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1# Haskell {#haskell}
2
3The Haskell infrastructure in Nixpkgs has two main purposes: The primary purpose
4is to provide a Haskell compiler and build tools as well as infrastructure for
5packaging Haskell-based packages.
6
7The secondary purpose is to provide support for Haskell development environments
8including prebuilt Haskell libraries. However, in this area sacrifices have been
9made due to self-imposed restrictions in Nixpkgs, to lessen the maintenance
10effort and to improve performance. (More details in the subsection
11[Limitations.](#haskell-limitations))
12
13## Available packages {#haskell-available-packages}
14
15The compiler and most build tools are exposed at the top level:
16
17* `ghc` is the default version of GHC
18* Language specific tools: `cabal-install`, `stack`, `hpack`, …
19
20Many “normal” user-facing packages written in Haskell, like `niv` or `cachix`,
21are also exposed at the top level, and there is nothing Haskell specific to
22installing and using them.
23
24All of these packages are originally defined in the `haskellPackages` package set.
25The same packages are re-exposed with a reduced dependency closure for convenience (see `justStaticExecutables` or `separateBinOutput` below).
26
27:::{.note}
28See [](#chap-language-support) for techniques to explore package sets.
29:::
30
31The `haskellPackages` set includes at least one version of every package from [Hackage](https://hackage.haskell.org/) as well as some manually injected packages.
32
33The attribute names in `haskellPackages` always correspond with their name on
34Hackage. Since Hackage allows names that are not valid Nix without escaping,
35you need to take care when handling attribute names like `3dmodels`.
36
37For packages that are part of [Stackage] (a curated set of known to be
38compatible packages), we use the version prescribed by a Stackage snapshot
39(usually the current LTS one) as the default version. For all other packages we
40use the latest version from [Hackage](https://hackage.org) (the repository of
41basically all open source Haskell packages). See [below](#haskell-available-versions) for a few more details on this.
42
43Roughly half of the 16K packages contained in `haskellPackages` don’t actually
44build and are [marked as broken semi-automatically](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/haskell-updates/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-hackage2nix/broken.yaml).
45Most of those packages are deprecated or unmaintained, but sometimes packages
46that should build, do not build. Very often fixing them is not a lot of work.
47
48<!--
49TODO(@sternenseemann):
50How you can help with that is
51described in [Fixing a broken package](#haskell-fixing-a-broken-package).
52-->
53
54`haskellPackages` is built with our default compiler, but we also provide other releases of GHC and package sets built with them.
55Available compilers are collected under `haskell.compiler`.
56
57Each of those compiler versions has a corresponding attribute set `packages` built with
58it. However, the non-standard package sets are not tested regularly and, as a
59result, contain fewer working packages. The corresponding package set for GHC
609.4.8 is `haskell.packages.ghc948`. In fact, `haskellPackages` (at the time of writing) is just an alias
61for `haskell.packages.ghc9103`.
62
63Every package set also re-exposes the GHC used to build its packages as `haskell.packages.*.ghc`.
64
65### Available package versions {#haskell-available-versions}
66
67We aim for a “blessed” package set which only contains one version of each
68package, like [Stackage], which is a curated set of known to be compatible
69packages. We use the version information from Stackage snapshots and extend it
70with more packages. Normally in Nixpkgs the number of building Haskell packages
71is roughly two to three times the size of Stackage. For choosing the version to
72use for a certain package we use the following rules:
73
741. By default, for `haskellPackages.foo` is the newest version of the package
75`foo` found on [Hackage](https://hackage.org), which is the central registry
76of all open source Haskell packages. Nixpkgs contains a reference to a pinned
77Hackage snapshot, thus we use the state of Hackage as of the last time we
78updated this pin.
792. If the [Stackage] snapshot that we use (usually the newest LTS snapshot)
80contains a package, [we use instead the version in the Stackage snapshot as
81default version for that package.](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/haskell-updates/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-hackage2nix/stackage.yaml)
823. For some packages, which are not on Stackage, we have if necessary [manual
83overrides to set the default version to a version older than the newest on
84Hackage.](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/haskell-updates/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-hackage2nix/main.yaml)
854. For all packages, for which the newest Hackage version is not the default
86version, there will also be a `haskellPackages.foo_x_y_z` package with the
87newest version. The `x_y_z` part encodes the version with dots replaced by
88underscores. When the newest version changes by a new release to Hackage the
89old package will disappear under that name and be replaced by a newer one under
90the name with the new version. The package name including the version will
91also disappear when the default version e.g. from Stackage catches up with the
92newest version from Hackage. E.g. if `haskellPackages.foo` gets updated from
931.0.0 to 1.1.0 the package `haskellPackages.foo_1_1_0` becomes obsolete and
94gets dropped.
955. For some packages, we also [manually add other `haskellPackages.foo_x_y_z`
96versions](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/haskell-updates/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/configuration-hackage2nix/main.yaml),
97if they are required for a certain build.
98
99Relying on `haskellPackages.foo_x_y_z` attributes in derivations outside
100nixpkgs is discouraged because they may change or disappear with every package
101set update.
102<!-- TODO(@maralorn) We should add a link to callHackage, etc. once we added
103them to the docs. -->
104
105All `haskell.packages.*` package sets use the same package descriptions and the same sets
106of versions by default. There are however GHC version specific override `.nix`
107files to loosen this a bit.
108
109### Dependency resolution {#haskell-dependency-resolution}
110
111Normally when you build Haskell packages with `cabal-install`, `cabal-install`
112does dependency resolution. It will look at all Haskell package versions known
113on Hackage and try to pick for every (transitive) dependency of your build
114exactly one version. Those versions need to satisfy all the version constraints
115given in the `.cabal` file of your package and all its dependencies.
116
117The [Haskell builder in nixpkgs](#haskell-mkderivation) does no such thing.
118It will take as input packages with names of the desired dependencies
119and just check whether they fulfill the version bounds and fail if they don’t
120(by default, see `jailbreak` to circumvent this).
121
122The `haskellPackages.callPackage` function does the package resolution.
123It will, e.g., use `haskellPackages.aeson`which has the default version as
124described above for a package input of name `aeson`. (More general:
125`<packages>.callPackage f` will call `f` with named inputs provided from the
126package set `<packages>`.)
127While this is the default behavior, it is possible to override the dependencies
128for a specific package, see
129[`override` and `overrideScope`](#haskell-overriding-haskell-packages).
130
131### Limitations {#haskell-limitations}
132
133Our main objective with `haskellPackages` is to package Haskell software in
134Nixpkgs. This entails some limitations, partially due to self-imposed
135restrictions of Nixpkgs, partially in the name of maintainability:
136
137* Only the packages built with the default compiler see extensive testing of the
138 whole package set. For other GHC versions only a few essential packages are
139 tested and cached.
140* As described above we only build one version of most packages.
141
142The experience using an older or newer packaged compiler or using different
143versions may be worse, because builds will not be cached on `cache.nixos.org`
144or may fail.
145
146Thus, to get the best experience, make sure that your project can be compiled
147using the default compiler of nixpkgs and recent versions of its dependencies.
148
149A result of this setup is, that getting a valid build plan for a given
150package can sometimes be quite painful, and in fact this is where most of the
151maintenance work for `haskellPackages` is required. Besides that, it is not
152possible to get the dependencies of a legacy project from nixpkgs or to use a
153specific stack solver for compiling a project.
