Ideally the module system could be configured pretty much completely by
the contents of the modules themselves, so add comments about avoiding
complicating it further and possibly removing now-redundant
configurability from the existing interface.
This allows for module arguments to be handled modularly, in particular
allowing the nixpkgs module to handle the nixpkgs import internally.
This creates the __internal option namespace, which should only be added
to by the module system itself.
This makes the relationship between property types clearer, and more
importantly will let option types parameterized by other option types
reuse the code for delegated type checking and merging.
Now we should be able to have multiple declaration of the same option as
long as all declarations have the same type. If the type has a sub module,
then it is merged with the submodules of other declarations, as done with
option sets.
In addition, the file of the option declaration is passed into the
submodule, such as the documentation can display it correctly.
This modification improves NixOS manual by listing in which file, each
submodule option is declared. This solve the issue that files are not
reported when looking at options such as fileSystems.<name?>.neededForBoot
E.g.
The unique option `fileSystems./.device' is defined multiple times, in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix' and `/etc/nixos/foo.nix'.
This requires passing file/value tuples to the merge functions.
Now that overriding fileSystems in qemu-vm.nix works again, it's
important that the VM tests that add additional file systems use the
same override priority. Instead of using the same magic constant
everywhere, they can now use mkVMOverride.
http://hydra.nixos.org/build/6695561
For instance, if time.timeZone is defined multiple times, you now get
the error message:
error: user-thrown exception: The unique option `time.timeZone' is defined multiple times, in `/etc/nixos/configurations/misc/eelco/x11vnc.nix' and `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix'.
while previously you got:
error: user-thrown exception: Multiple definitions of string. Only one is allowed for this option.
and only an inspection of the stack trace gave a clue as to what
option caused the problem.
Also, when an option definition fails to type-check, print the file
name of the module in which the offending definition occurs, e.g.
error: user-thrown exception: The option value `boot.loader.grub.version' in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix' is not a integer.
The major changes are:
* The evaluation is now driven by the declared options. In
particular, this fixes the long-standing problem with lack of
laziness of disabled option definitions. Thus, a configuration like
config = mkIf false {
environment.systemPackages = throw "bla";
};
will now evaluate without throwing an error. This also improves
performance since we're not evaluating unused option definitions.
* The implementation of properties is greatly simplified.
* There is a new type constructor "submodule" that replaces
"optionSet". Unlike "optionSet", "submodule" gets its option
declarations as an argument, making it more like "listOf" and other
type constructors. A typical use is:
foo = mkOption {
type = type.attrsOf (type.submodule (
{ config, ... }:
{ bar = mkOption { ... };
xyzzy = mkOption { ... };
}));
};
Existing uses of "optionSet" are automatically mapped to
"submodule".
* Modules are now checked for unsupported attributes: you get an error
if a module contains an attribute other than "config", "options" or
"imports".
* The new implementation is faster and uses much less memory.
