Sorry, I forgot to mention : it was an “out of space” error.
Next tries : Pie build, Q build with minimum apps.
That won’t solve the problem, but as I couldn’t figure what’s changed (after some hours digging into source code …), it may help to understand.
Unfortunately, I’ll be running short on free time for some days on …
I relaunched the build on Mon Aug 2 17:47:27 UTC 2021 and stopped it again arbitarilly on Tue Aug 3 15:46:02 UTC 2021. This is a direct follow on from my post #13, 2 August
Summary
The “e-partition” has grown to 275 G. This seems to me to be a potential blocker for a build to ever occur on a 373G partition. The growth of e/src/ is shown by a diff below (relative to the previous report.)
:$ df -h
/dev/sda4 373G 275G 79G 78% /rump
Launch command
:/rump/srv$ docker run \
-v "/rump/srv/e/src:/srv/src" \
-v "/rump/srv/e/zips:/srv/zips" \
-v "/rump/srv/e/logs:/srv/logs" \
-v "/rump/srv/e/ccache:/srv/ccache" \
-e "BRANCH_NAME=v0.17-q" \
-e "DEVICE_LIST=a3xelte" \
-e "REPO=https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/releases.git" \
registry.gitlab.e.foundation:5000/e/os/docker-lineage-cicd:community \
Build Trace
:~$ cd /rump/srv/
:/rump/srv$ docker run \
> -v "/rump/srv/e/src:/srv/src" \
> -v "/rump/srv/e/zips:/srv/zips" \
> -v "/rump/srv/e/logs:/srv/logs" \
> -v "/rump/srv/e/ccache:/srv/ccache" \
> -e "BRANCH_NAME=v0.17-q" \
> -e "DEVICE_LIST=a3xelte" \
> -e "REPO=https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/releases.git" \
> registry.gitlab.e.foundation:5000/e/os/docker-lineage-cicd:community \
>
Set cache size limit to 50.0 GB
>> [Mon Aug 2 17:47:19 UTC 2021] Branch: v0.17-q
>> [Mon Aug 2 17:47:19 UTC 2021] Devices: a3xelte,
>> [Mon Aug 2 17:47:19 UTC 2021] (Re)initializing branch repository
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 28177 0 28177 0 0 58096 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 57977
[{"name":"v0.18-pie","message":"","target":"ec45b3ee099c65859217b8e764c90caad194fb54",{ - snip - }"protected":true}]
Branch name v0.17-q is a tag on e/os/releases, prefix with refs/tags/ for 'repo init'
>> [Mon Aug 2 17:47:26 UTC 2021] Copying '/srv/local_manifests/*.xml' to '.repo/local_manifests/'
>> [Mon Aug 2 17:47:27 UTC 2021] Syncing branch repository
This log is looking more like the ones I was seeing in my build run I commented on in post#4 July27 and post #6 31 July
/rump/srv/e/logs/repo-20210802.log
Stop docker
The process was stopped arbitarily after a further 22 hours syncing. I had now downloaded 275G no build has started.
:~$ sudo du -sxh /var/lib/docker/overlay2/
1.8G /var/lib/docker/overlay2/
Inspect build and sizes
No build. No folder, no log, in zips/
This is a diff against the commands I ran last time, post #13, 2 August
Seems to show that the source tree is still growing in a logical way but why is it so big?
:/rump/srv/e$ du -sBG src/ *
-208G +275G src/
-206G +273G project-objects
:/rump/srv/e/src/Q/.repo/project-objects$ du -sBG *
-16G +29G e
-159G +203G platform
-19G +29G TheMuppets
:/rump/srv/e/src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform$ du -sBG *
-122G +161G prebuilts
-11G +16G tools
:/rump/srv/e/src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts$ du -sBG *
-11G +15G android-emulator.git
-19G +28G clang
-12G +18G gradle-plugin.git
-12G +16G jdk
-13G +19G qemu-kernel.git
-13G +16G sdk.git
-15G +20G tools.git
In your repo.log there is a lot of errors involving a .lock file …
It usually happen when a repo sync has been aborted when running.
Also, a lot somehow network-related errors in pull (maybe due to the .lock errors, don’t know).
I’ll try to cleanup (rm -rf) platform/prebuilts/ndk …
I also agree with your observations on the increase in size of the source tree.
Unfortunately I don’t know why this happens either 
Link to my logs : https://ecloud.global/s/gwC28Dp39AZsnGp (sorry files too big for hastebin).
Thanks for the feedback on the log file.
I have been very uncertain about all the negatives you highlight. I have a cheapskate internet connection. NetworkManager always manages to reconnect - speculation, docker appears to run seamlessly, I cannot tell if some of these errors start from an interrupt.
Unfortunately, apart of the size problem, these errors will prevent the build to start.