154
155Even though we couldn’t use them directly in nixpkgs, it would be desirable
156to have tooling to generate working Nix package sets from build plans generated
157by `cabal-install` or a specific Stackage snapshot via import-from-derivation.
158Sadly we currently don’t have tooling for this. For this you might be
159interested in the alternative [haskell.nix] framework, which, be warned, is
160completely incompatible with packages from `haskellPackages`.
161
162<!-- TODO(@maralorn) Link to package set generation docs in the contributors guide below. -->
163
164### GHC Deprecation Policy {#ghc-deprecation-policy}
165
166We remove GHC versions according to the following policy:
167
168#### Major GHC versions {#major-ghc-deprecation}
169
170We keep the following GHC major versions:
1711. The current Stackage LTS as the default and all later major versions.
1722. The two latest major versions older than our default.
1733. The currently recommended GHCup version and all later major versions.
174
175Older GHC versions might be kept longer, if there are in-tree consumers. We will coordinate with the maintainers of those dependencies to find a way forward.
176
177#### Minor GHC versions {#minor-ghc-deprecation}
178
179Every major version has a default minor version. The default minor version will be updated as soon as viable without breakage.
180
181Older minor versions for a supported major version will only be kept, if they are the last supported version of a major Stackage LTS release.
182
183<!-- Policy introduced here: https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixpkgs-ghc-deprecation-policy-user-feedback-necessary/64153 -->
184
185## `haskellPackages.mkDerivation` {#haskell-mkderivation}
186
187Every Haskell package set has its own Haskell-aware `mkDerivation` which is used
188to build its packages. Generally you won't have to interact with this builder
189since [cabal2nix](#haskell-cabal2nix) can generate packages
190using it for an arbitrary cabal package definition. Still it is useful to know
191the parameters it takes when you need to
192[override](#haskell-overriding-haskell-packages) a generated Nix expression.
193
194`haskellPackages.mkDerivation` is a wrapper around `stdenv.mkDerivation` which
195re-defines the default phases to be Haskell-aware and handles dependency
196specification, test suites, benchmarks etc. by compiling and invoking the
197package's `Setup.hs`. It does *not* use or invoke the `cabal-install` binary,
198but uses the underlying `Cabal` library instead.
199
200### General arguments {#haskell-derivation-args}
201
202`pname`
203: Package name, assumed to be the same as on Hackage (if applicable)
204
205`version`
206: Packaged version, assumed to be the same as on Hackage (if applicable)
207
208`src`
209: Source of the package. If omitted, fetch package corresponding to `pname`
210and `version` from Hackage.
211
212`sha256`
213: Hash to use for the default case of `src`.
214
215`sourceRoot`, `setSourceRoot`
216: Passed to `stdenv.mkDerivation`; see [“Variables controlling the unpack
217phase”](#variables-controlling-the-unpack-phase).
218
219`revision`
220: Revision number of the updated cabal file to fetch from Hackage.
221If `null` (which is the default value), the one included in `src` is used.
222
223`editedCabalFile`
224: `sha256` hash of the cabal file identified by `revision` or `null`.
225
226`env`
227: Extra environment variables to set during the build.
228These will also be set inside the [development environment defined by the `passthru.env` attribute in the returned derivation](#haskell-development-environments), but will not be set inside a development environment built with [`shellFor`](#haskell-shellFor) that includes this package.
229
230`configureFlags`
231: Extra flags passed when executing the `configure` command of `Setup.hs`.
232
233`buildFlags`
234: Extra flags passed when executing the `build` command of `Setup.hs`.
235
236`haddockFlags`
237: Extra flags passed to `Setup.hs haddock` when building the documentation.
238
239`doCheck`
240: Whether to execute the package's test suite if it has one. Defaults to `true` unless cross-compiling.
241
242`doBenchmark`
243: Whether to execute the package's benchmark if it has one. Defaults to `false`.
244
245`doHoogle`
246: Whether to generate an index file for [hoogle][hoogle] as part of
247`haddockPhase` by passing the [`--hoogle` option][haddock-hoogle-option].
248Defaults to `true`.
249
250`doHaddockQuickjump`
251: Whether to generate an index for interactive navigation of the HTML documentation.
252Defaults to `true` if supported.
253
254`doInstallIntermediates`
255: Whether to install intermediate build products (files written to `dist/build`
256by GHC during the build process). With `enableSeparateIntermediatesOutput`,
257these files are instead installed to [a separate `intermediates`
258output.][multiple-outputs] The output can then be passed into a future build of
259the same package with the `previousIntermediates` argument to support
260incremental builds. See [“Incremental builds”](#haskell-incremental-builds) for
261more information. Defaults to `false`.
262
263`dontConvertCabalFileToUnix`
264: By default, `haskellPackages.mkDerivation` converts the `.cabal` file of a
265given package to Unix line endings.
266This is intended to work around
267[Hackage converting revised `.cabal` files to DOS line endings](https://github.com/haskell/hackage-server/issues/316)
268which frequently causes patches to stop applying.
269You can pass `true` to disable this behavior.
270
271`enableLibraryProfiling`
272: Whether to enable [profiling][profiling] for libraries contained in the
273package. Enabled by default if supported.
274
275`enableExecutableProfiling`
276: Whether to enable [profiling][profiling] for executables contained in the
277package. Disabled by default.
278
279`profilingDetail`
280: [Profiling detail level][profiling-detail] to set. Defaults to `exported-functions`.
281
282`enableSharedExecutables`
283: Whether to link executables dynamically. By default, executables are linked statically.
284
285`enableSharedLibraries`
286: Whether to build shared Haskell libraries. This is enabled by default unless we are using
287`pkgsStatic` or shared libraries have been disabled in GHC.
288
289`enableStaticLibraries`
290: Whether to build static libraries. Enabled by default if supported.
291
292`enableDeadCodeElimination`
293: Whether to enable linker based dead code elimination in GHC.
294Enabled by default if supported.
295
296`enableHsc2hsViaAsm`
297: Whether to pass `--via-asm` to `hsc2hs`. Enabled by default only on Windows.
298
299`hyperlinkSource`
300: Whether to render the source as well as part of the haddock documentation
301by passing the [`--hyperlinked-source` flag][haddock-hyperlinked-source-option].
302Defaults to `true`.
303
304`isExecutable`
305: Whether the package contains an executable.
306
307`isLibrary`
308: Whether the package contains a library.
309
310`jailbreak`
311: Whether to execute [jailbreak-cabal][jailbreak-cabal] before `configurePhase`
312to lift any version constraints in the cabal file. Note that this can't
313lift version bounds if they are conditional, i.e. if a dependency is hidden
314behind a flag.
315
316`enableParallelBuilding`
317: Whether to use the `-j` flag to make GHC/Cabal start multiple jobs in parallel.
318
319`maxBuildCores`
320: Upper limit of jobs to use in parallel for compilation regardless of
321`$NIX_BUILD_CORES`. Defaults to 16 as Haskell compilation with GHC currently
322sees a [performance regression](https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/ghc/-/issues/9221)
323if too many parallel jobs are used.
324
325`doCoverage`
326: Whether to generate and install files needed for [HPC][haskell-program-coverage].
327Defaults to `false`.
