nixpkgs/doc/functions/overrides.xml

<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
         xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
         xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
         xml:id="sec-overrides">
 <title>Overriding</title>

 <para>
  Sometimes one wants to override parts of <literal>nixpkgs</literal>, e.g.
  derivation attributes, the results of derivations or even the whole package
  set.
 </para>

 <section xml:id="sec-pkg-override">
  <title>&lt;pkg&gt;.override</title>

  <para>
   The function <varname>override</varname> is usually available for all the
   derivations in the nixpkgs expression (<varname>pkgs</varname>).
  </para>

  <para>
   It is used to override the arguments passed to a function.
  </para>

  <para>
   Example usages:
<programlisting>pkgs.foo.override { arg1 = val1; arg2 = val2; ... }</programlisting>
<programlisting>
import pkgs.path { overlays = [ (self: super: {
  foo = super.foo.override { barSupport = true ; };
  })]};
</programlisting>
<programlisting>
mypkg = pkgs.callPackage ./mypkg.nix {
  mydep = pkgs.mydep.override { ... };
  }
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   In the first example, <varname>pkgs.foo</varname> is the result of a
   function call with some default arguments, usually a derivation. Using
   <varname>pkgs.foo.override</varname> will call the same function with the
   given new arguments.
  </para>
 </section>

 <section xml:id="sec-pkg-overrideAttrs">
  <title>&lt;pkg&gt;.overrideAttrs</title>

  <para>
   The function <varname>overrideAttrs</varname> allows overriding the
   attribute set passed to a <varname>stdenv.mkDerivation</varname> call,
   producing a new derivation based on the original one. This function is
   available on all derivations produced by the
   <varname>stdenv.mkDerivation</varname> function, which is most packages in
   the nixpkgs expression <varname>pkgs</varname>.
  </para>

  <para>
   Example usage:
<programlisting>
helloWithDebug = pkgs.hello.overrideAttrs (oldAttrs: rec {
  separateDebugInfo = true;
});
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   In the above example, the <varname>separateDebugInfo</varname> attribute is
   overridden to be true, thus building debug info for
   <varname>helloWithDebug</varname>, while all other attributes will be
   retained from the original <varname>hello</varname> package.
  </para>

  <para>
   The argument <varname>oldAttrs</varname> is conventionally used to refer to
   the attr set originally passed to <varname>stdenv.mkDerivation</varname>.
  </para>

  <note>
   <para>
    Note that <varname>separateDebugInfo</varname> is processed only by the
    <varname>stdenv.mkDerivation</varname> function, not the generated, raw Nix
    derivation. Thus, using <varname>overrideDerivation</varname> will not work
    in this case, as it overrides only the attributes of the final derivation.
    It is for this reason that <varname>overrideAttrs</varname> should be
    preferred in (almost) all cases to <varname>overrideDerivation</varname>,
    i.e. to allow using <varname>sdenv.mkDerivation</varname> to process input
    arguments, as well as the fact that it is easier to use (you can use the
    same attribute names you see in your Nix code, instead of the ones
    generated (e.g. <varname>buildInputs</varname> vs
    <varname>nativeBuildInputs</varname>, and involves less typing.
   </para>
  </note>
 </section>

 <section xml:id="sec-pkg-overrideDerivation">
  <title>&lt;pkg&gt;.overrideDerivation</title>

  <warning>
   <para>
    You should prefer <varname>overrideAttrs</varname> in almost all cases, see
    its documentation for the reasons why.
    <varname>overrideDerivation</varname> is not deprecated and will continue
    to work, but is less nice to use and does not have as many abilities as
    <varname>overrideAttrs</varname>.
   </para>
  </warning>

  <warning>
   <para>
    Do not use this function in Nixpkgs as it evaluates a Derivation before
    modifying it, which breaks package abstraction and removes error-checking
    of function arguments. In addition, this evaluation-per-function
    application incurs a performance penalty, which can become a problem if
    many overrides are used. It is only intended for ad-hoc customisation, such
    as in <filename>~/.config/nixpkgs/config.nix</filename>.
   </para>
  </warning>

  <para>
   The function <varname>overrideDerivation</varname> creates a new derivation
   based on an existing one by overriding the original's attributes with the
   attribute set produced by the specified function. This function is available
   on all derivations defined using the <varname>makeOverridable</varname>
   function. Most standard derivation-producing functions, such as
   <varname>stdenv.mkDerivation</varname>, are defined using this function,
   which means most packages in the nixpkgs expression,
   <varname>pkgs</varname>, have this function.
  </para>

  <para>
   Example usage:
<programlisting>
mySed = pkgs.gnused.overrideDerivation (oldAttrs: {
  name = "sed-4.2.2-pre";
  src = fetchurl {
    url = ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/sed/sed-4.2.2-pre.tar.bz2;
    sha256 = "11nq06d131y4wmf3drm0yk502d2xc6n5qy82cg88rb9nqd2lj41k";
  };
  patches = [];
});
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   In the above example, the <varname>name</varname>, <varname>src</varname>,
   and <varname>patches</varname> of the derivation will be overridden, while
   all other attributes will be retained from the original derivation.
  </para>

  <para>
   The argument <varname>oldAttrs</varname> is used to refer to the attribute
   set of the original derivation.
  </para>

  <note>
   <para>
    A package's attributes are evaluated *before* being modified by the
    <varname>overrideDerivation</varname> function. For example, the
    <varname>name</varname> attribute reference in <varname>url =
    "mirror://gnu/hello/${name}.tar.gz";</varname> is filled-in *before* the
    <varname>overrideDerivation</varname> function modifies the attribute set.
    This means that overriding the <varname>name</varname> attribute, in this
    example, *will not* change the value of the <varname>url</varname>
    attribute. Instead, we need to override both the <varname>name</varname>
    *and* <varname>url</varname> attributes.
   </para>
  </note>
 </section>

 <section xml:id="sec-lib-makeOverridable">
  <title>lib.makeOverridable</title>

  <para>
   The function <varname>lib.makeOverridable</varname> is used to make the
   result of a function easily customizable. This utility only makes sense for
   functions that accept an argument set and return an attribute set.
  </para>

  <para>
   Example usage:
<programlisting>
f = { a, b }: { result = a+b; };
c = lib.makeOverridable f { a = 1; b = 2; };
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   The variable <varname>c</varname> is the value of the <varname>f</varname>
   function applied with some default arguments. Hence the value of
   <varname>c.result</varname> is <literal>3</literal>, in this example.
  </para>

  <para>
   The variable <varname>c</varname> however also has some additional
   functions, like <link linkend="sec-pkg-override">c.override</link> which can
   be used to override the default arguments. In this example the value of
   <varname>(c.override { a = 4; }).result</varname> is 6.
  </para>
 </section>
</section>