stdenv: support meta.broken as a string to explain why it's broken by B4dM4n · Pull Request #109407 · NixOS/nixpkgs

B4dM4n · 2021-01-14T22:21:21Z

Motivation for this change

This draft is based on the idea of @FRidh in #48663 to add a new meta.disabledBecause attribute which can describe why a Python package can't be build. Instead of adding a new attribute with a similar purpose as an existing one (meta.broken), I tried to add the wanted feature to the existing attribute.

meta.brokenBecause allows to add a custom text to the current Package ... is marked as broken ... message. Setting a message also implies broken = true to reduce the chance of only setting a message, but not actually marking the package as broken.

Instead of only booleans, meta.broken can now also be set to a string containing a descriptive message which will be included in the Package ... is marked as broken ... message.

For example the message for disabled Python would look like this:

Package ‘python2.7-sqlparse-0.4.1’ in /.../pkgs/development/python-modules/sqlparse/default.nix:29 is marked as broken because interpreter python2.7 is not supported by this version, refusing to evaluate.

a) To temporarily allow broken packages, you can use an environment variable
...

I included the buildPythonPackage change in this PR to show the potential usage of the attribute. It can be split off when needed.

Things done

veprbl · 2021-01-15T00:46:40Z

Some bikeshedding:

This would warrant adding of lib.optionalBroken = cond: because: if cond then because else false;
Also may want to just allow strings in the old attribute meta.broken = lib.optionalBroken stdenv.isFoo "because ...";

B4dM4n · 2021-01-15T11:51:35Z

Some bikeshedding:

This would warrant adding of lib.optionalBroken = cond: because: if cond then because else false;

Also may want to just allow strings in the old attribute meta.broken = lib.optionalBroken stdenv.isFoo "because ...";

I like your ideas. This makes it even simpler to specify a descriptive error message.

B4dM4n · 2021-01-15T14:28:27Z

A question I'm not sure about is, what the checkValidity function should return for the broken attribute:

https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/2a9dc3f48d11517be25c4817c634fd6db22d1f81/pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix#L273-L279

Is this supposed to be a bool which is used by tools to determine the state of a package or should this propagate the original attribute / message?

As this is the value that the derivation receives, it might break some tools when changed.

holymonson · 2021-01-23T00:54:25Z

Do we really need lib.optionalBroken? Since we already have lib.optionalString, it seems easier if we test "" like false.

teto · 2021-05-19T09:04:20Z

pkgs/development/python-modules/tensorflow/bin.nix

is it relevant ?

I'm not sure why it's needed, but running nixpkgs-review without it will fail:

