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.
It is parameterized by a function that takes a name and evaluates to the
option type for the attribute of that name. Together with
submoduleWithExtraArgs, this subsumes nixosSubmodule.
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.
An annoying and dangerous property of "types.string" is that it merges
multiple definitions by concatenating them, which almost never
produces a sensible result. (Those options for which it does make
sense typically should use "types.lines" instead, and things only work
because the option definitions already end in a newline.) Of course,
you can use "types.uniq types.string", but that's rather verbose, and
inconsistent with other basic types like "types.int".
Changing the behaviour of "types.string" to be unique by default is
not an option, given the large number of options that use it. So
instead, we now have "types.str", which is equivalent to "types.uniq
types.string".
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.
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.
