If bash is executed within an environment where PATH is not set, it uses
the DEFAULT_PATH_VALUE compiled into bash to set PATH. In nixpkgs we set
this to /no-such-path by default. This makes sense in a nixpkgs/NixOS
environment since paths like /bin or /usr/bin should not be used.
However, when bash is used inside an FHS environment, this produces
results that differ from distributions which follow the FHS standard.
Before this change:
$ steam-run env -i /bin/bash -c 'echo $PATH'
/no-such-path
After this change:
$ steam-run env -i /bin/bash -c 'echo $PATH'
/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin:.
buildFHSUserEnv is meant primarily for running 3rd-party software
which is difficult to patch for NixOS. Such software is often built to
run from /opt. Currently, running such a software from FHS environment
is difficult for two reasons:
1. If the 3rd-party software is put into the Nix store via a simple
derivation (with e.g. installPhase = "dpkg-deb -x $src $out"), the
content of /opt directory of that derivation does not appear in the
FHSEnv even if the derivation is specified in targetPkgs. This is
why we change env.nix.
2. If using buildFHSUserEnvChroot and the host system has the /opt
directory, it always gets bind-mounted to the FHSEnv even if some
targetPkgs contain /opt (NB buildFHSUserEnvBubblewrap does not have
this problem). If that directory is not accessible for non-root
users (which is what docker's containerd does with /opt :-(), the
user running the FHSEnv cannot use it.
With the change in chrootenv.c, /opt is not bind-mounted to the
container, but instead created as user-modifiable symlink to
/host/opt (see the init attribute in
build-fhs-userenv/default.nix). If needed, the user can remove this
symlink and create an empty /opt directory which is under his/her
control.
