Morganamilo/paru · error

can not use chroot builds: devtools is not installed

Error message

can not use chroot builds: devtools is not installed

What it means

handle_cmd checks at startup that chroot-based builds are possible: if the operation is ChrootCtl or the --chroot flag is set, the arch-nspawn command (from the devtools package) must exist on PATH. If not, paru bails because chroot builds simply cannot proceed without devtools.

Solutions

1. Install devtools: `sudo pacman -S devtools`
2. Verify: `command -v arch-nspawn` should print a path
3. Drop the --chroot flag / chroot config option if you don't need isolated builds
4. Set `Chroot`/chroot options off in paru.conf if it's enabled there unintentionally

Example fix

// before
$ paru -S foo --chroot
can not use chroot builds: devtools is not installed
// after
$ sudo pacman -S devtools
$ paru -S foo --chroot

if using_chroot() && which("arch-nspawn").is_err() {
    eprintln!("install devtools before using --chroot");
    std::process::exit(1);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `paru --chroot ...` / `paru -S <pkg> --chroot` or a chrootctl operation when has_command("arch-nspawn") returns false — i.e. devtools is not installed or arch-nspawn is not on PATH.

Common situations: Users enabling --chroot on a fresh Arch install without devtools; minimal containers; devtools installed but PATH broken (e.g. /usr/bin missing from PATH in weird environments); forgetting that chroot builds require the extra package.

Understand the failure class

Background: "not installed", "pip install", "required for": how missing-dependency errors surface across open-source libraries — this error's family across 34 libraries.

Related errors

• {}: {}

AI-assisted analysis of Morganamilo/paru@9ac3578807 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ca6f4d279a08dbf0. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/lib.rs:206

        git_flags: config.git_flags.clone(),
        clone_dir: config.build_dir.clone(),
        diff_dir: config.cache_dir.join("diff"),
        aur_url,
    };

    let mut fetch = config.fetch.clone();
    fetch.clone_dir = config.build_dir.join("repo");
    fetch.diff_dir = config.cache_dir.join("diff/repo");
    config.pkgbuild_repos.fetch = fetch;

    log::debug!("{:#?}", config);

    handle_cmd(config).await
}

async fn handle_cmd(config: &mut Config) -> Result<i32> {
    if (config.op == Op::ChrootCtl || config.chroot) && !has_command("arch-nspawn") {
        bail!(tr!("can not use chroot builds: devtools is not installed"));
    }

    let ret = match config.op {
        Op::Database | Op::Files => exec::pacman(config, &config.args)?.code(),
        Op::Upgrade => handle_upgrade(config).await?,
        Op::Build => handle_build(config).await?,
        Op::Query => handle_query(config).await?,
        Op::Sync => handle_sync(config).await?,
        Op::Remove => handle_remove(config)?,
        Op::DepTest => handle_test(config).await?,
        Op::GetPkgBuild => handle_get_pkg_build(config).await?,
        Op::Show => handle_show(config).await?,
        Op::Default => handle_default(config).await?,
        Op::RepoCtl => handle_repo(config)?,
        Op::ChrootCtl => handle_chroot(config)?,
        // _ => bail!("unknown op '{}'", config.op),
    };

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