[Nix-dev] Displaying package parameters

[Roger Qiu]

Just wanted to ask, is this package search enhanced with showing package 
parameters planned to be added to the standard command line Nix query 
tools? Or if it's already available and I haven't found it.

On 9/03/2016 2:46 AM, Fabian Schmitthenner wrote:
> I've added a few features:
>
> - Search in 15.09 as well as 16.03
> - Search in parameters
> - A few more packages with parameters are recognized, e. g. firefox now
> shows parameters
> - Better error handling: If a parameter fails while trying to determine
> what kind it is, it's simply not displayed, but anything else is
>
> As before, demo can be foud here:
> http://schmitthenner.eu/nixos-homepage/nixos/packages.html. (compare to
> official version: https://nixos.org/nixos/packages.html). You might need
> to clear your cache to see the new version.
>
> I've also added a pull request:
> https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-homepage/pull/78. Feel free to comment
> either on the list or on github.
>
> Have a great day!
>
> Fabian
>
> On 02/29/2016 03:59 AM, Fabian Schmitthenner wrote:
>> Hi!
>>
>> I just wanted to share that I tried displaying package parameters on the
>> nixos homepage and the current result can be seen here:
>> http://schmitthenner.eu/nixos-homepage/nixos/packages.html.
>>
>> When you click on a package, you hopefully see its parameter. This uses
>> a heruristic to try to figure out which parameters are packages (and
>> thus not displayed) and which are not (and thus displayed) that goes
>> roughly as follows:
>>
>> - If the parameter is instantiated - either implicitly or explicitly -
>> by callPackage, we look at the value and if it's a derivation, or a list
>> or attrset set of derivations, or a function it's not displayed
>> - Otherwise, it's displayed
>>
>> I think there was a discussion about this a short while ago, but I
>> couldn't find it.
>>
>> Please let me know what you think and if we might want a (more elaborate
>> version, e. g. also displaying the value of default arguments that
>> aren't changed by callPackage, which requires an other change to nix
>> because this info is currently not available, we only know if the
>> argument is optional or not afaik) of this on our official website.
>>
>> Source code can be found on
>> https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-homepage/compare/master...fkz:master
>> Technically, I patched nixpkgs customization, so we not only get the
>> override... functions, but also the original parameters and the original
>> function.
>> Furthermore, this uses a patched version of nix which allows catching
>> errors inside nix (added a primop __catch) that also seems useful more
>> generally (when polished) (see https://github.com/fkz/nix/tree/catch-throw).
>>
>> Fabian
>>
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