nixpkgs/doc/multiple-output.xml

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE chapter [
<!ENTITY ndash "&#x2013;"> <!-- @vcunat likes to use this one ;-) -->
]>
<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
xml:id="chap-multiple-output">
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<title>Multiple-output packages</title>
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<section xml:id="sec-multiple-outputs-introduction">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>
The Nix language allows a derivation to produce multiple outputs, which is
similar to what is utilized by other Linux distribution packaging systems.
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The outputs reside in separate Nix store paths, so they can be mostly
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handled independently of each other, including passing to build inputs,
garbage collection or binary substitution. The exception is that building
from source always produces all the outputs.
</para>
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<para>
The main motivation is to save disk space by reducing runtime closure sizes;
consequently also sizes of substituted binaries get reduced. Splitting can
be used to have more granular runtime dependencies, for example the typical
reduction is to split away development-only files, as those are typically
not needed during runtime. As a result, closure sizes of many packages can
get reduced to a half or even much less.
</para>
<note>
<para>
The reduction effects could be instead achieved by building the parts in
completely separate derivations. That would often additionally reduce
build-time closures, but it tends to be much harder to write such
derivations, as build systems typically assume all parts are being built at
once. This compromise approach of single source package producing multiple
binary packages is also utilized often by rpm and deb.
</para>
</note>
</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-multiple-outputs-installing">
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<title>Installing a split package</title>
<para>
When installing a package via <varname>systemPackages</varname> or
<command>nix-env</command> you have several options:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
<para>
You can install particular outputs explicitly, as each is available in the
Nix language as an attribute of the package. The
<varname>outputs</varname> attribute contains a list of output names.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
You can let it use the default outputs. These are handled by
<varname>meta.outputsToInstall</varname> attribute that contains a list of
output names.
</para>
<para>
TODO: more about tweaking the attribute, etc.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
NixOS provides configuration option
<varname>environment.extraOutputsToInstall</varname> that allows adding
extra outputs of <varname>environment.systemPackages</varname> atop the
default ones. It's mainly meant for documentation and debug symbols, and
it's also modified by specific options.
</para>
<note>
<para>
At this moment there is no similar configurability for packages installed
by <command>nix-env</command>. You can still use approach from
<xref linkend="sec-modify-via-packageOverrides" /> to override
<varname>meta.outputsToInstall</varname> attributes, but that's a rather
inconvenient way.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-multiple-outputs-using-split-packages">
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<title>Using a split package</title>
<para>
In the Nix language the individual outputs can be reached explicitly as
attributes, e.g. <varname>coreutils.info</varname>, but the typical case is
just using packages as build inputs.
</para>
<para>
When a multiple-output derivation gets into a build input of another
derivation, the <varname>dev</varname> output is added if it exists,
otherwise the first output is added. In addition to that,
<varname>propagatedBuildOutputs</varname> of that package which by default
contain <varname>$outputBin</varname> and <varname>$outputLib</varname> are
also added. (See <xref linkend="multiple-output-file-type-groups" />.)
</para>
</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-multiple-outputs-">
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<title>Writing a split derivation</title>
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<para>
Here you find how to write a derivation that produces multiple outputs.
</para>
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<para>
In nixpkgs there is a framework supporting multiple-output derivations. It
tries to cover most cases by default behavior. You can find the source
separated in
&lt;<filename>nixpkgs/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/multiple-outputs.sh</filename>&gt;;
it's relatively well-readable. The whole machinery is triggered by defining
the <varname>outputs</varname> attribute to contain the list of desired
output names (strings).
</para>
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<programlisting>outputs = [ "bin" "dev" "out" "doc" ];</programlisting>
<para>
Often such a single line is enough. For each output an equally named
environment variable is passed to the builder and contains the path in nix
store for that output. Typically you also want to have the main
<varname>out</varname> output, as it catches any files that didn't get
elsewhere.
</para>
<note>
<para>
There is a special handling of the <varname>debug</varname> output,
described at <xref linkend="stdenv-separateDebugInfo" />.
</para>
</note>
<section xml:id="multiple-output-file-binaries-first-convention">
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<title><quote>Binaries first</quote></title>
<para>
A commonly adopted convention in <literal>nixpkgs</literal> is that
executables provided by the package are contained within its first output.
