Troubleshooting

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Start here: mix dala.doctor

Before diving into specific issues, run:

mix dala.doctor

This checks your entire environment in one go — required tools, dala.exs configuration, OTP runtime caches, and connected devices — and prints specific fix instructions for anything wrong. Most setup problems are caught here.

=== Dala Doctor ===

Tools
  ✓ adb — /usr/bin/adb
  ✗ xcrun — not found
      Install Xcode command-line tools:
      xcode-select --install

Project
  ✗ dala_dir — path not found: /Users/you/old/path/to/dala
      Update dala.exs — the path must exist on this machine

OTP Cache
  ✗ OTP iOS simulator — directory exists but contains no erts-* — extraction was incomplete
      Remove the stale directory and re-download:
      rm -rf ~/.dala/cache/otp-ios-sim-73ba6e0f
      mix dala.install

Devices
  ⚠ Android devices — none connected
      Connect a device via USB (enable USB debugging) or start an emulator

3 failures — fix the issues above and re-run mix dala.doctor.

The sections below cover issues that mix dala.doctor doesn't catch — runtime behaviour, distribution quirks, and platform-specific edge cases.

Common issues encountered during development and how to resolve them.

Elixir or Hex version too old

Symptom: mix deps.get or mix dala.install fails with errors like no matching version found, invalid requirement, or dependency resolution failures that look unrelated to your code.

Cause: Dala requires Elixir 1.18 or later. Older versions of Hex (pre-2.0) also have issues resolving some package requirements used by dala_dev.

Check:

mix dala.doctor   # shows Elixir, OTP, and Hex versions with ✓/✗
elixir --version
mix hex --version

Fix — Hex (fast, no version manager needed):

mix local.hex --force

Fix — Elixir (choose the method that matches how you installed it):

# mise
mise install elixir@latest && mise use elixir@latest

# asdf
asdf install elixir latest && asdf global elixir latest

# Homebrew
brew upgrade elixir

# Nix / nix-shell: update your shell.nix or flake.nix to use elixir_1_18

# Official installer: https://elixir-lang.org/install.html

After upgrading, re-fetch deps:

mix deps.get
mix dala.doctor   # confirm versions are green

OTP cache: "No erts-* directory found"

Symptom: mix dala.deploy --native fails with:

ERROR: No erts-* directory found in ~/.dala/cache/otp-ios-sim-73ba6e0f
       Have you built OTP for iOS simulator?

Cause: The OTP cache directory was created during a previous download attempt that failed partway through (network error, SSL failure, or curl exiting non-zero). Because the directory exists, subsequent runs skip re-downloading, so the problem persists across restarts.

This is particularly common on Nix-managed macOS setups, where Nix provides its own curl binary that uses a different CA certificate store than macOS system curl. The GitHub release download may fail with an SSL certificate error that isn't surfaced clearly.

Fix:

mix dala.doctor   # confirms the problem and shows the exact path

rm -rf ~/.dala/cache/otp-ios-sim-73ba6e0f   # remove stale cache
mix dala.install                             # re-download

If the download fails again (Nix curl SSL), download the tarball manually using the system curl:

/usr/bin/curl -L https://github.com/GenericJam/dala/releases/download/otp-73ba6e0f/otp-ios-sim-73ba6e0f.tar.gz \
  -o /tmp/otp-ios-sim.tar.gz

mkdir -p ~/.dala/cache/otp-ios-sim-73ba6e0f
tar xzf /tmp/otp-ios-sim.tar.gz -C ~/.dala/cache/otp-ios-sim-73ba6e0f --strip-components=1

Verify it worked:

ls ~/.dala/cache/otp-ios-sim-73ba6e0f/erts-*   # should list erts-16.x
mix dala.doctor                                  # should show ✓ for iOS simulator OTP

EPMD port conflict with adb (port 4369)

Symptom: App crashes on launch, Erlang distribution fails to start, or mix dala.connect hangs indefinitely. Often surfaces as a silent failure with no obvious error message — the node never comes online.

Cause: EPMD (Erlang Port Mapper Daemon) is registered with IANA on port

  1. The Android Debug Bridge also uses port 4369 in certain configurations. When both are active on the same machine, EPMD fails to bind and Erlang distribution cannot start — which means the device BEAM can't register itself and mix dala.connect can never find it.

Fix: Move EPMD to a port nothing else uses. Port 4380 is a safe choice. Set ERL_EPMD_PORT in both the device BEAM startup and your local dev environment.

In dala.exs:

config :dala_dev, epmd_port: 4380

In your app's application.ex, pass the port when starting distribution:

Dala.Dist.ensure_started(
  node:      :"my_app_android@127.0.0.1",
  cookie:    :dala_secret,
  epmd_port: Application.get_env(:dala_dev, :epmd_port, 4369)
)

dala_dev will update the adb reverse tunnel to use the configured port automatically.

