haskell.nix/docs/reference/library.md

Haskell.nix contains a library of functions for creating buildable package sets from their Nix expression descriptions. The library is what you get when importing Haskell.nix. It might be helpful to load the library in the Nix REPL to test things.

• Types — the kinds of data that you will encounter working with Haskell.nix.
• Top-level attributes — Functions and derivations defined in the Haskell.nix attrset.
• Package-set functions — Helper functions defined on the hsPkgs package set.

Types

Package Set

The result of mkPkgSet. This is an application of the NixOS module system.

{
  options = { ... };
  config = {
    hsPkgs = { ... };
    packages = { ... };
    compiler = {
      version = "X.Y.Z";
      nix-name = "ghcXYZ";
      packages = { ... };
    };
  };
}

Attribute	Type	Description
options	Module options	The combination of all options set through the modules argument passed to mkPkgsSet.
config		The result of evaluating and applying the options with Haskell.nix
.hsPkgs	Attrset of Haskell Packages	Buildable packages, created from packages
.packages	Attrset of Haskell Package descriptions	Configuration for each package in hsPkgs
.compiler	Attrset

Haskell Package description

The Haskell package descriptions are values of the pkgSet.config.packages attrset. These are not derivations, but just the configuration for building an individual package. The configuration options are described under packages.<name> in Module options.

Component description

The component descriptions are values of the pkgSet.config.packages.<package>.components attrset. These are not derivations, but just the configuration for building an individual component. The configuration options are described under packages.<name>.components.* in Module options.

Haskell Package

In Haskell.nix, a Haskell package is a derivation which has a components attribute. This derivation is actually just for the package Setup.hs script, and isn't very interesting. To actually use the package, look within the components structure.

components = {
  library = COMPONENT;
  exes = { NAME = COMPONENT; };
  tests = { NAME = COMPONENT; };
  benchmarks = { NAME = COMPONENT; };
  all = COMPONENT;
}

Component

In Haskell.nix, a component is a derivation corresponding to a Cabal component of a package.

Haskell.nix also defines a special all component, which is the union of all components in the package.

Identifier

A package identifier is an attrset pair of name and version.

Extras

Extras allow adding more packages to the package set. These will be functions taking a single parameter hackage. They should return an attrset of package descriptions.

Modules

Modules are the primary method of configuring building of the package set. They are either:

1. an attrset containing option declarations, or
2. a function that returns an attrset containing option declarations.

If using the function form of a module, the following named parameters will be passed to it:

Argument	Type	Description
haskellLib	attrset	The haskellLib utility functions.
pkgs		The Nixpkgs collection.
pkgconfPkgs		A mapping of cabal build-depends names to Nixpkgs packages. (TODO: more information about this)
buildModules
config
options

Top-level attributes

mkStackPkgSet

Creates a package set based on the pkgs.nix output of stack-to-nix.

mkStackPkgSet =
    { stack-pkgs, pkg-def-extras ? [], modules ? []}: ...

Argument	Type	Description
stack-pkgs		import ./pkgs.nix — The imported file generated by stack‑to‑nix.
pkg‑def‑extras	List of Extras	For overriding the package set.
modules	List of Modules	For overriding the package set.

Return value: a pkgSet

mkCabalProjectPkgSet

Creates a package set based on the pkgs.nix output of plan-to-nix.

mkCabalProjectPkgSet =
    { plan-pkgs, pkg-def-extras ? [], modules ? []}: ...

Argument	Type	Description
plan-pkgs		import ./pkgs.nix — The imported file generated by plan‑to‑nix.
pkg‑def‑extras	List of Extras	For overriding the package set.
modules	List of Modules	For overriding the package set.

Return value: a pkgSet

mkPkgSet

This is the base function used by both mkStackPkgSet and mkCabalProjectPkgSet.

Return value: a pkgSet

snapshots

This is an attrset of hsPkgs packages from Stackage.

haskellPackages

A hsPkgs package set, which is one of the recent LTS Haskell releases from snapshots.

The chosen LTS is updated occasionally in Haskell.nix, though a manual process.

nix-tools

A derivation containing the nix-tools command-line tools.

callStackToNix

callCabalProjectToNix

hackage

stackage

fetchExternal

cleanSourceHaskell

haskellLib

Assorted functions for operating on Haskell.nix data. This is distinct from pkgs.haskell.lib in the current Nixpkgs Haskell Infrastructure.

Package-set functions

These functions exist within the hsPkgs package set.

shellFor

Create a nix-shell development environment for developing one or more packages.

shellFor =
    { packages, withHoogle ? true, ...}: ...

Argument	Type	Description
packages	Function	Package selection function. It takes a list of Haskell packages and returns a subset of these packages.
withHoogle	Boolean	Whether to build a Hoogle documentation index and provide the hoogle command.
{ ... }	Attrset	All the other arguments are passed to mkDerivation.

Return value: a derivation

ghcWithPackages

Creates a nix-shell development environment including the given packages selected from this package set.

Parameter: a package selection function.

Return value: a derivation

Example:

haskell.haskellPackages.ghcWithPackages (ps: with ps; [ lens conduit ])

ghcWithHoogle

The same as ghcWithPackages, except, a hoogle command with a Hoogle documentation index of the packages will be included in the shell.