mirror of
https://github.com/privatevoid-net/nix-super.git
synced 2024-11-29 09:06:15 +02:00
remove draft on derivations
This commit is contained in:
parent
19d8a5d839
commit
93f721b0d2
2 changed files with 0 additions and 60 deletions
|
@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
|
||||||
- [Store](architecture/store/store.md)
|
- [Store](architecture/store/store.md)
|
||||||
- [Store Object](architecture/store/objects.md)
|
- [Store Object](architecture/store/objects.md)
|
||||||
- [Store Path](architecture/store/paths.md)
|
- [Store Path](architecture/store/paths.md)
|
||||||
- [Derivation](architecture/store/drvs/drvs.md)
|
|
||||||
- [Package Management](package-management/package-management.md)
|
- [Package Management](package-management/package-management.md)
|
||||||
- [Basic Package Management](package-management/basic-package-mgmt.md)
|
- [Basic Package Management](package-management/basic-package-mgmt.md)
|
||||||
- [Profiles](package-management/profiles.md)
|
- [Profiles](package-management/profiles.md)
|
||||||
|
|
|
@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
|
||||||
# Derivation
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Derivations are recipes to create store objects.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Derivations are the heart of Nix.
|
|
||||||
Other system (like Git or IPFS) also store and transfer immutable data, but they don't concern themselves with *how* that data was created.
|
|
||||||
This is where Nix comes in.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Derivations produce data by running arbitrary commands, like Make or Ninja rules.
|
|
||||||
Unlike those systems, derivations do not produce arbitrary files, but only specific store objects.
|
|
||||||
They cannot modify the store in any way, other than creating those store objects.
|
|
||||||
This rigid specification of what they do is what allows Nix's caching to be so simple and yet robust.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Based on the above, we can conceptually break derivations down into 3 parts:
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
1. What command will be run?
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
2. What existing store objects are needed as inputs?
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
3. What store objects will be produced as outputs?
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## What command will be run?
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The original core of Nix was very simple about this, in the mold of traditional Unix.
|
|
||||||
Commands consist of 3 parts:
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
1. Path to executable
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
2. Arguments (Except for `argv[0]`, which is taken from the path in the usual way)
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
3. Environment variables.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## What existing store objects are needed as inputs?
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The previous sub-section begs the question "how can we be sure the path to the executable points to what we think it does?"
|
|
||||||
It's a good questions!
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## What store objects will be produced as outputs?
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## Extra extensions
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### `__structuredAttrs`
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Historically speaking, most users of Nix made GNU Bash with a script the command run, regardless of what they were doing.
|
|
||||||
Bash variable are automatically created from env vars, but bash also supports array and string-keyed map variables in addition to string variables.
|
|
||||||
People also usually create derivations using language which also support these richer data types.
|
|
||||||
It was thus desired a way to get this data from the language "planning" the derivation to language to bash, the language evaluated at "run time".
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
`__structuredAttrs` does this by smuggling inside the core derivation format a map of named richer data.
|
|
||||||
At run time, this becomes two things:
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
1. A JSON file containing that map.
|
|
||||||
2. A bash script setting those variables.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The bash command can be passed a script which will "source" that Nix-created bash script, setting those variables with the richer data.
|
|
||||||
The outer script can then do whatever it likes with those richer variables as input.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
However, since derivations can already contain arbitary input sources, the vast majority of `__structuredAttrs` can be handled by upper layers.
|
|
||||||
We might consider implementing `__structuredAttrs` in higher layers in the future, and simplifying the store layer.
|
|
Loading…
Reference in a new issue