Inspecting Nix lambda function named arguments
18 Apr 2018Some times I get asked how callPackage works and then I realize I have failed to teach this person how to better navigate around with Nix expressions and in nixpkgs so let’s open a nix repl '<nixpkgs>' session to explore:
nix-repl> f = import "${pkgs.path}/pkgs/servers/varnish"
nix-repl> f
«lambda @ /nix/store/8drcpsqry4n2xhai208brjfyhv0s8xzm-a0mjrw6mcpw37sp7yzwkc40kf3718yww-8l2kzla1qx0iksya6pnx5ixm7zc2z49w-nixpkgs-965c944/pkgs/servers/varnish/default.nix:1:1»
nix-repl> builtins.functionArgs f
{ fetchurl = false; groff = false; libedit = false; libxslt = false; makeWrapper = false; ncurses = false; pcre = false; pkgconfig = false; python = false; pythonPackages = false; readline = false; stdenv = false; }
callPackage uses builtins.functionArgs to see what to supply it with from it’s current namespace. This is the magic sauce and this is very valuable when exploring the nixpkgs Nix expressions.
To finish off understanding callPackage though it just intersects attrsets like so:
nix-repl> builtins.intersectAttrs (builtins.functionArgs f) pkgs
{ fetchurl = «lambda @ /nix/store/a0mjrw6mcpw37sp7yzwkc40kf3718yww-8l2kzla1qx0iksya6pnx5ixm7zc2z49w-nixpkgs-965c944/pkgs/build-support/fetchurl/default.nix:38:1»; groff = «derivation /nix/store/zmv1aadh26njgxr5jwzgzyqwch4vpaz9-groff-1.22.3.drv»; libedit = «derivation /nix/store/znngmjzm7cb3vcli6574kvfwv2v05qk4-libedit-20160903-3.1.drv»; libxslt = «derivation /nix/store/l7ydwp52j6rq75zr9bh4x69lc8f8w3i3-libxslt-1.1.29.drv»; makeWrapper = «derivation /nix/store/ml1arp76zl0p1khfn1d3bj9s2mbbfsnz-hook.drv»; ncurses = «derivation /nix/store/dis752dbllygrjb8ql4fwdzxm4l7mzy0-ncurses-6.0-20171125.drv»; pcre = «derivation /nix/store/56v16nr7llsphz4v9p86d6hc74f48gml-pcre-8.41.drv»; pkgconfig = «derivation /nix/store/0iv24kmnrf7x56jk03hz9qs0fhzkkl5w-pkg-config-0.29.2.drv»; python = «derivation /nix/store/c0la0fgiq55j801mrda90vhjjapjr8jh-python-2.7.14.drv»; pythonPackages = { ... }; readline = «derivation /nix/store/nk9kflnhpgxqzsdkyxmwcs4sg9ac44wf-readline-6.3p08.drv»; stdenv = «derivation /nix/store/i8nz0gpadq8khdcrimjagmragkdxld00-stdenv.drv»; }
So next time you are interested in what named arguments a Nix lambda takes then use builtins.functionArgs.