-key %ssh-key-file)))))
 
 (define (cleanup machine)

base-commit: f1810c84f72090b02544ac41d0582c4785728ec4
-- 
2.48.1

Message #26 received at 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>
To: Fabio Natali <me <at> fabionatali.com>
Cc: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>, 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/1] gnu: machine: hetzner: Fix deployment on smaller
 instances.
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2025 19:26:16 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,

I sent v2 that fixes the spelling.

Thanks, Roman.

Fabio Natali <me <at> fabionatali.com> writes:

> On 2025-02-23, 13:22 +0100, Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com> wrote:
>> * gnu/machine/hetzner.scm (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-os): Avoid out of
>> disk space error by bind mounting /mnt/tmp/gnu/store to /gnu/store.
>> * tests/machine/hetzner.scm: Test with smaller instances.
>> * doc/guix.texi: Mention unsupported instance.
>
> Hi All.
>
> Thanks Roman for your work on 'hetzner-environment-type', it's really
> cool that 'guix deploy' gets expanded with other integrations and
> features. Also thanks for getting back to me so quickly when I reached
> out the other day.
>
> I confirm that the patch works well for me. I was able to provision
> various cx22 (and above) Hetzner instances with it.
>
> Just a cosmetic thing, here it should be "rescue":
>
>> +# Small instance don't have much disk space.  Bind mount the store of the
>> +# resuce system to the tmp directory of the new Guix system.
>
> Thanks, best wishes, Fabio.

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #31 received at 76501-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
To: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>
Cc: 76501-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [bug#76501] [PATCH v2] gnu: machine: hetzner: Fix deployment on
 smaller instances.
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2025 22:55:06 +0100

Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com> skribis:

> * gnu/machine/hetzner.scm (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-os): Avoid out of
> disk space error by bind mounting /mnt/tmp/gnu/store to /gnu/store.
> * tests/machine/hetzner.scm: Test with smaller instances.
> * doc/guix.texi: Mention unsupported instance.
>
> Change-Id: If8bfb6733de493b51813b3e82e255849192f7cba

Applied, thanks!

Message #34 received at 76501-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>
To: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
Cc: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>, 76501-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org,
 Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [bug#76501] [PATCH v2] gnu: machine: hetzner: Fix deployment on
 smaller instances.
Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2025 10:12:09 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Thank you Ludo!

Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org> writes:

> Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com> skribis:
>
>> * gnu/machine/hetzner.scm (hetzner-machine-rescue-install-os): Avoid out of
>> disk space error by bind mounting /mnt/tmp/gnu/store to /gnu/store.
>> * tests/machine/hetzner.scm: Test with smaller instances.
>> * doc/guix.texi: Mention unsupported instance.
>>
>> Change-Id: If8bfb6733de493b51813b3e82e255849192f7cba
>
> Applied, thanks!

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #37 received at 76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Benjamin" <benjamin <at> uvy.fr>
To: <76501 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Cc: Roman Scherer <roman <at> burningswell.com>,
 Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>,
 Fabio Natali <me <at> fabionatali.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/1] Fix deployment of smaller Hetzner instances
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2025 23:14:10 +0100

Hello,

I am coming a bit late for this issue, but I have found a technique that
might be usefull for related problems.

The problem here is we want to bootstrap guix on a small vps. When set
in "rescue mode" the vps root file system is really small and guix is too
big to be installed here before being moved to the "disk filesystem"
usually in /dev/sda

The workaround I found is to build a guix image locally, and stream the
result directly over ssh to the /dev/sda disk.

Once the vps is in rescue mode, this is done with such a command : 

cat $(guix system image minimal_os.scm) | ssh -C <IP> dd of=/dev/sda status=progress

Depending on the vps, --image-type=mbr-raw should be passed to guix
system image. This is the case for ovh.

Note that I also needed to add virtio driver for the minimal_os to work
  (initrd-modules (cons "virtio_scsi" %base-initrd-modules))

This technique worked so far with the smallest vps from ovh and scaleway.
Hovewer, I guess that as it should work for any vps where rescue mode
over ssh is available.

Hope this can help some of you

Benjamin

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