error: attribute 'linux_py_39_cpu' missing

nixpkgs-review error

$ nix-env --option system x86_64-linux -f /home/fabian/.cache/nixpkgs-review/rev-a249429bb8a506c78a39a49ff3ebbe34f8b9ba9d/nixpkgs -qaP --xml --out-path --show-trace --meta error: attribute 'linux_py_39_cpu' missing at /home/fabian/.cache/nixpkgs-review/rev-a249429bb8a506c78a39a49ff3ebbe34f8b9ba9d/nixpkgs/pkgs/development/python-modules/tensorflow/bin.nix:69:15: 68| key = "${platform}_py_${pyVerNoDot}_${unit}"; 69| in fetchurl packages.${key}; | ^ 70| … while evaluating the attribute 'src.name' at /home/fabian/.cache/nixpkgs-review/rev-a249429bb8a506c78a39a49ff3ebbe34f8b9ba9d/nixpkgs/pkgs/development/python-modules/tensorflow/bin.nix:64:3: 63| 64| src = let | ^ 65| pyVerNoDot = lib.strings.stringAsChars (x: if x == "." then "" else x) python.pythonVersion; … while evaluating 'hasSuffix' at /home/fabian/.cache/nixpkgs-review/rev-a249429bb8a506c78a39a49ff3ebbe34f8b9ba9d/nixpkgs/lib/strings.nix:234:5: 233| # Input string 234| content: | ^ 235| let … from call site at /home/fabian/.cache/nixpkgs-review/rev-a249429bb8a506c78a39a49ff3ebbe34f8b9ba9d/nixpkgs/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/mk-python-derivation.nix:121:25: 120| pythonRemoveBinBytecodeHook 121| ] ++ lib.optionals (lib.hasSuffix "zip" (attrs.src.name or "")) [ | ^ 122| unzip … while evaluating 'optionals' at /home/fabian/.cache/nixpkgs-review/rev-a249429bb8a506c78a39a49ff3ebbe34f8b9ba9d/nixpkgs/lib/lists.nix:270:5: 269| # List to return if condition is true 270| elems: if cond then elems else []; | ^ 271| … from call site at /home/fabian/.cache/nixpkgs-review/rev-a249429bb8a506c78a39a49ff3ebbe34f8b9ba9d/nixpkgs/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/mk-python-derivation.nix:121:10: 120| pythonRemoveBinBytecodeHook 121| ] ++ lib.optionals (lib.hasSuffix "zip" (attrs.src.name or "")) [ | ^ 122| unzip … while evaluating 'chooseDevOutputs' at /home/fabian/.cache/nixpkgs-review/rev-a249429bb8a506c78a39a49ff3ebbe34f8b9ba9d/nixpkgs/lib/attrsets.nix:497:22: 496| /* Pick the outputs of packages to place in buildInputs */ 497| chooseDevOutputs = drvs: builtins.map getDev drvs; | ^ 498| … from call site … while evaluating the attribute 'nativeBuildInputs' of the derivation 'python3.9-tensorflow-2.4.0' at /home/fabian/.cache/nixpkgs-review/rev-a249429bb8a506c78a39a49ff3ebbe34f8b9ba9d/nixpkgs/pkgs/stdenv/generic/make-derivation.nix:201:11: 200| // (lib.optionalAttrs (attrs ? name || (attrs ? pname && attrs ? version)) { 201| name = | ^ 202| let … while evaluating the attribute 'out.outPath' at /home/fabian/.cache/nixpkgs-review/rev-a249429bb8a506c78a39a49ff3ebbe34f8b9ba9d/nixpkgs/lib/customisation.nix:156:13: 155| drvPath = assert condition; drv.${outputName}.drvPath; 156| outPath = assert condition; drv.${outputName}.outPath; | ^ 157| }; … while querying the derivation named 'python3.9-tensorflow-2.4.0'

Running nix-instantiate --eval on the other hand fails with the correct error:

nix-instantiate --eval --strict . -A python39Packages.tensorflow-bin.outPath error: Package ‘python3.9-tensorflow-2.4.0’ in /home/fabian/Repo/nixpkgs/pkgs/development/python-modules/tensorflow/bin.nix:192 is marked as broken because interpreter python3.9 is not supported by this version, refusing to evaluate. a) To temporarily allow broken packages, you can use an environment variable for a single invocation of the nix tools. $ export NIXPKGS_ALLOW_BROKEN=1 b) For `nixos-rebuild` you can set { nixpkgs.config.allowBroken = true; } in configuration.nix to override this. c) For `nix-env`, `nix-build`, `nix-shell` or any other Nix command you can add { allowBroken = true; } to ~/.config/nixpkgs/config.nix. (use '--show-trace' to show detailed location information)

teto · 2021-05-19T09:05:20Z

lib/trivial.nix

lets use optionalString instead

Using optionalString is possible, but I tried to avoid a second not broken value (false and "") and optionalBroken was my workaround.

But I admit, using optionalString would remove the need for a new lib function and perform the same task.

teto · 2021-05-19T09:08:39Z

lets use optionalString instead of optionalBroken. This PR would be very helpful for the haskell ecosystem where packages regularly break. I wanted to update one package and I know from experience this can be a painful but sometimes a fix is just a jailbreak/donTest away and so being able to distinguish between the cases would be nice.

Package ‘wide-word-0.1.1.2’ in /home/teto/nixpkgs2/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/hackage-packages.nix:280435 is marked as broken, refusing to evaluate.

SuperSandro2000 · 2021-05-22T15:46:39Z

pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix

Suggested change

isMarkedBroken = attrs: attrs.meta.broken or false != false;

isMarkedBroken = attrs: attrs.meta.broken or true;

This change would mark all packages without a meta.broken attribute as broken.

The original meta.broken or false != false is correct, because the or is binding stronger than the !=.

This allows to override the `disabled` attribute with `overridePythonAttrs`.

B4dM4n · 2021-06-01T08:56:59Z

I rebased the changes and replaced optionalBroken with optionalString as suggested, because it removes the need for a new lib function.

I'm still not sure whether the return value for broken should contain the string or stay a boolean.

A question I'm not sure about is, what the checkValidity function should return for the broken attribute:

https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/2a9dc3f48d11517be25c4817c634fd6db22d1f81/pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix#L273-L279

Is this supposed to be a bool which is used by tools to determine the state of a package or should this propagate the original attribute / message?

