nixpkgs/nixos/doc/manual/development/option-def.xml
Eelco Dolstra b0ccd6dd16
Revert "nixos/doc: re-format"
This reverts commit ea6e8775bd69e4676c623a85c39f1da540d29ad1. The new
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XML

<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
version="5.0"
xml:id="sec-option-definitions">
<title>Option Definitions</title>
<para>
Option definitions are generally straight-forward bindings of values to
option names, like
<programlisting>
config = {
services.httpd.enable = true;
};
</programlisting>
However, sometimes you need to wrap an option definition or set of option
definitions in a <emphasis>property</emphasis> to achieve certain effects:
</para>
<simplesect xml:id="sec-option-definitions-delaying-conditionals">
<title>Delaying Conditionals</title>
<para>
If a set of option definitions is conditional on the value of another
option, you may need to use <varname>mkIf</varname>. Consider, for instance:
<programlisting>
config = if config.services.httpd.enable then {
environment.systemPackages = [ <replaceable>...</replaceable> ];
<replaceable>...</replaceable>
} else {};
</programlisting>
This definition will cause Nix to fail with an “infinite recursion”
error. Why? Because the value of
<option>config.services.httpd.enable</option> depends on the value being
constructed here. After all, you could also write the clearly circular and
contradictory:
<programlisting>
config = if config.services.httpd.enable then {
services.httpd.enable = false;
} else {
services.httpd.enable = true;
};
</programlisting>
The solution is to write:
<programlisting>
config = mkIf config.services.httpd.enable {
environment.systemPackages = [ <replaceable>...</replaceable> ];
<replaceable>...</replaceable>
};
</programlisting>
The special function <varname>mkIf</varname> causes the evaluation of the
conditional to be “pushed down” into the individual definitions, as if
you had written:
<programlisting>
config = {
environment.systemPackages = if config.services.httpd.enable then [ <replaceable>...</replaceable> ] else [];
<replaceable>...</replaceable>
};
</programlisting>
</para>
</simplesect>
<simplesect xml:id="sec-option-definitions-setting-priorities">
<title>Setting Priorities</title>
<para>
A module can override the definitions of an option in other modules by
setting a <emphasis>priority</emphasis>. All option definitions that do not
have the lowest priority value are discarded. By default, option definitions
have priority 1000. You can specify an explicit priority by using
<varname>mkOverride</varname>, e.g.
<programlisting>
services.openssh.enable = mkOverride 10 false;
</programlisting>
This definition causes all other definitions with priorities above 10 to be
discarded. The function <varname>mkForce</varname> is equal to
<varname>mkOverride 50</varname>.
</para>
</simplesect>
<simplesect xml:id="sec-option-definitions-merging">
<title>Merging Configurations</title>
<para>
In conjunction with <literal>mkIf</literal>, it is sometimes useful for a
module to return multiple sets of option definitions, to be merged together
as if they were declared in separate modules. This can be done using
<varname>mkMerge</varname>:
<programlisting>
config = mkMerge
[ # Unconditional stuff.
{ environment.systemPackages = [ <replaceable>...</replaceable> ];
}
# Conditional stuff.
(mkIf config.services.bla.enable {
environment.systemPackages = [ <replaceable>...</replaceable> ];
})
];
</programlisting>
</para>
</simplesect>
</section>