[Nix-dev] Re: NixOS has a non-conforming value for _CS_PATH. Do we care?

[shea at shealevy.com]

> Hi,
>
>>> I think we should patch libc’s sysdeps/unix/confstr.h to use
>>> "/var/run/current-system/sw/bin" as its value.  This path allows access
>>> to “all of the standard utilities”, as POSIX puts it.
>
> [...]
>
>> For now, I think it's the best solution. I'd prefer a static solution
>> and
>> one that will work on non-Nixos systems,
>
> By definition, systems on which GNU libc is built off Nixpkgs are called
> “NixOS”, so there’s nothing to worry about here.  :-)
>

Only if there's a way to tell the glibc on non-nixos linuces not to use
the /var/run/current-system path... And having _CS_PATH return
/var/run/current-system/sw means that any application that decides to use
_CS_PATH instead of PATH will be able to sneak in all sorts of
dependencies as long as they're installed on the build system. Also, I
really HOPE that /var/run/current-system isn't put into chroots when
they're enabled. Overall, I think it's better than /bin:/usr/bin, but it's
not ideal and it does introduce new problems that aren't there now.

>
>> Once multiple outputs are working,
>
> [...]
>
> Woow, this seems really over-engineered to me;
> /var/run/current-system/sw/bin is really the right location on NixOS.
>

Well, it's been stewing in my head for a few weeks, so you're probably
right. But I can't think of a simpler way to do it that will work on any
linux nix and will avoid adding opportunities for undeclared dependencies.

>
> Thanks,
> Ludo’.
>