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Name-based package directories

The structure of this directory maps almost directly to top-level package attributes. Add new top-level packages to Nixpkgs using this mechanism whenever possible.

Packages found in the name-based structure are automatically included, without needing to be added to all-packages.nix. However if the implicit attribute defaults need to be changed for a package, this must still be declared in all-packages.nix.

Example

The top-level package pkgs.some-package may be declared by setting up this file structure:

pkgs
└── by-name
   ├── so
   ┊  ├── some-package
      ┊  └── package.nix

Where some-package is the attribute name corresponding to the package, and so is the lowercase 2-letter prefix of the attribute name.

The package.nix may look like this:

# A function taking an attribute set as an argument
{
  # Get access to top-level attributes for use as dependencies
  lib,
  stdenv,
  libbar,

  # Make this derivation configurable using `.override { enableBar = true }`
  enableBar ? false,
}:

# The return value must be a derivation
stdenv.mkDerivation {
  # ...
  buildInputs =
    lib.optional enableBar libbar;
}

You can also split up the package definition into more files in the same directory if necessary.

Once defined, the package can be built from the Nixpkgs root directory using:

nix-build -A some-package

See the general package conventions for more information on package definitions.

Changing implicit attribute defaults

The above expression is called using these arguments by default:

{
  lib = pkgs.lib;
  stdenv = pkgs.stdenv;
  libbar = pkgs.libbar;
}

But the package might need pkgs.libbar_2 instead. While the function could be changed to take libbar_2 directly as an argument, this would change the .override interface, breaking code like .override { libbar = ...; }. So instead it is preferable to use the same generic parameter name libbar and override its value in pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix:

{
  libfoo = callPackage ../by-name/so/some-package/package.nix {
    libbar = libbar_2;
  };
}

Manual migration guidelines

Most packages are still defined in all-packages.nix and the category hierarchy. Since it would take a lot of contributor and reviewer time to migrate all packages manually, an automated migration is planned, though it is expected to still take some time to get done. If you're interested in helping out with this effort, please see this ticket.

Since only PRs to packages in pkgs/by-name can be automatically merged, if package maintainers would like to use this feature, they are welcome to migrate their packages to pkgs/by-name. To lessen PR traffic, they're encouraged to also perform some more general maintenance on the package in the same PR, though this is not required and must not be expected.

Note that callPackage definitions in all-packages.nix with custom arguments should not be removed. That is a backwards-incompatible change because it changes the .override interface. Such packages may still be moved to pkgs/by-name however, in order to avoid the slightly superficial choice of directory / category in which the default.nix file was placed, but please keep the definition in all-packages.nix using callPackage. See also changing implicit attribute defaults.

Definitions like the following however, can be transitioned:

# all-packages.nix
fooWithBaz = foo.override {
  bar = baz;
};
# turned into pkgs/by-name/fo/fooWithBaz/package.nix with:
{
  foo,
  baz,
}:

foo.override {
  bar = baz;
}

Limitations

There's some limitations as to which packages can be defined using this structure:

  • Only packages defined using pkgs.callPackage. This excludes packages defined using pkgs.python3Packages.callPackage ....

    Instead:

    • Either change the package definition to work with pkgs.callPackage.
    • Or use the category hierarchy.

  • Only top-level packages. This excludes packages for other package sets like pkgs.pythonPackages.*.

    Refer to the definition and documentation of the respective package set to figure out how such packages can be declared.

Validation

CI performs certain checks on the pkgs/by-name structure. This is done using the nixpkgs-vet tool.

You can locally emulate the CI check using

$ ./ci/nixpkgs-vet.sh master

See here for more info.

Recommendation for new packages with multiple versions

These checks of the pkgs/by-name structure can cause problems in combination:

  1. New top-level packages using callPackage must be defined via pkgs/by-name.
  2. Packages in pkgs/by-name cannot refer to files outside their own directory.

This means that outside pkgs/by-name, multiple already-present top-level packages can refer to some common file. If you open a PR to another instance of such a package, CI will fail check 1, but if you try to move the package to pkgs/by-name, it will fail check 2.

This is often the case for packages with multiple versions, such as

{
  foo_1 = callPackage ../tools/foo/1.nix { };
  foo_2 = callPackage ../tools/foo/2.nix { };
}

The best way to resolve this is to not use callPackage directly, such that check 1 doesn't trigger. This can be done by using inherit on a local package set:

{
  inherit
    ({
      foo_1 = callPackage ../tools/foo/1.nix { };
      foo_2 = callPackage ../tools/foo/2.nix { };
    })
    foo_1
    foo_2
    ;
}

While this may seem pointless, this can in fact help with future package set refactorings, because it establishes a clear connection between related attributes.

Further possible refactorings

This is not required, but the above solution also allows refactoring the definitions into a separate file:

{
  inherit (import ../tools/foo pkgs)
    foo_1 foo_2;
}
# pkgs/tools/foo/default.nix
pkgs: {
  foo_1 = callPackage ./1.nix { };
  foo_2 = callPackage ./2.nix { };
}

Alternatively using callPackages if callPackage isn't used underneath and you want the same .override arguments for all attributes:

{
  inherit (callPackages ../tools/foo { })
    foo_1 foo_2;
}
# pkgs/tools/foo/default.nix
{
  stdenv
}: {
  foo_1 = stdenv.mkDerivation { /* ... */ };
  foo_2 = stdenv.mkDerivation { /* ... */ };
}

Exposing the package set

This is not required, but the above solution also allows exposing the package set as an attribute:

{
  foo-versions = import ../tools/foo pkgs;
  # Or using callPackages
  # foo-versions = callPackages ../tools/foo { };

  inherit (foo-versions) foo_1 foo_2;
}