328
329`doHaddock`
330: Whether to build (HTML) documentation using [haddock][haddock].
331Defaults to `true` if supported.
332
333`testTargets`
334: Names of the test suites to build and run. If unset, all test suites will be executed.
335
336`preCompileBuildDriver`
337: Shell code to run before compiling `Setup.hs`.
338
339`postCompileBuildDriver`
340: Shell code to run after compiling `Setup.hs`.
341
342`preHaddock`
343: Shell code to run before building documentation using haddock.
344
345`postHaddock`
346: Shell code to run after building documentation using haddock.
347
348`coreSetup`
349: Whether to only allow core libraries to be used while building `Setup.hs`.
350Defaults to `false`.
351
352`useCpphs`
353: Whether to enable the [cpphs][cpphs] preprocessor. Defaults to `false`.
354
355`enableSeparateBinOutput`
356: Whether to install executables to a separate `bin` output. Defaults to `false`.
357
358`enableSeparateDataOutput`
359: Whether to install data files shipped with the package to a separate `data` output.
360Defaults to `false`.
361
362`enableSeparateDocOutput`
363: Whether to install documentation to a separate `doc` output.
364Is automatically enabled if `doHaddock` is `true`.
365
366`enableSeparateIntermediatesOutput`
367: When `doInstallIntermediates` is true, whether to install intermediate build
368products to a separate `intermediates` output. See [“Incremental
369builds”](#haskell-incremental-builds) for more information. Defaults to
370`false`.
371
372`allowInconsistentDependencies`
373: If enabled, allow multiple versions of the same Haskell package in the
374dependency tree at configure time. Often in such a situation compilation would
375later fail because of type mismatches. Defaults to `false`.
376
377`enableLibraryForGhci`
378: Build and install a special object file for GHCi. This improves performance
379when loading the library in the REPL, but requires extra build time and
380disk space. Defaults to `false`.
381
382`previousIntermediates`
383: If non-null, intermediate build artifacts are copied from this input to
384`dist/build` before performing compiling. See [“Incremental
385builds”](#haskell-incremental-builds) for more information. Defaults to `null`.
386
387`buildTarget`
388: Name of the executable or library to build and install.
389If unset, all available targets are built and installed.
390
391### Specifying dependencies {#haskell-derivation-deps}
392
393Since `haskellPackages.mkDerivation` is intended to be generated from cabal
394files, it reflects cabal's way of specifying dependencies. For one, dependencies
395are grouped by what part of the package they belong to. This helps to reduce the
396dependency closure of a derivation, for example benchmark dependencies are not
397included if `doBenchmark == false`.
398
399`setup*Depends`
400: dependencies necessary to compile `Setup.hs`
401
402`library*Depends`
403: dependencies of a library contained in the package
404
405`executable*Depends`
406: dependencies of an executable contained in the package
407
408`test*Depends`
409: dependencies of a test suite contained in the package
410
411`benchmark*Depends`
412: dependencies of a benchmark contained in the package
413
414The other categorization relates to the way the package depends on the dependency:
415
416`*ToolDepends`
417: Tools we need to run as part of the build process.
418They are added to the derivation's `nativeBuildInputs`.
419
420`*HaskellDepends`
421: Haskell libraries the package depends on.
422They are added to `propagatedBuildInputs`.
423
424`*SystemDepends`
425: Non-Haskell libraries the package depends on.
426They are added to `buildInputs`
427
428`*PkgconfigDepends`
429: `*SystemDepends` which are discovered using `pkg-config`.
430They are added to `buildInputs` and it is additionally
431ensured that `pkg-config` is available at build time.
432
433`*FrameworkDepends`
434: Apple SDK Framework which the package depends on when compiling it on Darwin.
435
436Using these two distinctions, you should be able to categorize most of the dependency
437specifications that are available:
438`benchmarkFrameworkDepends`,
439`benchmarkHaskellDepends`,
440`benchmarkPkgconfigDepends`,
441`benchmarkSystemDepends`,
442`benchmarkToolDepends`,
443`executableFrameworkDepends`,
444`executableHaskellDepends`,
445`executablePkgconfigDepends`,
446`executableSystemDepends`,
447`executableToolDepends`,
448`libraryFrameworkDepends`,
449`libraryHaskellDepends`,
450`libraryPkgconfigDepends`,
451`librarySystemDepends`,
452`libraryToolDepends`,
453`setupHaskellDepends`,
454`testFrameworkDepends`,
455`testHaskellDepends`,
456`testPkgconfigDepends`,
457`testSystemDepends` and
458`testToolDepends`.
459
460That only leaves the following extra ways for specifying dependencies:
461
462`buildDepends`
463: Allows specifying Haskell dependencies which are added to `propagatedBuildInputs` unconditionally.
464
465`buildTools`
466: Like `*ToolDepends`, but are added to `nativeBuildInputs` unconditionally.
467
468`extraLibraries`
469: Like `*SystemDepends`, but are added to `buildInputs` unconditionally.
470
471`pkg-configDepends`
472: Like `*PkgconfigDepends`, but are added to `buildInputs` unconditionally.
473
474`testDepends`
475: Deprecated, use either `testHaskellDepends` or `testSystemDepends`.
476
477`benchmarkDepends`
478: Deprecated, use either `benchmarkHaskellDepends` or `benchmarkSystemDepends`.
479
480The dependency specification methods in this list which are unconditional
481are especially useful when writing [overrides](#haskell-overriding-haskell-packages)
482when you want to make sure that they are definitely included. However, it is
483recommended to use the more accurate ones listed above when possible.
484
485### Meta attributes {#haskell-derivation-meta}
486
487`haskellPackages.mkDerivation` accepts the following attributes as direct
488arguments which are transparently set in `meta` of the resulting derivation. See
489the [Meta-attributes section](#chap-meta) for their documentation.
490
491* These attributes are populated with a default value if omitted:
492 * `homepage`: defaults to the Hackage page for `pname`.
493 * `platforms`: defaults to `lib.platforms.all` (since GHC can cross-compile)
494* These attributes are only set if given:
495 * `description`
496 * `license`
497 * `changelog`
498 * `maintainers`
499 * `broken`
500 * `hydraPlatforms`
501
502### Incremental builds {#haskell-incremental-builds}
503
504`haskellPackages.mkDerivation` supports incremental builds for GHC 9.4 and
505newer with the `doInstallIntermediates`, `enableSeparateIntermediatesOutput`,
506and `previousIntermediates` arguments.
507
508The basic idea is to first perform a full build of the package in question,
509save its intermediate build products for later, and then copy those build
510products into the build directory of an incremental build performed later.
511Then, GHC will use those build artifacts to avoid recompiling unchanged
512modules.
513
514For more detail on how to store and use incremental build products, see
515[Gabriella Gonzalez’ blog post “Nixpkgs support for incremental Haskell
516builds”.][incremental-builds] motivation behind this feature.
517
518An incremental build for [the `turtle` package][turtle] can be performed like
519so:
520
521```nix
522let
523 pkgs = import <nixpkgs> { };
524 inherit (pkgs) haskell;
525 inherit (haskell.lib.compose) overrideCabal;
526
527 # Incremental builds work with GHC >=9.4.
528 turtle = haskell.packages.ghc944.turtle;
529
530 # This will do a full build of `turtle`, while writing the intermediate build products
531 # (compiled modules, etc.) to the `intermediates` output.
