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119 lines
4.7 KiB
XML
119 lines
4.7 KiB
XML
<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
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xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
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xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
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version="5.0"
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xml:id='sec-builder-syntax'>
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<title>Builder Syntax</title>
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<example xml:id='ex-hello-builder'><title>Build script for GNU Hello
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(<filename>builder.sh</filename>)</title>
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<programlisting>
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source $stdenv/setup <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-1' />
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PATH=$perl/bin:$PATH <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-2' />
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tar xvfz $src <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-3' />
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cd hello-*
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./configure --prefix=$out <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-4' />
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make <co xml:id='ex-hello-builder-co-5' />
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make install</programlisting>
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</example>
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<para><xref linkend='ex-hello-builder' /> shows the builder referenced
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from Hello's Nix expression (stored in
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<filename>pkgs/applications/misc/hello/ex-1/builder.sh</filename>).
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The builder can actually be made a lot shorter by using the
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<emphasis>generic builder</emphasis> functions provided by
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<varname>stdenv</varname>, but here we write out the build steps to
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elucidate what a builder does. It performs the following
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steps:</para>
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<calloutlist>
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<callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-1'>
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<para>When Nix runs a builder, it initially completely clears the
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environment (except for the attributes declared in the
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derivation). For instance, the <envar>PATH</envar> variable is
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empty<footnote><para>Actually, it's initialised to
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<filename>/path-not-set</filename> to prevent Bash from setting it
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to a default value.</para></footnote>. This is done to prevent
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undeclared inputs from being used in the build process. If for
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example the <envar>PATH</envar> contained
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<filename>/usr/bin</filename>, then you might accidentally use
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<filename>/usr/bin/gcc</filename>.</para>
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<para>So the first step is to set up the environment. This is
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done by calling the <filename>setup</filename> script of the
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standard environment. The environment variable
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<envar>stdenv</envar> points to the location of the standard
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environment being used. (It wasn't specified explicitly as an
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attribute in <xref linkend='ex-hello-nix' />, but
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<varname>mkDerivation</varname> adds it automatically.)</para>
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</callout>
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<callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-2'>
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<para>Since Hello needs Perl, we have to make sure that Perl is in
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the <envar>PATH</envar>. The <envar>perl</envar> environment
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variable points to the location of the Perl package (since it
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was passed in as an attribute to the derivation), so
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<filename><replaceable>$perl</replaceable>/bin</filename> is the
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directory containing the Perl interpreter.</para>
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</callout>
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<callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-3'>
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<para>Now we have to unpack the sources. The
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<varname>src</varname> attribute was bound to the result of
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fetching the Hello source tarball from the network, so the
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<envar>src</envar> environment variable points to the location in
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the Nix store to which the tarball was downloaded. After
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unpacking, we <command>cd</command> to the resulting source
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directory.</para>
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<para>The whole build is performed in a temporary directory
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created in <varname>/tmp</varname>, by the way. This directory is
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removed after the builder finishes, so there is no need to clean
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up the sources afterwards. Also, the temporary directory is
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always newly created, so you don't have to worry about files from
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previous builds interfering with the current build.</para>
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</callout>
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<callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-4'>
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<para>GNU Hello is a typical Autoconf-based package, so we first
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have to run its <filename>configure</filename> script. In Nix
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every package is stored in a separate location in the Nix store,
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for instance
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<filename>/nix/store/9a54ba97fb71b65fda531012d0443ce2-hello-2.1.1</filename>.
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Nix computes this path by cryptographically hashing all attributes
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of the derivation. The path is passed to the builder through the
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<envar>out</envar> environment variable. So here we give
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<filename>configure</filename> the parameter
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<literal>--prefix=$out</literal> to cause Hello to be installed in
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the expected location.</para>
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</callout>
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<callout arearefs='ex-hello-builder-co-5'>
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<para>Finally we build Hello (<literal>make</literal>) and install
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it into the location specified by <envar>out</envar>
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(<literal>make install</literal>).</para>
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</callout>
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</calloutlist>
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<para>If you are wondering about the absence of error checking on the
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result of various commands called in the builder: this is because the
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shell script is evaluated with Bash's <option>-e</option> option,
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which causes the script to be aborted if any command fails without an
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error check.</para>
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</section> |