Electron binary missing execute permissions (NixOS)

[Gratia64]

Bug

The electron binary at $out/lib/claude-desktop/electron/electron is copied from electron-unwrapped but lacks execute permissions (644 instead of 755).

This causes claude-desktop to fail with exit code 126 (permission denied) on NixOS.

Location

In nix/claude-desktop.nix, the installPhase does:

cp ${electronDir}/electron $electron_tree/electron

But cp preserves permissions from the source, and electron-unwrapped's electron binary has 644 perms.

Fix

Add chmod after the cp:

cp ${electronDir}/electron $electron_tree/electron
chmod +x $electron_tree/electron

Environment

• NixOS unstable (26.05.20260130)
• claude-desktop-debian @ dca3044
• Error: permission denied: .../electron/electron (exit 126)

Workaround

Overlay fix in user config:

claude-desktop = prev.claude-desktop.overrideAttrs (old: {
  postInstall = (old.postInstall or "") + ''
    chmod +x $out/lib/claude-desktop/electron/electron
  '';
});

[github-actions]

I've confirmed the bug. In nix/claude-desktop.nix at line 126, the cp command copies the electron binary but preserves the source 644 permissions from electron-unwrapped. That leaves the binary non-executable, which is why you're hitting exit code 126.

The fix is a one-liner after the copy:

cp ${electronDir}/electron $electron_tree/electron
chmod +x $electron_tree/electron

This blocks every NixOS user who tries to run the app. It's a clean, contained fix and doesn't affect any other build paths.

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This is an automated triage comment. A maintainer will review this issue and may provide further guidance.

Written by Claude Sonnet via Claude Code