Why 4369 conflicts: EPMD's port 4369 dates from 1993 (predating Android by 15 years). The collision is coincidental and there is no Erlang inside the Android toolchain. Moving off the default port also has a secondary benefit: Dala's device nodes become isolated from any other Elixir processes running on your Mac.

Distribution in production

In development, Dala.Dist.ensure_started/1 runs so mix dala.connect can reach the app. In production the picture is different but not simply "turn it off" — it depends on whether you want OTA BEAM updates.

No OTA updates: gate distribution on environment and leave it off in prod. Dala.Dist.ensure_started/1 is a no-op unless explicitly called, so production builds are safe by default:

# lib/my_app/application.ex
if Application.get_env(:my_app, :env) == :dev do
  Dala.Dist.ensure_started(node: :"my_app_ios@127.0.0.1", cookie: :dala_secret)
end

With OTA BEAM updates: distribution needs to be live, but only during the update session. The recommended pattern is on-demand: the app polls your server over HTTP for an update manifest, starts EPMD + distribution only when an update is available, connects to your update server's BEAM node to receive new BEAMs via :code.load_binary, then shuts distribution back down. Because the phone initiates the outbound connection, no inbound ports need to be open and the cookie can be rotated per session via the manifest.

mix dala.connect finds no nodes

Check in order:

  1. Is the app running on the device?

    mix dala.devices   # confirms device is visible to adb / xcrun

  2. Did distribution start on the device? Check the device log for [dala] distribution started — if absent, the Dala.Dist.ensure_started/1 call either wasn't reached or failed silently (often due to the EPMD port conflict above).

  3. Do cookies match? The cookie in your app's Dala.Dist.ensure_started/1 call must match the --cookie flag passed to mix dala.connect (default: dala_secret).

  4. iOS: is the simulator booted?

    xcrun simctl list devices | grep Booted

  5. Android: are the adb tunnels up?

    adb reverse --list   # should show tcp:4369 tcp:4369 (or your custom port)
adb forward --list   # should show tcp:9100 tcp:9100

    If missing, re-run mix dala.connect — it sets these up automatically on each run.

Hot-push succeeds but changes don't appear

nl(MyApp.SomeScreen) returns {:ok, [...]} but the running screen still shows old behaviour.

Cause: The screen process is still executing the old version of the module. Hot code loading in the BEAM takes effect on the next function call — if the screen is in the middle of a handle_event/3 or handle_info/2 call, it finishes with the old code first.

Fix: Trigger any event on the screen (a tap, a Dala.Test.tap/2) to force the process to make a new function call, picking up the new code. For layout changes, navigate away and back so render/1 is called fresh.

If you need a guaranteed clean reload, use mix dala.deploy (restarts the app) rather than hot-push.

Android: app crashes on first distribution startup

Symptom: App starts successfully, then crashes 3–5 seconds later. Logcat shows a signal abort or mutex error.

Cause: On Android, starting Erlang distribution too early (before the hwui thread pool is fully initialised) causes a pthread_mutex_lock on destroyed mutex SIGABRT. This is why Dala.Dist.ensure_started/1 defers Node.start/2 by 3 seconds on Android.

Fix: Make sure you are calling Dala.Dist.ensure_started/1 and not calling Node.start/2 directly. If you need distribution earlier, increase the defer delay:

Dala.Dist.ensure_started(node: :"my_app_android@127.0.0.1", cookie: :dala_secret, delay: 5000)

iOS: Dala.Test.pop / pop_to_root crashes the BEAM

Symptom: Calling Dala.Test.pop(node), Dala.Test.pop_to(node, ...), or Dala.Test.pop_to_root(node) causes the iOS BEAM node to crash immediately. Logcat shows a signal or the node goes offline.

Cause: The pop NIF calls SwiftUI's navigation stack from an Erlang distribution thread. SwiftUI requires all UI mutations to happen on the main thread. The push path is guarded correctly; the pop path is not yet.

Workaround: Drive backward navigation using platform taps instead:

# Instead of: Dala.Test.pop_to_root(node)

# iOS — tap the native Back button via MCP:
mcp__ios_simulator__ui_tap(x: 20, y: 60)

# Or navigate forward to the desired screen and reset:
Dala.Test.navigate(node, MyApp.HomeScreen)

Dala.Test.navigate/3 (push) is safe — it does not trigger the crash.

iOS simulator: node connects but RPC calls fail

Symptom: Node.connect/1 returns true, Node.list/0 shows the device node, but :rpc.call/4 returns {:badrpc, :nodedown} or hangs.

Cause: The iOS simulator shares the Mac's network stack, so EPMD registration works. But if the dist port (default 9101 for iOS) is blocked by macOS firewall or already in use, the actual distribution channel can't be established even though EPMD sees the node.

Fix: Check if 9101 is in use:

lsof -i :9101

If something else is using it, configure a different dist port in Dala.Dist.ensure_started/1 and update dala.exs accordingly.