Is it okay to use builtins.readFile in a Spectrum derivation? If the input is a store path that is Import From Derivation and discouraged, but I don't know if Spectrum's sources will ever be in a store path. -- Sincerely, Demi Marie Obenour (she/her/hers)
Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com> writes:
Is it okay to use builtins.readFile in a Spectrum derivation? If the input is a store path that is Import From Derivation and discouraged, but I don't know if Spectrum's sources will ever be in a store path.
That wouldn't be a problem. readFile is fine in principle, although it is rarely what you actually want. There are very few cases where you have a string you need at eval time but don't want to inline into a Nix file, so if you're reaching for readFile I'd take a step back and think about whether there's a better approach. Where readFile is used in your sysupdate VM, the build configuration mechanism[1] might be a better fit, if you don't want to hardcode it. [1]: https://spectrum-os.org/doc/development/build-configuration.html
On 11/1/25 08:21, Alyssa Ross wrote:
Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com> writes:
Is it okay to use builtins.readFile in a Spectrum derivation? If the input is a store path that is Import From Derivation and discouraged, but I don't know if Spectrum's sources will ever be in a store path.
That wouldn't be a problem. readFile is fine in principle, although it is rarely what you actually want. There are very few cases where you have a string you need at eval time but don't want to inline into a Nix file, so if you're reaching for readFile I'd take a step back and think about whether there's a better approach.
Where readFile is used in your sysupdate VM, the build configuration mechanism[1] might be a better fit, if you don't want to hardcode it.
[1]: https://spectrum-os.org/doc/development/build-configuration.html
readFile is used only to read the version number. -- Sincerely, Demi Marie Obenour (she/her/hers)
Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com> writes:
On 11/1/25 08:21, Alyssa Ross wrote:
Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com> writes:
Is it okay to use builtins.readFile in a Spectrum derivation? If the input is a store path that is Import From Derivation and discouraged, but I don't know if Spectrum's sources will ever be in a store path.
That wouldn't be a problem. readFile is fine in principle, although it is rarely what you actually want. There are very few cases where you have a string you need at eval time but don't want to inline into a Nix file, so if you're reaching for readFile I'd take a step back and think about whether there's a better approach.
Where readFile is used in your sysupdate VM, the build configuration mechanism[1] might be a better fit, if you don't want to hardcode it.
[1]: https://spectrum-os.org/doc/development/build-configuration.html
readFile is used only to read the version number.
and update-url, which is what I was thinking more about.
participants (2)
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Alyssa Ross -
Demi Marie Obenour