pkgs/by-name: document toplevel argument restrictions#325262
pkgs/by-name: document toplevel argument restrictions#325262flokli wants to merge 1 commit intoNixOS:masterfrom
Conversation
We've been bitten by this at least twice, let's make sure to write it down.
flokli
force-pushed
the
docs-pkgs-by-name-toplevel-arg-restrictions
branch
from
73aaee9 to
7d3eb17
Compare
| well as those added through the use of overlays will cause defaults to be | ||
| overwritten in a unexpected and hard-to-debug fashion. | ||
|
|
||
| In case you're intending to write more flexible package expressions, consider |
There was a problem hiding this comment.
This is not by-name's mistake. This is about callPackage. Whenever people use callPackage they are affected.
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Agreed it's not by-name's mistake.
This also say it's because it's callPackage'd. I still think it's worth to write it down like this, because people tend to be too fancy with what they do in by-name, and restricting it only to packages defined in the top-level (without defaults) and to only boolean enable flags prevents this effectively.
There was a problem hiding this comment.
The main restriction with by-name is that you can't use a custom callPackage, there's nothing else that I know of affecting the override interface. Besides, there is an upcoming check to enforce moving to by-name when touching packages at the top-level, so this suggestion doesn't make sense.
Let's just drop the sentence and make the guidelines more explicit if needed.
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Please propose exact wording in a new PR.
ofborg
bot
added
10.rebuild-darwin: 0
| ``` | ||
|
|
||
| ### Toplevel argument restrictions | ||
| The list of toplevel arguments should be restricted to packages defined in the |
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Well, technically nothing hinders someone of creating a package with the exact same name of a Boolean flag.
What about with-shell?
https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/nixos-24.05/pkgs/applications/misc/with-shell/default.nix
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Doesn't have any "non-package args", so don't understand the question.
There was a problem hiding this comment.
I am saying that with-shell is an existing package, and because of callPackage no one can use with-shell as a simple Boolean flag.
|
|
||
| ### Toplevel argument restrictions | ||
| The list of toplevel arguments should be restricted to packages defined in the | ||
| common nixpkgs package set, and simple `enable*` boolean flags. |
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Attributes of type string are employed to indicate options. Emacs expression accepts toolkit as "gtk", "motif", "athena"...
And Emacs is outside by-name.
4 participants
We've been bitten by this at least twice, let's make sure to write it down.
finalAttrs.{pname,version}introducing overriding traps #310373 (comment)Things done
nix.conf? (See Nix manual)sandbox = relaxedsandbox = truenix-shell -p nixpkgs-review --run "nixpkgs-review rev HEAD". Note: all changes have to be committed, also see nixpkgs-review usage./result/bin/)Add a 👍 reaction to pull requests you find important.