there is a very confusing warning in the Nixpkgs manual that
mischaracterises `nix-env` behavior, and this example shows what's
really happening.
note that it doesn't use `pkgs.runCommand` or other `pkgs.stdenv`
facilities, as deep down those set `meta.outputsToInstall` to very
particular defaults that do not generally apply to Nix.
We use the same nested map representation we used for goals, again in
order to save space. We might someday want to combine with `inputDrvs`,
by doing `V = bool` instead of `V = std::set<OutputName>`, but we are
not doing that yet for sake of a smaller diff.
The ATerm format for Derivations also needs to be extended, in addition
to the in-memory format. To accomodate this, we added a new basic
versioning scheme, so old versions of Nix will get nice errors. (And
going forward, if the ATerm format changes again the errors will be even
better.)
`parsedStrings`, an internal function used as part of parsing
derivations in A-Term format, used to consume the final `]` but expect
the initial `[` to already be consumed. This made for what looked like
unbalanced brackets at callsites, which was confusing. Now it consumes
both which is hopefully less confusing.
As part of testing, we also created a unit test for the A-Term format for
regular non-experimental derivations too.
Co-authored-by: Robert Hensing <roberth@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Valentin Gagarin <valentin.gagarin@tweag.io>
Apply suggestions from code review
Co-authored-by: Robert Hensing <roberth@users.noreply.github.com>
this is a pure reformatting, contents were not changed
one sentence per line makes reviewing diffs and making suggestions much
more convenient. the indentation was an artifat of the DocBook
migration.
In the Nix language, given a drv path, we should be able to construct
another string referencing to one of its output. We can do this today
with `(import drvPath).output`, but this only works for derivations we
already have.
With dynamic derivations, however, that doesn't work well because the
`drvPath` isn't yet built: importing it like would need to trigger IFD,
when the whole point of this feature is to do "dynamic build graph"
without IFD!
Instead, what we want to do is create a placeholder value with the right
string context to refer to the output of the as-yet unbuilt derivation.
A new primop in the language, analogous to `builtins.placeholder` can be
used to create one. This will achieve all the right properties. The
placeholder machinery also will match out the `outPath` attribute for CA
derivations works.
In 60b7121d2c we added that type of
placeholder, and the derived path and string holder changes necessary to
support it. Then in the previous commit we cleaned up the code
(inspiration finally hit me!) to deduplicate the code and expose exactly
what we need. Now, we can wire up the primop trivally!
Part of RFC 92: dynamic derivations (tracking issue #6316)
Co-authored-by: Robert Hensing <roberth@users.noreply.github.com>
We want to be able to write down `foo.drv^bar.drv^baz`:
`foo.drv^bar.drv` is the dynamic derivation (since it is itself a
derivation output, `bar.drv` from `foo.drv`).
To that end, we create `Single{Derivation,BuiltPath}` types, that are
very similar except instead of having multiple outputs (in a set or
map), they have a single one. This is for everything to the left of the
rightmost `^`.
`NixStringContextElem` has an analogous change, and now can reuse
`SingleDerivedPath` at the top level. In fact, if we ever get rid of
`DrvDeep`, `NixStringContextElem` could be replaced with
`SingleDerivedPath` entirely!
Important note: some JSON formats have changed.
We already can *produce* dynamic derivations, but we can't refer to them
directly. Today, we can merely express building or example at the top
imperatively over time by building `foo.drv^bar.drv`, and then with a
second nix invocation doing `<result-from-first>^baz`, but this is not
declarative. The ethos of Nix of being able to write down the full plan
everything you want to do, and then execute than plan with a single
command, and for that we need the new inductive form of these types.
Co-authored-by: Robert Hensing <roberth@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Valentin Gagarin <valentin.gagarin@tweag.io>
When loading a derivation from a JSON, malformed input would trigger
cryptic "assertion failed" errors. Simply replacing calls to `operator []`
with calls to `.at()` was not enough, as this would cause json.execptions
to be printed verbatim.
Display nice error messages instead and give some indication where the
error happened.
*Before:*
```
$ echo 4 | nix derivation add
error: [json.exception.type_error.305] cannot use operator[] with a string argument with number
$ nix derivation show nixpkgs#hello | nix derivation add
Assertion failed: (it != m_value.object->end()), function operator[], file /nix/store/8h9pxgq1776ns6qi5arx08ifgnhmgl22-nlohmann_json-3.11.2/include/nlohmann/json.hpp, line 2135.
$ nix derivation show nixpkgs#hello | jq '.[] | .name = 5' | nix derivation add
error: [json.exception.type_error.302] type must be string, but is object
$ nix derivation show nixpkgs#hello | jq '.[] | .outputs = { out: "/nix/store/8j3f8j-hello" }' | nix derivation add
error: [json.exception.type_error.302] type must be object, but is string
```
*After:*
```
$ echo 4 | nix derivation add
error: Expected JSON of derivation to be of type 'object', but it is of type 'number'
$ nix derivation show nixpkgs#hello | nix derivation add
error: Expected JSON object to contain key 'name' but it doesn't
$ nix derivation show nixpkgs#hello | jq '.[] | .name = 5' | nix derivation add
error: Expected JSON value to be of type 'string' but it is of type 'number'
$ nix derivation show nixpkgs#hello | jq '.[] | .outputs = { out: "/nix/store/8j3f8j-hello" }' | nix derivation add
error:
… while reading key 'outputs'
error: Expected JSON value to be of type 'object' but it is of type 'string'
```
Over the last year or so I've run into several use cases where I need to
parse and/or serialize URLs for use by `builtins.fetchTree` or
`builtins.getFlake`, largely in order to produce _lockfile-like_ files
for lang2nix frameworks or tools which use `nix` internally to drive
builds.
I've gone through the painstaking process of emulating
`nix::FlakeRef::fromAttrs` and `nix::parseFlakeRef` several times with
mixed success; but these are difficult to create and even harder to
maintain if I hope to stay aligned with changes to the real
parser/serializer.
I understand why adding new `builtins` isn't something we want to do
flagrantly. I'm recommending this addition simply because I keep
encountering use cases where I need to parse/serialize these URIs in
`nix` expressions, and I want a reliable solution.
Co-authored-by: Eelco Dolstra <edolstra@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: John Ericson <git@JohnEricson.me>