532 turtle-full-build-with-incremental-output = overrideCabal (drv: {
533 doInstallIntermediates = true;
534 enableSeparateIntermediatesOutput = true;
535 }) turtle;
536
537 # This will do an incremental build of `turtle` by copying the previously
538 # compiled modules and intermediate build products into the source tree
539 # before running the build.
540 #
541 # GHC will then naturally pick up and reuse these products, making this build
542 # complete much more quickly than the previous one.
543 turtle-incremental-build = overrideCabal (drv: {
544 previousIntermediates = turtle-full-build-with-incremental-output.intermediates;
545 }) turtle;
546in
547turtle-incremental-build
548```
549
550## Development environments {#haskell-development-environments}
551
552In addition to building and installing Haskell software, Nixpkgs can also
553provide development environments for Haskell projects. This has the obvious
554advantage that you benefit from `cache.nixos.org` and no longer need to compile
555all project dependencies yourself. While it is often very useful, this is not
556the primary use case of our package set. Have a look at the section
557[available package versions](#haskell-available-versions) to learn which
558versions of packages we provide and the section
559[limitations](#haskell-limitations), to judge whether a `haskellPackages`
560based development environment for your project is feasible.
561
562By default, every derivation built using
563[`haskellPackages.mkDerivation`](#haskell-mkderivation) exposes an environment
564suitable for building it interactively as the `env` attribute. For example, if
565you have a local checkout of `random`, you can enter a development environment
566for it like this (if the dependencies in the development and packaged version
567match):
568
569```console
570$ cd ~/src/random
571$ nix-shell -A haskellPackages.random.env '<nixpkgs>'
572[nix-shell:~/src/random]$ ghc-pkg list
573/nix/store/a8hhl54xlzfizrhcf03c1l3f6l9l8qwv-ghc-9.2.4-with-packages/lib/ghc-9.2.4/package.conf.d
574 Cabal-3.6.3.0
575 array-0.5.4.0
576 base-4.16.3.0
577 binary-0.8.9.0
578 …
579 ghc-9.2.4
580 …
581```
582
583As you can see, the environment contains a GHC which is set up so it finds all
584dependencies of `random`. Note that this environment does not mirror
585the environment used to build the package, but is intended as a convenient
586tool for development and simple debugging. `env` relies on the `ghcWithPackages`
587wrapper which automatically injects a pre-populated package-db into every
588GHC invocation. In contrast, using `nix-shell -A haskellPackages.random` will
589not result in an environment in which the dependencies are in GHCs package
590database. Instead, the Haskell builder will pass in all dependencies explicitly
591via configure flags.
592
593`env` mirrors the normal derivation environment in one aspect: It does not include
594familiar development tools like `cabal-install`, since we rely on plain `Setup.hs`
595to build all packages. However, `cabal-install` will work as expected if in
596`PATH` (e.g. when installed globally and using a `nix-shell` without `--pure`).
597A declarative and pure way of adding arbitrary development tools is provided
598via [`shellFor`](#haskell-shellFor).
599
600When using `cabal-install` for dependency resolution you need to be a bit
601careful to achieve build purity. `cabal-install` will find and use all
602dependencies installed from the packages `env` via Nix, but it will also
603consult Hackage to potentially download and compile dependencies if it can’t
604find a valid build plan locally. To prevent this you can either never run
605`cabal update`, remove the cabal database from your `~/.cabal` folder or run
606`cabal` with `--offline`. Note though, that for some usecases `cabal2nix` needs
607the local Hackage db.
608
609Often you won't work on a package that is already part of `haskellPackages` or
610Hackage, so we first need to write a Nix expression to obtain the development
611environment from. Luckily, we can generate one very easily from an already
612existing cabal file using `cabal2nix`:
613
614```console
615$ ls
616my-project.cabal src …
617$ cabal2nix ./. > my-project.nix
618```
619
620The generated Nix expression evaluates to a function ready to be
621`callPackage`-ed. For now, we can add a minimal `default.nix` which does just
622that:
623
624```nix
625# Retrieve nixpkgs impurely from NIX_PATH for now, you can pin it instead, of course.
626{
627 pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> { },
628}:
629
630# use the nixpkgs default haskell package set
631pkgs.haskellPackages.callPackage ./my-project.nix { }
632```
633
634Using `nix-build default.nix` we can now build our project, but we can also
635enter a shell with all the package's dependencies available using `nix-shell
636-A env default.nix`. If you have `cabal-install` installed globally, it'll work
637inside the shell as expected.
638
639### shellFor {#haskell-shellFor}
640
641Having to install tools globally is obviously not great, especially if you want
642to provide a batteries-included `shell.nix` with your project. Luckily there's a
643proper tool for making development environments out of packages' build
644environments: `shellFor`, a function exposed by every haskell package set. It
645takes the following arguments and returns a derivation which is suitable as a
646development environment inside `nix-shell`:
647
648`packages`
649: This argument is used to select the packages for which to build the
650development environment. This should be a function which takes a haskell package
651set and returns a list of packages. `shellFor` will pass the used package set to
652this function and include all dependencies of the returned package in the build
653environment. This means you can reuse Nix expressions of packages included in
654nixpkgs, but also use local Nix expressions like this: `hpkgs: [
655(hpkgs.callPackage ./my-project.nix { }) ]`.
656
657`extraDependencies`
658: Extra dependencies, in the form of cabal2nix build attributes. An example use
659case is when you have Haskell scripts that use libraries that don't occur in
660your packages' dependencies. Example: `hpkgs: {libraryHaskellDepends =
661[ hpkgs.releaser ]}`. Defaults to `hpkgs: { }`.
662
663`nativeBuildInputs`
664: Expects a list of derivations to add as build tools to the build environment.
665This is the place to add packages like `cabal-install`, `doctest` or `hlint`.
666Defaults to `[]`.
667
668`buildInputs`
669: Expects a list of derivations to add as library dependencies, like `openssl`.
670This is rarely necessary as the haskell package expressions usually track system
671dependencies as well. Defaults to `[]`. (see also
672[derivation dependencies](#haskell-derivation-deps))
673
674`withHoogle`
675: If this is true, `hoogle` will be added to `nativeBuildInputs`.
676Additionally, its database will be populated with all included dependencies,
677so you'll be able search through the documentation of your dependencies.
678Defaults to `false`.
679
680`genericBuilderArgsModifier`
681: This argument accepts a function allowing you to modify the arguments passed
682to `mkDerivation` in order to create the development environment. For example,
683`args: { doCheck = false; }` would cause the environment to not include any test
684dependencies. Defaults to `lib.id`.
685
686`doBenchmark`
687: This is a shortcut for enabling `doBenchmark` via `genericBuilderArgsModifier`.
688Setting it to `true` will cause the development environment to include all
689benchmark dependencies which would be excluded by default. Defaults to `false`.
690
691One neat property of `shellFor` is that it allows you to work on multiple
692packages using the same environment in conjunction with
693[cabal.project files][cabal-project-files].