I’ll advise (never tested) to remove manually .lock files, launch again Docker command.
And repeat this process until sync is complete and build is starting …
I can test something for you : fire up a CCX51 and try a build with it.
It will only cost me the price of a good beer, and we could see what gives a build with enough space and a reliable Internet link 
I had been wondering about such an idea, but didn’t want to get into more unknowns before I had more of a grip on things! 
I will definitely try your proposed undo of locks, will be much later today.
Building for a3xelte, v0.18 Pie succeeded, so the problem is related to Q builds …
Some details :
root@ubuntu:/srv# df -h .
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb 344G 274G 53G 84% /srv
root@ubuntu:/srv# du -sxBG src/PIE/.repo/project-objects/*
1G src/PIE/.repo/project-objects/device
11G src/PIE/.repo/project-objects/e
1G src/PIE/.repo/project-objects/kernel
5G src/PIE/.repo/project-objects/LineageOS
152G src/PIE/.repo/project-objects/platform
23G src/PIE/.repo/project-objects/TheMuppets
3G src/PIE/.repo/project-objects/The-Muppets
1G src/PIE/.repo/project-objects/toolchain
Hi @smu44, well done! 
Thank you so much for following through to this point, and for giving an idea of the space requirements. I also want to thank you for the many other clues and information you provided along the way. I will need to work out the best way to provide myself with a bigger working environment, and decide if I want to preserve my enormous, Q, sources. 
Big thanks to those of you that do this work of building and maintaining. I wish I had your knowledge. Much of what you do is behind the scenes where little public recognition takes place. THANK YOU!
That was a good call, in that I got a clean repo log in my next sync run - but still no build started.
I stopped when the remaining available space was 54G in case I may be able to force a build and force the production of an error message!
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda4 373G 301G 54G 85% /rump
I will post the current state (relative to earlier stopping points) of used space for completeness.
:/rump/srv/e$ du -sBG src/ *
208G (275G) +301G src/
:/rump/srv/e/src/Q/.repo$ du -sBG *
206G (273G) +299G project-objects
:/rump/srv/e/src/Q/.repo/project-objects$ du -sBG *
16G (29G) +37G e
159G (203G) +215G platform
19G (29G) +35G TheMuppets
:/rump/srv/e/src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform$ du -sBG *
122G (161G ) +170G prebuilts
11G (16G) +19G tools
:/rump/srv/e/src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts$ du -sBG *
11G (15G) +16G android-emulator.git
19G (28G) +30G clang
12G (18G) +18G gradle-plugin.git
12G (16G) +16G jdk
13G (13G) +15G ndk.git
13G (19G ) +19G qemu-kernel.git
13G (16G) +16G sdk.git
15G (20G) +25G tools.git
Also for completeness, the initial error, not mentioned in my OP, seems to amount to
Don’t have a product spec for: ‘lineage_a3xelte’
Do you have the right repo manifest?
If your repo sync is OK and you don’t have a custom manifest, it shouldn’t happen 
What gives a v0.17.1 build ?
I will definitively set-up a Hetzner temp build instance when I’ll have some free time, then give you access to.
This way, we could get a kind of reference !
Also, I’ll expand my personal building server, but it will take more time …
Exactly, and I installed a v0.17.1 nightly, very recently to compare it with /e/!
I had been thinking, perhaps I should do either a build from first principles or a lineage build first!
Now that I turn to the lineage/devices/a3xelte page (I know it is written from a template) I am quite surprised to find it includes extract proprietary blobs.
However, it does not explain how you have managed a v0.18 Pie build!
For /e/, I think that proprietary sources are stored here and here.
So I don’t understand why you have the missing product spec
As I remember, I didn’t have such error with Q builds, only missing disk space …
For the Pie build, I simply ran the Docker command on a freshly formatted partition, no custom manifest or fancy stuff.
Of course you are correct, I am just doing my annoying thing of reflecting out loud, lol
I suspect that /e/ has taken this device “in house” in some way (recently?) - the device has had one problem or another for a long time with /e/.
In addition there might be a recent (related/unrelated) issue.
Not so sure here …
Remember : I had the same “out of space” problem when trying to build 0.18 Q for chiron.
It’s a device I’ve built for many times before, without problem.
Bearing in mind the date we guess the problem started say Saturday 24th July I was trying to look for issues connected with default - latest build changing from v0.17-q to v0.18-q, as a recent (unrelated) issue affecting out of space. I think we may be looking for two culprits!
I / we have been given some clues here: https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/backlog/-/issues/3539#note_108871.