This convention allows the dependent packages to reference the executables
provided by packages in a uniform manner. For instance, provided with the
knowledge that the <literal>perl</literal> package contains a
<literal>perl</literal> executable it can be referenced as
<literal>${pkgs.perl}/bin/perl</literal> within a Nix derivation that needs
to execute a Perl script.
</para>
<para>
The <literal>glibc</literal> package is a deliberate single exception to
the <quote>binaries first</quote> convention. The <literal>glibc</literal>
has <literal>libs</literal> as its first output allowing the libraries
provided by <literal>glibc</literal> to be referenced directly (e.g.
<literal>${stdenv.glibc}/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2</literal>). The
executables provided by <literal>glibc</literal> can be accessed via its
<literal>bin</literal> attribute (e.g.
<literal>${stdenv.glibc.bin}/bin/ldd</literal>).
</para>
<para>
The reason for why <literal>glibc</literal> deviates from the convention is
because referencing a library provided by <literal>glibc</literal> is a
very common operation among Nix packages. For instance, third-party
executables packaged by Nix are typically patched and relinked with the
relevant version of <literal>glibc</literal> libraries from Nix packages
(please see the documentation on
<link xlink:href="https://nixos.org/patchelf.html">patchelf</link> for more
details).
</para>
</section>
<section xml:id="multiple-output-file-type-groups">
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<title>File type groups</title>
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<para>
The support code currently recognizes some particular kinds of outputs and
either instructs the build system of the package to put files into their
desired outputs or it moves the files during the fixup phase. Each group of
file types has an <varname>outputFoo</varname> variable specifying the
output name where they should go. If that variable isn't defined by the
derivation writer, it is guessed &ndash; a default output name is defined,
falling back to other possibilities if the output isn't defined.
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>
<varname> $outputDev</varname>
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</term>
<listitem>
<para>
is for development-only files. These include C(++) headers, pkg-config,
cmake and aclocal files. They go to <varname>dev</varname> or
<varname>out</varname> by default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
<varname> $outputBin</varname>
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</term>
<listitem>
<para>
is meant for user-facing binaries, typically residing in bin/. They go
to <varname>bin</varname> or <varname>out</varname> by default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
<varname> $outputLib</varname>
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</term>
<listitem>
<para>
is meant for libraries, typically residing in <filename>lib/</filename>
and <filename>libexec/</filename>. They go to <varname>lib</varname> or
<varname>out</varname> by default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
<varname> $outputDoc</varname>
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</term>
<listitem>
<para>
is for user documentation, typically residing in
<filename>share/doc/</filename>. It goes to <varname>doc</varname> or
<varname>out</varname> by default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
<varname> $outputDevdoc</varname>
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</term>
<listitem>
<para>
is for <emphasis>developer</emphasis> documentation. Currently we count
gtk-doc and devhelp books in there. It goes to <varname>devdoc</varname>
or is removed (!) by default. This is because e.g. gtk-doc tends to be
rather large and completely unused by nixpkgs users.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
<varname> $outputMan</varname>
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</term>
<listitem>
<para>
is for man pages (except for section 3). They go to
<varname>man</varname> or <varname>$outputBin</varname> by default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
<varname> $outputDevman</varname>
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</term>
<listitem>
<para>
is for section 3 man pages. They go to <varname>devman</varname> or
<varname>$outputMan</varname> by default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
<varname> $outputInfo</varname>
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</term>
<listitem>
<para>
is for info pages. They go to <varname>info</varname> or
<varname>$outputBin</varname> by default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-multiple-outputs-caveats">
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<title>Common caveats</title>
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<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Some configure scripts don't like some of the parameters passed by
default by the framework, e.g. <literal>--docdir=/foo/bar</literal>. You
can disable this by setting <literal>setOutputFlags = false;</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The outputs of a single derivation can retain references to each other,
but note that circular references are not allowed. (And each
strongly-connected component would act as a single output anyway.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Most of split packages contain their core functionality in libraries.
These libraries tend to refer to various kind of data that typically gets
into <varname>out</varname>, e.g. locale strings, so there is often no
advantage in separating the libraries into <varname>lib</varname>, as
keeping them in <varname>out</varname> is easier.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Some packages have hidden assumptions on install paths, which complicates
splitting.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
</section>
<!--Writing a split derivation-->
</chapter>