694Say our example above depends on `distribution-nixpkgs` and we have a project
695file set up for both, we can add the following `shell.nix` expression:
696
697```nix
698{
699 pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> { },
700}:
701
702pkgs.haskellPackages.shellFor {
703 packages = hpkgs: [
704 # reuse the nixpkgs for this package
705 hpkgs.distribution-nixpkgs
706 # call our generated Nix expression manually
707 (hpkgs.callPackage ./my-project/my-project.nix { })
708 ];
709
710 # development tools we use
711 nativeBuildInputs = [
712 pkgs.cabal-install
713 pkgs.haskellPackages.doctest
714 pkgs.cabal2nix
715 ];
716
717 # Extra arguments are added to mkDerivation's arguments as-is.
718 # Since it adds all passed arguments to the shell environment,
719 # we can use this to set the environment variable the `Paths_`
720 # module of distribution-nixpkgs uses to search for bundled
721 # files.
722 # See also: https://cabal.readthedocs.io/en/latest/cabal-package.html#accessing-data-files-from-package-code
723 distribution_nixpkgs_datadir = toString ./distribution-nixpkgs;
724}
725```
726
727<!-- TODO(@sternenseemann): deps are not included if not selected -->
728
729### haskell-language-server {#haskell-language-server}
730
731To use HLS in short: Install `pkgs.haskell-language-server`, e.g. in
732`nativeBuildInputs` in `shellFor` and use the `haskell-language-server-wrapper`
733command to run it. See the [HLS user guide] on how to configure your text
734editor to use HLS and how to test your setup.
735
736HLS needs to be compiled with the GHC version of the project you use it
737on.
738
739``pkgs.haskell-language-server`` provides
740``haskell-language-server-wrapper``, ``haskell-language-server``
741and ``haskell-language-server-x.x.x``
742binaries, where ``x.x.x`` is the GHC version for which it is compiled. By
743default, it only includes binaries for the current GHC version, to reduce
744closure size. The closure size is large, because HLS needs to be dynamically
745linked to work reliably. You can override the list of supported GHC versions
746with e.g.
747
748```nix
749pkgs.haskell-language-server.override {
750 supportedGhcVersions = [
751 "90"
752 "94"
753 ];
754}
755```
756Where all strings `version` are allowed such that
757`haskell.packages.ghc${version}` is an existing package set.
758
759When you run `haskell-language-server-wrapper` it will detect the GHC
760version used by the project you are working on (by asking e.g. cabal or
761stack) and pick the appropriate versioned binary from your path.
762
763Be careful when installing HLS globally and using a pinned nixpkgs for a
764Haskell project in a `nix-shell`. If the nixpkgs versions deviate to much
765(e.g., use different `glibc` versions) the `haskell-language-server-?.?.?`
766executable will try to detect these situations and refuse to start. It is
767recommended to obtain HLS via `nix-shell` from the nixpkgs version pinned in
768there instead.
769
770The top level `pkgs.haskell-language-server` attribute is just a convenience
771wrapper to make it possible to install HLS for multiple GHC versions at the
772same time. If you know, that you only use one GHC version, e.g., in a project
773specific `nix-shell` you can use
774`pkgs.haskellPackages.haskell-language-server` or
775`pkgs.haskell.packages.*.haskell-language-server` from the package set you use.
776
777If you use `nix-shell` for your development environments remember to start your
778editor in that environment. You may want to use something like `direnv` and/or an
779editor plugin to achieve this.
780
781## Overriding Haskell packages {#haskell-overriding-haskell-packages}
782
783### Overriding a single package {#haskell-overriding-a-single-package}
784
785<!-- TODO(@sternenseemann): we should document /somewhere/ that base == null etc. -->
786
787Like many language specific subsystems in nixpkgs, the Haskell infrastructure
788also has its own quirks when it comes to overriding. Overriding of the *inputs*
789to a package at least follows the standard procedure. For example, imagine you
790need to build `nix-tree` with a more recent version of `brick` than the default
791one provided by `haskellPackages`:
792
793```nix
794haskellPackages.nix-tree.override { brick = haskellPackages.brick_0_67; }
795```
796
797<!-- TODO(@sternenseemann): This belongs in the next section
798One common problem you may run into with such an override is the build failing
799with “abort because of serious configure-time warning from Cabal”. When scrolling
800up, you'll usually notice that Cabal noticed that more than one versions of the same
801package was present in the dependency graph. This typically causes a later compilation
802failure (the error message `haskellPackages.mkDerivation` produces tries to save
803you the time of finding this out yourself, but if you wish to do so, you can
804disable it using `allowInconsistentDependencies`). Luckily, `haskellPackages` provides
805you with a tool to deal with this. `overrideScope` creates a new `haskellPackages`
806instance with the override applied *globally* for this package, so the dependency
807closure automatically uses a consistent version of the overridden package. E. g.
808if `haskell-ci` needs a recent version of `Cabal`, but also uses other packages
809that depend on that library, you may want to use:
810
811```nix
812haskellPackages.haskell-ci.overrideScope (self: super: {
813 Cabal = self.Cabal_3_14_2_0;
814})
815```
816
817-->
818
819The custom interface comes into play when you want to override the arguments
820passed to `haskellPackages.mkDerivation`. For this, the function `overrideCabal`
821from `haskell.lib.compose` is used. E.g., if you want to install a man page
822that is distributed with the package, you can do something like this:
823
824```nix
825haskell.lib.compose.overrideCabal (drv: {
826 postInstall = ''
827 ${drv.postInstall or ""}
828 install -Dm644 man/pnbackup.1 -t $out/share/man/man1
829 '';
830}) haskellPackages.pnbackup
831```
832
833`overrideCabal` takes two arguments:
834
8351. A function which receives all arguments passed to `haskellPackages.mkDerivation`
836 before and returns a set of arguments to replace (or add) with a new value.
8372. The Haskell derivation to override.
838
839The arguments are ordered so that you can easily create helper functions by making
840use of currying:
841
842```nix
843let
844 installManPage = haskell.lib.compose.overrideCabal (drv: {
845 postInstall = ''
846 ${drv.postInstall or ""}
847 install -Dm644 man/${drv.pname}.1 -t "$out/share/man/man1"
848 '';
849 });
850
851in
852installManPage haskellPackages.pnbackup
853```
854
855In fact, `haskell.lib.compose` already provides lots of useful helpers for common
856tasks, detailed in the next section. They are also structured in such a way that
857they can be combined using `lib.pipe`:
858
859```nix
860lib.pipe my-haskell-package [
861 # lift version bounds on dependencies
862 haskell.lib.compose.doJailbreak
863 # disable building the haddock documentation
864 haskell.lib.compose.dontHaddock
865 # pass extra package flag to Cabal's configure step
866 (haskell.lib.compose.enableCabalFlag "myflag")
867]
868```
869
870#### `haskell.lib.compose` {#haskell-haskell.lib.compose}
871
872The base interface for all overriding is the following function:
873
874`overrideCabal f drv`
875: Takes the arguments passed to obtain `drv` to `f` and uses the resulting
876attribute set to update the argument set. Then a recomputed version of `drv`
877using the new argument set is returned.
878
879<!--
880TODO(@sternenseemann): ideally we want to be more detailed here as well, but
881I want to avoid the documentation having to be kept in sync in too many places.
882We already document this stuff in the mkDerivation section and lib/compose.nix.
883Ideally this section would be generated from the latter in the future.