I am drawn to researching in what way this manifest might or might not work.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest>
<project name="LineageOS/android_device_samsung_a3xelte" path="device/samsung/a3xelte" remote="github" />
<project name="LineageOS/android_device_samsung_universal7580-common" path="device/samsung/universal7580-common" remote="github" />
<project name="LineageOS/android_hardware_samsung" path="hardware/samsung" remote="github" />
<project name="LineageOS/android_hardware_samsung_slsi_exynos" path="hardware/samsung_slsi/exynos" remote="github" />
<project name="LineageOS/android_hardware_samsung_slsi_exynos5" path="hardware/samsung_slsi/exynos5" remote="github" />
<project name="LineageOS/android_hardware_samsung_slsi_exynos7580" path="hardware/samsung_slsi/exynos7580" remote="github" />
<project name="LineageOS/android_hardware_samsung_slsi_openmax" path="hardware/samsung_slsi/openmax" remote="github" />
<project name="LineageOS/android_kernel_samsung_universal7580" path="kernel/samsung/universal7580" remote="github" />
</manifest>
As far as I know, all Lineage official sources (along with some others) are downloaded automatically by the Docker script.
I succeeded to build Pie a3xelte without any custom manifest.
Once I find some time to expand my building VM storage, I’ll try to build Q the same way, and keep you posted.
0.18 Q build for a3xelte succeeded
Command used (no custom manifest ) :
docker pull registry.gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/docker-lineage-cicd:community
docker run \
-v "/srv/src:/srv/src" \
-v "/srv/zips:/srv/zips" \
-v "/srv/logs:/srv/logs" \
-v "/srv/ccache:/srv/ccache" \
-v "/srv/mirror:/srv/mirror" \
-e "BRANCH_NAME=v0.18-q" \
-e "DEVICE_LIST=a3xelte" \
-e "REPO=https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/releases.git" \
-e "ANDROID_JACK_VM_ARGS=-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -XX:+TieredCompilation -Xmx20G" \
registry.gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/docker-lineage-cicd:community
Build disk is 440GB big, but it was a typo : I wanted to use a 400GB disk
If you want me to try again with a 400GB please let me know !
Also, do you want me to upload the ROM file somewhere for sharing ?
Logs here : https://ecloud.global/s/gwC28Dp39AZsnGp?path=%2Fa3xelte_Q_0.18
Some sizes after build (and it’s automatic cleaning) :
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb 433G 317G 94G 78% /srv
root@ubuntu:/srv# du -sxBG src/Q/*
1G src/Q/android
0G src/Q/Android.bp
1G src/Q/art
1G src/Q/bionic
1G src/Q/bootable
0G src/Q/bootstrap.bash
1G src/Q/build
2G src/Q/cts
1G src/Q/dalvik
1G src/Q/developers
1G src/Q/development
1G src/Q/device
9G src/Q/external
2G src/Q/frameworks
1G src/Q/hardware
1G src/Q/kernel
1G src/Q/libcore
1G src/Q/libnativehelper
1G src/Q/lineage
1G src/Q/lineage-sdk
1G src/Q/Makefile
1G src/Q/out
1G src/Q/packages
1G src/Q/pdk
1G src/Q/platform_testing
33G src/Q/prebuilts
1G src/Q/sdk
1G src/Q/system
1G src/Q/test
1G src/Q/toolchain
2G src/Q/tools
43G src/Q/vendor
root@ubuntu:/srv# du -sxBG src/Q/.repo/project-objects/*
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/device
14G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/e
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/kernel
6G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/LineageOS
158G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform
28G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/TheMuppets
9G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/The-Muppets
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/toolchain
root@ubuntu:/srv# du -sxBG src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/*
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/build
3G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/cts.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/dalvik.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/developers
16G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/external
2G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/frameworks
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/hardware
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/libnativehelper.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/packages
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/pdk.git
125G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/sdk.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/system
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/test
12G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/tools
root@ubuntu:/srv# du -sxBG src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/*
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/abi-dumps
15G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/android-emulator.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/asuite.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/bundletool.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/checkcolor.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/checkstyle.git
31G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/clang
2G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/clang-tools.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/devtools.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/fuchsia_sdk.git
2G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/gcc
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/gdb
4G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/go
6G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/gradle-plugin.git
3G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/jdk
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/ktlint.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/manifest-merger.git
2G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/maven_repo
4G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/misc.git
6G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/ndk.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/python
7G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/qemu-kernel.git
12G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/sdk.git
37G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/tools.git
1G src/Q/.repo/project-objects/platform/prebuilts/vndk
That is great! It was so good reading your logs with positive content that on a whim I ran you exact command into my root filesystem. It ran fine and I got the start of a more productive log. So I have formatted my partition again, super-cleaned docker, and started again.
Of interest your repo-log specifically includes
Downloading manifest from https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/releases.git
So do both of mine today! - this never appeared in any of my fail logs.
Of course I would be delighted to test-drive your ROM if you have an easy point to upload it to.