ERROR: download_ex_doc failed.

[conradwt]

Describe the bug

When building the documentation (i.e. Building docs...), I'm getting the following error message:

ERROR: download_ex_doc failed.
( cd /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/erts/start_scripts/tmp && \
	  erlc -W  -I/Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/lib/kernel/ebin -I/Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/lib/stdlib/ebin -I/Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/lib/sasl/ebin +otp_build -o /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/bin/start_sasl.script /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/erts/start_scripts/start_sasl.rel )
/opt/local/bin/ginstall -c -d /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/erts/start_scripts/tmp
( cd /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/erts/start_scripts/tmp && \
	  erlc -W  -I/Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/lib/kernel/ebin -I/Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/lib/stdlib/ebin -I/Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/lib/sasl/ebin +no_warn_sasl +otp_build -o /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/bin/start_clean.script /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/erts/start_scripts/start_clean.rel )
/opt/local/bin/ginstall -c -d /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/erts/start_scripts/tmp
( cd /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/erts/start_scripts/tmp && \
	  erlc -W  -I/Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/lib/kernel/ebin -I/Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/lib/stdlib/ebin -I/Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/lib/sasl/ebin +no_warn_sasl +otp_build +no_dot_erlang -o /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/bin/no_dot_erlang.script /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/erts/start_scripts/no_dot_erlang.rel )
Neither sha1sum nor sha256sum found to verify /Users/conradwt/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_27.0.1/otp_src_27.0.1/bin/ex_doc
Please check manually that the correct ex_doc was downloaded.

To Reproduce

asdf install erlang 27.0.1

Expected behavior

I expected the build to complete without error.

Affected versions

OTP 27.0.1

Additional context

I didn't experience this issue when installing OTP 27.0 on Apple M1 using macOS 14.5.

[jhogberg]

Thanks for your report! Unfortunately most of us are on vacation right now, we'll revisit this once we're back. :-)

[GRoguelon]

@conradwt I found the issue. The problem is located in otp_build, the build tries to check if either sha256sum or sha1sum commands are available. If not it returns the error you shared.

I see you are on macOS so you can fix it by installing coreutils.

With brew just do:

brew install coreutils

After you installed your Erlang version you can remove it, it is used only to check the integrity of ex_doc.

[conradwt]

@GRoguelon Great catch because I totally missed this issue. Anyway, I'm guessing it may be best to leave these tools installed because ex_doc integrity will need to be checked for each new OTP installation >= 27.0.1.

It's interesting that OTP team would introduce a dependency that's not called out in the documentation and didn't exist in OTP 27.0.

[GRoguelon]

@conradwt I was blocked myself on the issue.

macOS has the command shasum which works exactly like the current implementation you just need to provide which hash function you want with the option -a, like: -a 256. Maybe it should be considered as fallback in case of miss on the sha256sum and sha1sum commands.

https://ss64.com/mac/shasum.html

[conradwt]

@GRoguelon Shasum and other dependencies should be documented and added to the build process. The build process must use the appropriate command for the underlying OS here. This is only an issue for local development because most tend not to install docs in production.

[kikofernandez]

fixed by #8707, closing issue.