884-->
885
886All other helper functions are implemented in terms of `overrideCabal` and make
887common overrides shorter and more complicate ones trivial. The simple overrides
888which only change a single argument are only described very briefly in the
889following overview. Refer to the
890[documentation of `haskellPackages.mkDerivation`](#haskell-mkderivation)
891for a more detailed description of the effects of the respective arguments.
892
893##### Packaging Helpers {#haskell-packaging-helpers}
894
895`overrideSrc { src, version } drv`
896: Replace the source used for building `drv` with the path or derivation given
897as `src`. The `version` attribute is optional. Prefer this function over
898overriding `src` via `overrideCabal`, since it also automatically takes care of
899removing any Hackage revisions.
900
901<!-- TODO(@sternenseemann): deprecated
902
903`generateOptparseApplicativeCompletions list drv`
904: Generate and install shell completion files for the installed executables whose
905names are given via `list`. The executables need to be using `optparse-applicative`
906for this to work.
907-->
908
909`justStaticExecutables drv`
910: Only build and install the executables produced by `drv`, removing everything
911 that may refer to other Haskell packages' store paths (like libraries and
912 documentation). This dramatically reduces the closure size of the resulting
913 derivation. Note that the executables are only statically linked against their
914 Haskell dependencies, but will still link dynamically against libc, GMP and
915 other system library dependencies.
916
917 If a library or its dependencies use their Cabal-generated
918 `Paths_*` module, this may not work as well if GHC's dead code elimination is
919 unable to remove the references to the dependency's store path that module
920 contains.
921 As a consequence, an unused reference may be created from the static binary to such a _library_ store path.
922 (See [nixpkgs#164630][164630] for more information.)
923
924 Importing the `Paths_*` module may cause builds to fail with this message:
925
926 ```
927 error: output '/nix/store/64k8iw0ryz76qpijsnl9v87fb26v28z8-my-haskell-package-1.0.0.0' is not allowed to refer to the following paths:
928 /nix/store/5q5s4a07gaz50h04zpfbda8xjs8wrnhg-ghc-9.6.3
929 ```
930
931 If that happens, first disable the check for GHC references and rebuild the
932 derivation:
933
934 ```nix
935 pkgs.haskell.lib.overrideCabal (pkgs.haskell.lib.justStaticExecutables my-haskell-package) (drv: {
936 disallowGhcReference = false;
937 })
938 ```
939
940 Then use `strings` to determine which libraries are responsible:
941
942 ```
943 $ nix-build ...
944 $ strings result/bin/my-haskell-binary | grep /nix/store/
945 ...
946 /nix/store/n7ciwdlg8yyxdhbrgd6yc2d8ypnwpmgq-hs-opentelemetry-sdk-0.0.3.6/bin
947 ...
948 ```
949
950 Finally, use `remove-references-to` to delete those store paths from the produced output:
951
952 ```nix
953 pkgs.haskell.lib.overrideCabal (pkgs.haskell.lib.justStaticExecutables my-haskell-package) (drv: {
954 postInstall = ''
955 ${drv.postInstall or ""}
956 remove-references-to -t ${pkgs.haskellPackages.hs-opentelemetry-sdk}
957 '';
958 })
959 ```
960
961[164630]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/164630
962
963`enableSeparateBinOutput drv`
964: Install executables produced by `drv` to a separate `bin` output. This
965has a similar effect as `justStaticExecutables`, but preserves the libraries
966and documentation in the `out` output alongside the `bin` output with a
967much smaller closure size.
968
969`markBroken drv`
970: Sets the `broken` flag to `true` for `drv`.
971
972`markUnbroken drv`, `unmarkBroken drv`
973: Set the `broken` flag to `false` for `drv`.
974
975`doDistribute drv`
976: Updates `hydraPlatforms` so that Hydra will build `drv`. This is
977sometimes necessary when working with versioned packages in
978`haskellPackages` which are not built by default.
979
980`dontDistribute drv`
981: Sets `hydraPlatforms` to `[]`, causing Hydra to skip this package
982altogether. Useful if it fails to evaluate cleanly and is causing
983noise in the evaluation errors tab on Hydra.
984
985##### Development Helpers {#haskell-development-helpers}
986
987`sdistTarball drv`
988: Create a source distribution tarball like those found on Hackage
989instead of building the package `drv`.
990
991`documentationTarball drv`
992: Create a documentation tarball suitable for uploading to Hackage
993instead of building the package `drv`.
994
995`buildFromSdist drv`
996: Uses `sdistTarball drv` as the source to compile `drv`. This helps to catch
997packaging bugs when building from a local directory, e.g. when required files
998are missing from `extra-source-files`.
999
1000`failOnAllWarnings drv`
1001: Enables all warnings GHC supports and makes it fail the build if any of them
1002are emitted.
1003
1004<!-- TODO(@sternenseemann):
1005`checkUnusedPackages opts drv`
1006: Adds an extra check to `postBuild` which fails the build if any dependency
1007taken as an input is not used. The `opts` attribute set allows relaxing this
1008check.
1009-->
1010
1011`enableDWARFDebugging drv`
1012: Compiles the package with additional debug symbols enabled, useful
1013for debugging with e.g. `gdb`.
1014
1015`doStrip drv`
1016: Sets `doStrip` to `true` for `drv`.
1017
1018`dontStrip drv`
1019: Sets `doStrip` to `false` for `drv`.
1020
1021<!-- TODO(@sternenseemann): shellAware -->
1022
1023##### Trivial Helpers {#haskell-trivial-helpers}
1024
1025`doJailbreak drv`
1026: Sets the `jailbreak` argument to `true` for `drv`.
1027
1028`dontJailbreak drv`
1029: Sets the `jailbreak` argument to `false` for `drv`.
1030
1031`doHaddock drv`
1032: Sets `doHaddock` to `true` for `drv`.
1033
1034`dontHaddock drv`
1035: Sets `doHaddock` to `false` for `drv`. Useful if the build of a package is
1036failing because of e.g. a syntax error in the Haddock documentation.
1037
1038`doHyperlinkSource drv`
1039: Sets `hyperlinkSource` to `true` for `drv`.
1040
1041`dontHyperlinkSource drv`
1042: Sets `hyperlinkSource` to `false` for `drv`.
1043
1044`doCheck drv`
1045: Sets `doCheck` to `true` for `drv`.
1046
1047`dontCheck drv`
1048: Sets `doCheck` to `false` for `drv`. Useful if a package has a broken,
1049flaky or otherwise problematic test suite breaking the build.
1050
1051`dontCheckIf condition drv`
1052: Sets `doCheck` to `false` for `drv`, but only if `condition` applies.
1053Otherwise it's a no-op. Useful to conditionally disable tests for a package
1054without interfering with previous overrides or default values.
1055
1056<!-- Purposefully omitting the non-list variants here. They are a bit
1057ugly, and we may want to deprecate them at some point. -->
1058
1059`appendConfigureFlags list drv`
1060: Adds the strings in `list` to the `configureFlags` argument for `drv`.
1061
1062`enableCabalFlag flag drv`
1063: Makes sure that the Cabal flag `flag` is enabled in Cabal's configure step.
1064
1065`disableCabalFlag flag drv`
1066: Makes sure that the Cabal flag `flag` is disabled in Cabal's configure step.
1067
1068`appendBuildFlags list drv`
1069: Adds the strings in `list` to the `buildFlags` argument for `drv`.
