nixpkgs/doc/languages-frameworks/nim.section.md
Sophie Tauchert 3b40e1bd33 buildNimPackage: allow overriding nim package args
Without this, it's impossible to override the lockFile as the default
overrideAttrs is applied after the composition in buildNimPackage has
read the lock file and generated the nim flags from it.
2023-12-10 09:10:02 +00:00

125 lines
4.3 KiB
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# Nim {#nim}
The Nim compiler and a builder function is available.
Nim programs are built using `buildNimPackage` and a lockfile containing Nim dependencies.
The following example shows a Nim program that depends only on Nim libraries:
```nix
{ lib, buildNimPackage, fetchFromGitHub }:
buildNimPackage { } (finalAttrs: {
pname = "ttop";
version = "1.2.7";
src = fetchFromGitHub {
owner = "inv2004";
repo = "ttop";
rev = "v${finalAttrs.version}";
hash = "sha256-oPdaUqh6eN1X5kAYVvevOndkB/xnQng9QVLX9bu5P5E=";
};
lockFile = ./lock.json;
nimFlags = [
"-d:NimblePkgVersion=${finalAttrs.version}"
];
})
```
## `buildNimPackage` parameters {#buildnimpackage-parameters}
The `buildNimPackage` function takes an attrset of parameters that are passed on to `stdenv.mkDerivation`.
The following parameters are specific to `buildNimPackage`:
* `lockFile`: JSON formatted lockfile.
* `nimbleFile`: Specify the Nimble file location of the package being built
rather than discover the file at build-time.
* `nimRelease ? true`: Build the package in *release* mode.
* `nimDefines ? []`: A list of Nim defines. Key-value tuples are not supported.
* `nimFlags ? []`: A list of command line arguments to pass to the Nim compiler.
Use this to specify defines with arguments in the form of `-d:${name}=${value}`.
* `nimDoc` ? false`: Build and install HTML documentation.
## Lockfiles {#nim-lockfiles}
Nim lockfiles are created with the `nim_lk` utility.
Run `nim_lk` with the source directory as an argument and it will print a lockfile to stdout.
```sh
$ cd nixpkgs
$ nix build -f . ttop.src
$ nix run -f . nim_lk ./result | jq --sort-keys > pkgs/by-name/tt/ttop/lock.json
```
## Overriding Nim packages {#nim-overrides}
The `buildNimPackage` function generates flags and additional build dependencies from the `lockFile` parameter passed to `buildNimPackage`. Using [`overrideAttrs`](#sec-pkg-overrideAttrs) on the final package will apply after this has already been generated, so this can't be used to override the `lockFile` in a package built with `buildNimPackage`. To be able to override parameters before flags and build dependencies are generated from the `lockFile`, use `overrideNimAttrs` instead with the same syntax as `overrideAttrs`:
```nix
pkgs.nitter.overrideNimAttrs {
# using a different source which has different dependencies from the standard package
src = pkgs.fetchFromGithub { /* … */ };
# new lock file generated from the source
lockFile = ./custom-lock.json;
}
```
## Lockfile dependency overrides {#nim-lock-overrides}
The `buildNimPackage` function matches the libraries specified by `lockFile` to attrset of override functions that are then applied to the package derivation.
The default overrides are maintained as the top-level `nimOverrides` attrset at `pkgs/top-level/nim-overrides.nix`.
For example, to propagate a dependency on SDL2 for lockfiles that select the Nim `sdl2` library, an overlay is added to the set in the `nim-overrides.nix` file:
```nix
{ lib
/* … */
, SDL2
/* … */
}:
{
/* … */
sdl2 =
lockAttrs:
finalAttrs:
{ buildInputs ? [ ], ... }:
{
buildInputs = buildInputs ++ [ SDL2 ];
};
/* … */
}
```
The annotations in the `nim-overrides.nix` set are functions that take three arguments and return a new attrset to be overlayed on the package being built.
- lockAttrs: the attrset for this library from within a lockfile. This can be used to implement library version constraints, such as marking libraries as broken or insecure.
- finalAttrs: the final attrset passed by `buildNimPackage` to `stdenv.mkDerivation`.
- prevAttrs: the attrset produced by initial arguments to `buildNimPackage` and any preceding lockfile overlays.
### Overriding an Nim library override {#nim-lock-overrides-overrides}
The `nimOverrides` attrset makes it possible to modify overrides in a few different ways.
Override a package internal to its definition:
```nix
{ lib, buildNimPackage, nimOverrides, libressl }:
let
buildNimPackage' = buildNimPackage.override {
nimOverrides = nimOverrides.override { openssl = libressl; };
};
in buildNimPackage' (finalAttrs: {
pname = "foo";
# …
})
```
Override a package externally:
```nix
{ pkgs }: {
foo = pkgs.foo.override {
buildNimPackage = pkgs.buildNimPackage.override {
nimOverrides = pkgs.nimOverrides.override { openssl = libressl; };
};
};
}
```