As this is the value that the derivation receives, it might break some tools when changed.

teto · 2021-06-08T15:24:33Z

I managed to make this pass the test locally via rebasing + this diff:

diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/zipfile36/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/zipfile36/default.nix
index 46dd1e173fb..d9ddf6e66a3 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/zipfile36/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/zipfile36/default.nix
@@ -27,6 +27,6 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     description = "Read and write ZIP files - backport of the zipfile module from Python 3.6";
     homepage = "https://gitlab.com/takluyver/zipfile36";
     license = lib.licenses.psfl;
-    maintainers = lib.maintainers.fridh;
+    maintainers = [ lib.maintainers.fridh ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix
index 8c8b60c8021..53a734c9a6e 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/check-meta.nix
@@ -252,7 +252,8 @@ let
 
   checkMetaAttr = k: v:
     if metaTypes?${k} then
-      if metaTypes.${k}.check v then null else "key '${k}' has a value ${toString v} of an invalid type ${builtins.typeOf v}; expected ${metaTypes.${k}.description}"
+    # ${toString v}
+      if metaTypes.${k}.check v then null else "key '${k}' has a value of an invalid type ${builtins.typeOf v}; expected ${metaTypes.${k}.description}"
     else "key '${k}' is unrecognized; expected one of: \n\t      [${lib.concatMapStringsSep ", " (x: "'${x}'") (lib.attrNames metaTypes)}]";
   checkMeta = meta: if shouldCheckMeta then lib.remove null (lib.mapAttrsToList checkMetaAttr meta) else [];

fricklerhandwerk · 2021-06-11T21:02:42Z

I'm still not sure whether the return value for broken should contain the string or stay a boolean.

After searching around the code it does not look like it would immediately break anything if we allowed strings in meta.broken. There are a few callers of the attribute in a bunch of packages, and only changing those values in the package definition to strings will throw errors where conditionals expect a boolean. I'm in favor of keeping it consistent and boolean. Dynamic union types confuse me often enough. I'd like to keep them at a minimum, and only if necessary for backwards compatibility hacks.

Other than that - great pull request, looks ready for un-draft-ing to me.

teto · 2021-10-02T22:21:29Z

I've opened a rebased version #140325

ofborg bot requested review from costrouc, jluttine, joachifm, marsam and rbvermaa January 15, 2021 12:00

B4dM4n mentioned this pull request Jan 15, 2021

check-meta: should we explicitly state broken reason? #109424

Closed

FRidh added this to the 21.05 milestone Jan 20, 2021

primeos mentioned this pull request Feb 10, 2021

fscryptctl: init at 1.0.0 #112651

Merged

10 tasks

teto reviewed May 19, 2021

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SuperSandro2000 reviewed May 22, 2021

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B4dM4n added 3 commits June 1, 2021 09:49

stdenv: allow meta.broken to be a string

7e88ece

buildPythonPackage: use meta.broken for disabled packages

4734e19

This allows to override the `disabled` attribute with `overridePythonAttrs`.

pythonPackages.tensorflow-bin: fix error for unsupported python versions

e4d7bae

B4dM4n force-pushed the stdenv-broken-because branch from 2a9dc3f to e4d7bae Compare June 1, 2021 08:50

ofborg bot added the 10.rebuild-darwin: 101-500 This PR causes between 101 and 500 packages to rebuild on Darwin. label Jun 1, 2021

teto changed the title ~~stdenv: add meta.brokenBecause attribute~~ stdenv: support meta.broken as a string to explain why it's broken Jun 1, 2021

teto mentioned this pull request Jul 24, 2021

hackage2nix: Correctly flag broken Haskell packages NixOS/cabal2nix#554

Open

teto mentioned this pull request Oct 2, 2021

Stdenv overhaul broken flag #140325

Closed

12 tasks

B4dM4n closed this Jan 22, 2022

B4dM4n deleted the stdenv-broken-because branch January 24, 2022 15:00

FRidh mentioned this pull request Mar 30, 2022

Unable to override "disabled" attribute with overridePythonAttrs #48663

Open

ConnorBaker mentioned this pull request Aug 27, 2025

Structured warnings and assertions ConnorBaker/ideas#5

Open

	isMarkedBroken = attrs: attrs.meta.broken or false != false;
	isMarkedBroken = attrs: attrs.meta.broken or true;

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B4dM4n commented Jan 14, 2021 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Motivation for this change

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veprbl commented Jan 15, 2021

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B4dM4n commented Jan 14, 2021 •

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