1070
1071<!-- TODO(@sternenseemann): removeConfigureFlag -->
1072
1073`appendPatches list drv`
1074: Adds the `list` of derivations or paths to the `patches` argument for `drv`.
1075
1076<!-- TODO(@sternenseemann): link dep section -->
1077
1078`addBuildTools list drv`
1079: Adds the `list` of derivations to the `buildTools` argument for `drv`.
1080
1081`addExtraLibraries list drv`
1082: Adds the `list` of derivations to the `extraLibraries` argument for `drv`.
1083
1084`addBuildDepends list drv`
1085: Adds the `list` of derivations to the `buildDepends` argument for `drv`.
1086
1087`addTestToolDepends list drv`
1088: Adds the `list` of derivations to the `testToolDepends` argument for `drv`.
1089
1090`addPkgconfigDepends list drv`
1091: Adds the `list` of derivations to the `pkg-configDepends` argument for `drv`.
1092
1093`addSetupDepends list drv`
1094: Adds the `list` of derivations to the `setupHaskellDepends` argument for `drv`.
1095
1096`doBenchmark drv`
1097: Set `doBenchmark` to `true` for `drv`. Useful if your development
1098environment is missing the dependencies necessary for compiling the
1099benchmark component.
1100
1101`dontBenchmark drv`
1102: Set `doBenchmark` to `false` for `drv`.
1103
1104`setBuildTargets drv list`
1105: Sets the `buildTarget` argument for `drv` so that the targets specified in `list` are built.
1106
1107`doCoverage drv`
1108: Sets the `doCoverage` argument to `true` for `drv`.
1109
1110`dontCoverage drv`
1111: Sets the `doCoverage` argument to `false` for `drv`.
1112
1113`enableExecutableProfiling drv`
1114: Sets the `enableExecutableProfiling` argument to `true` for `drv`.
1115
1116`disableExecutableProfiling drv`
1117: Sets the `enableExecutableProfiling` argument to `false` for `drv`.
1118
1119`enableLibraryProfiling drv`
1120: Sets the `enableLibraryProfiling` argument to `true` for `drv`.
1121
1122`disableLibraryProfiling drv`
1123: Sets the `enableLibraryProfiling` argument to `false` for `drv`.
1124
1125`disableParallelBuilding drv`
1126: Sets the `enableParallelBuilding` argument to `false` for `drv`.
1127
1128#### Library functions in the Haskell package sets {#haskell-package-set-lib-functions}
1129
1130Some library functions depend on packages from the Haskell package sets. Thus they are
1131exposed from those instead of from `haskell.lib.compose` which can only access what is
1132passed directly to it. When using the functions below, make sure that you are obtaining them
1133from the same package set (`haskellPackages`, `haskell.packages.ghc944` etc.) as the packages
1134you are working with or – even better – from the `self`/`final` fix point of your overlay to
1135`haskellPackages`.
1136
1137Note: Some functions like `shellFor` that are not intended for overriding per se, are omitted
1138in this section. <!-- TODO(@sternenseemann): note about ifd section -->
1139
1140`cabalSdist { src, name ? ... }`
1141: Generates the Cabal sdist tarball for `src`, suitable for uploading to Hackage.
1142Contrary to `haskell.lib.compose.sdistTarball`, it uses `cabal-install` over `Setup.hs`,
1143so it is usually faster: No build dependencies need to be downloaded, and we can
1144skip compiling `Setup.hs`.
1145
1146`buildFromCabalSdist drv`
1147: Build `drv`, but run its `src` attribute through `cabalSdist` first. Useful for catching
1148files necessary for compilation that are missing from the sdist.
1149
1150`generateOptparseApplicativeCompletions list drv`
1151: Generate and install shell completion files for the installed executables whose
1152names are given via `list`. The executables need to be using `optparse-applicative`
1153for [this to work][optparse-applicative-completions].
1154Note that this feature is automatically disabled when cross-compiling, since it
1155requires executing the binaries in question.
1156
1157## Import-from-Derivation helpers {#haskell-import-from-derivation}
1158
1159### cabal2nix {#haskell-cabal2nix}
1160
1161[`cabal2nix`][cabal2nix] can generate Nix package definitions for arbitrary
1162Haskell packages using [import from derivation][import-from-derivation].
1163`cabal2nix` will generate Nix expressions that look like this:
1164
1165```nix
1166# cabal get mtl-2.2.1 && cd mtl-2.2.1 && cabal2nix .
1167{
1168 mkDerivation,
1169 base,
1170 lib,
1171 transformers,
1172}:
1173mkDerivation {
1174 pname = "mtl";
1175 version = "2.2.1";
1176 src = ./.;
1177 libraryHaskellDepends = [
1178 base
1179 transformers
1180 ];
1181 homepage = "http://github.com/ekmett/mtl";
1182 description = "Monad classes, using functional dependencies";
1183 license = lib.licenses.bsd3;
1184}
1185```
1186
1187This expression should be called with `haskellPackages.callPackage`, which will
1188supply [`haskellPackages.mkDerivation`](#haskell-mkderivation) and the Haskell
1189dependencies as arguments.
1190
1191`callCabal2nix name src args`
1192: Create a package named `name` from the source derivation `src` using
1193 `cabal2nix`.
1194
1195 `args` are extra arguments provided to `haskellPackages.callPackage`.
1196
1197`callCabal2nixWithOptions name src opts args`
1198: Create a package named `name` from the source derivation `src` using
1199 `cabal2nix`.
1200
1201 `opts` are extra options for calling `cabal2nix`. If `opts` is a string, it
1202 will be used as extra command line arguments for `cabal2nix`, e.g. `--subpath
1203 path/to/dir/containing/cabal-file`. Otherwise, `opts` should be an AttrSet
1204 which can contain the following attributes:
1205
1206 `extraCabal2nixOptions`
1207 : Extra command line arguments for `cabal2nix`.
1208
1209 `srcModifier`
1210 : A function which is used to modify the given `src` instead of the default
1211 filter.
1212
1213 The default source filter will remove all files from `src` except for
1214 `.cabal` files and `package.yaml` files.
1215
1216<!--
1217
1218`callHackage`
1219: TODO
1220
1221`callHackageDirect`
1222: TODO
1223
1224`developPackage`
1225: TODO
1226
1227-->
1228
1229<!--
1230
1231TODO(@NixOS/haskell): finish these planned sections
1232### Overriding the entire package set
1233
1234## Contributing {#haskell-contributing}
1235
1236### Fixing a broken package {#haskell-fixing-a-broken-package}
1237
1238### Package set generation {#haskell-package-set-generation}
1239
1240### Packaging a Haskell project
1241
1242### Backporting {#haskell-backporting}
1243
1244Backporting changes to a stable NixOS version in general is covered
1245in nixpkgs' `CONTRIBUTING.md` in general. In particular refer to the
1246[backporting policy](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#criteria-for-backporting-changes)
1247to check if the change you have in mind may be backported.
1248
1249This section focuses on how to backport a package update (e.g. a
1250bug fix or security release). Fixing a broken package works like
1251it does for the unstable branches.
