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Unwanted boilerplate: finalAttrs.finalPackage.doCheck #272978

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Unwanted boilerplate: finalAttrs.finalPackage.doCheck#272978
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2.status: stalehttps://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/.github/STALE-BOT.md6.topic: cross-compilationBuilding packages on a different platform than they will be used on6.topic: stdenvStandard environment9.needs: documentationThis needs to be documented well.
@pbsds

Description

@pbsds
pbsds
opened on Dec 8, 2023

Currently much cross logic is not included in the finalAttrs fixed point, meaning that if you use finalAttrs.doCheck internally in your derivation then this does not automatically account for whether stdenv.buildPlatform.canExecute stdenv.hostPlatform.

The current most elegant fix is to inject finalPackage into the expression, but this is not documented.

Example

For example, consider:

nixpkgs/pkgs/development/libraries/libspatialindex/default.nix

Lines 25 to 27 in 221b92f

cmakeFlags = [
"-DSIDX_BUILD_TESTS=${if finalAttrs.doCheck then "ON" else "OFF"}"
]; 

nix-repl> libspatialindex.cmakeFlags
[ "-DSIDX_BUILD_TESTS=ON" ]

nix-repl> pkgsCross.aarch64-multiplatform.libspatialindex.cmakeFlags
[ "-DSIDX_BUILD_TESTS=ON" "-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Linux" "-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR=aarch64" "-DCMAKE_HOST_SYSTEM_NAME=Linux" "-DCMAKE_HOST_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR=x86_64" ]

The fix is to inject finalPackage:

nixpkgs/pkgs/development/libraries/libspatialindex/default.nix

Lines 25 to 27 in ad5e744

cmakeFlags = [
"-DSIDX_BUILD_TESTS=${if finalAttrs.finalPackage.doCheck then "ON" else "OFF"}"
];

which will get us

nix-repl> libspatialindex.cmakeFlags
[ "-DSIDX_BUILD_TESTS=ON" ]

nix-repl> pkgsCross.aarch64-multiplatform.libspatialindex.cmakeFlags
[ "-DSIDX_BUILD_TESTS=OFF" "-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Linux" "-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR=aarch64" "-DCMAKE_HOST_SYSTEM_NAME=Linux" "-DCMAKE_HOST_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR=x86_64" ]

The current recommendation in the docs (added in 2017) is to hoist the cross logic up into the derivation:

nixpkgs/doc/stdenv/cross-compilation.chapter.md

Lines 148 to 154 in 5a67e32

#### My package’s testsuite needs to run host platform code. {#cross-testsuite-runs-host-code}
Add the following to your `mkDerivation` invocation.
```nix
doCheck = stdenv.buildPlatform.canExecute stdenv.hostPlatform;
```

Tree-wide fixes are simple to apply, but are ultimately a bodge. Hence this issue

Related: #266485

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    2.status: stalehttps://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/.github/STALE-BOT.md6.topic: cross-compilationBuilding packages on a different platform than they will be used on6.topic: stdenvStandard environment9.needs: documentationThis needs to be documented well.

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