4.7 KiB
Option Declarations
An option declaration specifies the name, type and description of a NixOS configuration option. It is invalid to define an option that hasn't been declared in any module. An option declaration generally looks like this:
options = {
name = mkOption {
type = type specification;
default = default value;
example = example value;
description = "Description for use in the NixOS manual.";
};
};
The attribute names within the name attribute path must be camel
cased in general but should, as an exception, match the package
attribute name
when referencing a Nixpkgs package. For example, the option
services.nix-serve.bindAddress references the nix-serve Nixpkgs
package.
The function mkOption accepts the following arguments.
type-
The type of the option (see ). It may be omitted, but that's not advisable since it may lead to errors that are hard to diagnose.
default-
The default value used if no value is defined by any module. A default is not required; but if a default is not given, then users of the module will have to define the value of the option, otherwise an error will be thrown.
example-
An example value that will be shown in the NixOS manual.
description-
A textual description of the option, in DocBook format, that will be included in the NixOS manual.
Extensible Option Types
Extensible option types is a feature that allow to extend certain types
declaration through multiple module files. This feature only work with a
restricted set of types, namely enum and submodules and any composed
forms of them.
Extensible option types can be used for enum options that affects
multiple modules, or as an alternative to related enable options.
As an example, we will take the case of display managers. There is a central display manager module for generic display manager options and a module file per display manager backend (sddm, gdm ...).
There are two approach to this module structure:
-
Managing the display managers independently by adding an enable option to every display manager module backend. (NixOS)
-
Managing the display managers in the central module by adding an option to select which display manager backend to use.
Both approaches have problems.
Making backends independent can quickly become hard to manage. For
display managers, there can be only one enabled at a time, but the type
system can not enforce this restriction as there is no relation between
each backend enable option. As a result, this restriction has to be
done explicitely by adding assertions in each display manager backend
module.
On the other hand, managing the display managers backends in the central module will require to change the central module option every time a new backend is added or removed.
By using extensible option types, it is possible to create a placeholder
option in the central module
(Example: Extensible type placeholder in the service module),
and to extend it in each backend module
(Example: Extending services.xserver.displayManager.enable in the gdm module,
Example: Extending services.xserver.displayManager.enable in the sddm module).
As a result, displayManager.enable option values can be added without
changing the main service module file and the type system automatically
enforce that there can only be a single display manager enabled.
::: {#ex-option-declaration-eot-service .example} ::: {.title} Example: Extensible type placeholder in the service module :::
services.xserver.displayManager.enable = mkOption {
description = "Display manager to use";
type = with types; nullOr (enum [ ]);
};
:::
::: {#ex-option-declaration-eot-backend-gdm .example}
::: {.title}
Example: Extending services.xserver.displayManager.enable in the gdm module
:::
services.xserver.displayManager.enable = mkOption {
type = with types; nullOr (enum [ "gdm" ]);
};
:::
::: {#ex-option-declaration-eot-backend-sddm .example}
::: {.title}
Example: Extending services.xserver.displayManager.enable in the sddm module
:::
services.xserver.displayManager.enable = mkOption {
type = with types; nullOr (enum [ "sddm" ]);
};
:::
The placeholder declaration is a standard mkOption declaration, but it
is important that extensible option declarations only use the type
argument.
Extensible option types work with any of the composed variants of enum
such as with types; nullOr (enum [ "foo" "bar" ]) or with types; listOf (enum [ "foo" "bar" ]).