Most functions now take a StorePath argument rather than a Path (which
is just an alias for std::string). The StorePath constructor ensures
that the path is syntactically correct (i.e. it looks like
<store-dir>/<base32-hash>-<name>). Similarly, functions like
buildPaths() now take a StorePathWithOutputs, rather than abusing Path
by adding a '!<outputs>' suffix.
Note that the StorePath type is implemented in Rust. This involves
some hackery to allow Rust values to be used directly in C++, via a
helper type whose destructor calls the Rust type's drop()
function. The main issue is the dynamic nature of C++ move semantics:
after we have moved a Rust value, we should not call the drop function
on the original value. So when we move a value, we set the original
value to bitwise zero, and the destructor only calls drop() if the
value is not bitwise zero. This should be sufficient for most types.
Also lots of minor cleanups to the C++ API to make it more modern
(e.g. using std::optional and std::string_view in some places).
Experimental features are now opt-in. There is currently one
experimental feature: "nix-command" (which enables the "nix"
command. This will allow us to merge experimental features more
quickly, without committing to supporting them indefinitely.
Typical usage:
$ nix build --experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' nixpkgs#hello
(cherry picked from commit 8e478c2341,
without the "flakes" feature)
Experimental features are now opt-in. There are currently two
experimental features: "nix-command" (which enables the "nix"
command), and "flakes" (which enables support for flakes). This will
allow us to merge experimental features more quickly, without
committing to supporting them indefinitely.
Typical usage:
$ nix build --experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' nixpkgs#hello
This causes 'nix' to print build log output to stderr rather than
showing the last log line in the progress bar. Log lines are prefixed
by the name of the derivation (minus the version string), e.g.
binutils> make[1]: Leaving directory '/build/binutils-2.31.1'
binutils-wrapper> unpacking sources
binutils-wrapper> patching sources
...
binutils-wrapper> Using dynamic linker: '/nix/store/kr51dlsj9v5cr4n8700jliyz8v5b2q7q-bootstrap-stage0-glibc/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2'
bootstrap-stage2-gcc-wrapper> unpacking sources
...
linux-headers> unpacking sources
linux-headers> unpacking source archive /nix/store/8javli69jhj3bkql2c35gsj5vl91p382-linux-4.19.16.tar.xz
We want to encourage a brave new world of hermetic evaluation for
source-level reproducibility, so flakes should not poke around in the
filesystem outside of their explicit dependencies.
Note that the default installation source remains impure in that it
can refer to mutable flakes, so "nix build nixpkgs.hello" still works
(and fetches the latest nixpkgs, unless it has been pinned by the
user).
A problem with pure evaluation is that builtins.currentSystem is
unavailable. For the moment, I've hard-coded "x86_64-linux" in the
nixpkgs flake. Eventually, "system" should be a flake function
argument.
Allow global config settings to be defined in multiple Config
classes. For example, this means that libutil can have settings and
evaluator settings can be moved out of libstore. The Config classes
are registered in a new GlobalConfig class to which config files
etc. are applied.
Relevant to https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/2009 in that it
removes the need for ad hoc handling of useCaseHack, which was the
underlying cause of that issue.
Running "nix run" with a diverted store, e.g.
$ nix run --store local?root=/tmp/nix nixpkgs.hello
stopped working when Nix became multithreaded, because
unshare(CLONE_NEWUSER) doesn't work in multithreaded processes. The
obvious solution is to terminate all other threads first, but 1) there
is no way to terminate Boehm GC marker threads; and 2) it appears that
the kernel has a race where unshare(CLONE_NEWUSER) will still fail for
some indeterminate amount of time after joining other threads.
So instead, "nix run" will now exec() a single-threaded helper ("nix
__run_in_chroot") that performs the actual unshare()/chroot()/exec().
Thus, instead of ‘--option <name> <value>’, you can write ‘--<name>
<value>’. So
--option http-connections 100
becomes
--http-connections 100
Apart from brevity, the difference is that it's not an error to set a
non-existent option via --option, but unrecognized arguments are
fatal.
Boolean options have special treatment: they're mapped to the
argument-less flags ‘--<name>’ and ‘--no-<name>’. E.g.
--option auto-optimise-store false
becomes
--no-auto-optimise-store