1252
1253-->
1254
1255## F.A.Q. {#haskell-faq}
1256
1257### Why is topic X not covered in this section? Why is section Y missing? {#haskell-why-not-covered}
1258
1259We have been working on [moving the nixpkgs Haskell documentation back into the
1260nixpkgs manual](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/121403). <!-- krank:ignore-line -->
1261Since this process has not been completed yet, you may find some topics missing here
1262covered in the old [haskell4nix docs](https://haskell4nix.readthedocs.io/).
1263
1264If you feel any important topic is not documented at all, feel free to comment
1265on the issue linked above.
1266
1267### How to enable or disable profiling builds globally? {#haskell-faq-override-profiling}
1268
1269By default, Nixpkgs builds a profiling version of each Haskell library. The
1270exception to this rule are some platforms where it is disabled due to concerns
1271over output size. You may want to…
1272
1273* …enable profiling globally so that you can build a project you are working on
1274 with profiling ability giving you insight in the time spent across your code
1275 and code you depend on using [GHC's profiling feature][profiling].
1276
1277* …disable profiling (globally) to reduce the time spent building the profiling
1278 versions of libraries which a significant amount of build time is spent on
1279 (although they are not as expensive as the “normal” build of a Haskell library).
1280
1281::: {.note}
1282The method described below affects the build of all libraries in the
1283respective Haskell package set as well as GHC. If your choices differ from
1284Nixpkgs' default for your (host) platform, you will lose the ability to
1285substitute from the official binary cache.
1286
1287If you are concerned about build times and thus want to disable profiling, it
1288probably makes sense to use `haskell.lib.compose.disableLibraryProfiling` (see
1289[](#haskell-trivial-helpers)) on the packages you are building locally while
1290continuing to substitute their dependencies and GHC.
1291:::
1292
1293Since we need to change the profiling settings for the desired Haskell package
1294set _and_ GHC (as the core libraries like `base`, `filepath` etc. are bundled
1295with GHC), it is recommended to use overlays for Nixpkgs to change them.
1296Since the interrelated parts, i.e. the package set and GHC, are connected
1297via the Nixpkgs fixpoint, we need to modify them both in a way that preserves
1298their connection (or else we'd have to wire it up again manually). This is
1299achieved by changing GHC and the package set in separate overlays to prevent
1300the package set from pulling in GHC from `prev`.
1301
1302The result is two overlays like the ones shown below. Adjustable parts are
1303annotated with comments, as are any optional or alternative ways to achieve
1304the desired profiling settings without causing too many rebuilds.
1305
1306<!-- TODO(@sternenseemann): buildHaskellPackages != haskellPackages with this overlay,
1307affected by https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/235960 which needs to be fixed
1308properly still.
1309-->
1310
1311```nix
1312let
1313 # Name of the compiler and package set you want to change. If you are using
1314 # the default package set `haskellPackages`, you need to look up what version
1315 # of GHC it currently uses (note that this is subject to change).
1316 ghcName = "ghc910";
1317 # Desired new setting
1318 enableProfiling = true;
1319
1320in
1321[
1322 # The first overlay modifies the GHC derivation so that it does or does not
1323 # build profiling versions of the core libraries bundled with it. It is
1324 # recommended to only use such an overlay if you are enabling profiling on a
1325 # platform that doesn't by default, because compiling GHC from scratch is
1326 # quite expensive.
1327 (
1328 final: prev:
1329 let
1330 inherit (final) lib;
1331
1332 in
1333 {
1334 haskell = prev.haskell // {
1335 compiler = prev.haskell.compiler // {
1336 ${ghcName} = prev.haskell.compiler.${ghcName}.override {
1337 # Unfortunately, the GHC setting is named differently for historical reasons
1338 enableProfiledLibs = enableProfiling;
1339 };
1340 };
1341 };
1342 }
1343 )
1344
1345 (
1346 final: prev:
1347 let
1348 inherit (final) lib;
1349 haskellLib = final.haskell.lib.compose;
1350
1351 in
1352 {
1353 haskell = prev.haskell // {
1354 packages = prev.haskell.packages // {
1355 ${ghcName} = prev.haskell.packages.${ghcName}.override {
1356 overrides = hfinal: hprev: {
1357 mkDerivation =
1358 args:
1359 hprev.mkDerivation (
1360 args
1361 // {
1362 # Since we are forcing our ideas upon mkDerivation, this change will
1363 # affect every package in the package set.
1364 enableLibraryProfiling = enableProfiling;
1365
1366 # To actually use profiling on an executable, executable profiling
1367 # needs to be enabled for the executable you want to profile. You
1368 # can either do this globally or…
1369 enableExecutableProfiling = enableProfiling;
1370 }
1371 );
1372
1373 # …only for the package that contains an executable you want to profile.
1374 # That saves on unnecessary rebuilds for packages that you only depend
1375 # on for their library, but also contain executables (e.g. pandoc).
1376 my-executable = haskellLib.enableExecutableProfiling hprev.my-executable;
1377
1378 # If you are disabling profiling to save on build time, but want to
1379 # retain the ability to substitute from the binary cache. Drop the
1380 # override for mkDerivation above and instead have an override like
1381 # this for the specific packages you are building locally and want
1382 # to make cheaper to build.
1383 my-library = haskellLib.disableLibraryProfiling hprev.my-library;
1384 };
1385 };
1386 };
1387 };
1388 }
1389 )
1390]
1391```
1392
1393<!-- TODO(@sternenseemann): write overriding mkDerivation, overriding GHC, and
1394overriding the entire package set sections and link to them from here where
1395relevant.
1396-->
1397
1398[Stackage]: https://www.stackage.org
1399[cabal-project-files]: https://cabal.readthedocs.io/en/latest/cabal-project.html
1400[cabal2nix]: https://github.com/nixos/cabal2nix
1401[cpphs]: https://Hackage.haskell.org/package/cpphs
1402[haddock-hoogle-option]: https://haskell-haddock.readthedocs.io/en/latest/invoking.html#cmdoption-hoogle
1403[haddock-hyperlinked-source-option]: https://haskell-haddock.readthedocs.io/en/latest/invoking.html#cmdoption-hyperlinked-source
1404[haddock]: https://www.haskell.org/haddock/
1405[haskell-program-coverage]: https://downloads.haskell.org/~ghc/latest/docs/html/users_guide/profiling.html#observing-code-coverage
1406[haskell.nix]: https://input-output-hk.github.io/haskell.nix/index.html
1407[HLS user guide]: https://haskell-language-server.readthedocs.io/en/latest/configuration.html#configuring-your-editor
1408[hoogle]: https://wiki.haskell.org/Hoogle
1409[incremental-builds]: https://www.haskellforall.com/2022/12/nixpkgs-support-for-incremental-haskell.html
1410[jailbreak-cabal]: https://github.com/NixOS/jailbreak-cabal/
1411[multiple-outputs]: https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/stable/#chap-multiple-output
1412[optparse-applicative-completions]: https://github.com/pcapriotti/optparse-applicative/blob/7726b63796aa5d0df82e926d467f039b78ca09e2/README.md#bash-zsh-and-fish-completions
1413[profiling-detail]: https://cabal.readthedocs.io/en/latest/cabal-project.html#cfg-field-profiling-detail
1414[profiling]: https://downloads.haskell.org/~ghc/latest/docs/html/users_guide/profiling.html
1415[search.nixos.org]: https://search.nixos.org
1416[turtle]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/turtle
1417[import-from-derivation]: https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/language/import-from-derivation