150 lines
4.3 KiB
XML
150 lines
4.3 KiB
XML
<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
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xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
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xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
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version="5.0"
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xml:id="sec-option-declarations">
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<title>Option Declarations</title>
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<para>An option declaration specifies the name, type and description
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of a NixOS configuration option. It is invalid to define an option
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that hasn’t been declared in any module. An option declaration
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generally looks like this:
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<programlisting>
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options = {
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<replaceable>name</replaceable> = mkOption {
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type = <replaceable>type specification</replaceable>;
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default = <replaceable>default value</replaceable>;
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example = <replaceable>example value</replaceable>;
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description = "<replaceable>Description for use in the NixOS manual.</replaceable>";
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};
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};
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</programlisting>
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</para>
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<para>The function <varname>mkOption</varname> accepts the following arguments.
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>type</varname></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>The type of the option (see below). It may be omitted,
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but that’s not advisable since it may lead to errors that are
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hard to diagnose.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>default</varname></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>The default value used if no value is defined by any
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module. A default is not required; in that case, if the option
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value is never used, an error will be thrown.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>example</varname></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>An example value that will be shown in the NixOS manual.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>description</varname></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>A textual description of the option, in DocBook format,
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that will be included in the NixOS manual.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</para>
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<para>Here is a non-exhaustive list of option types:
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>types.bool</varname></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>A Boolean.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>types.int</varname></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>An integer.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>types.str</varname></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>A string.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>types.lines</varname></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>A string. If there are multiple definitions, they are
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concatenated, with newline characters in between.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>types.path</varname></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>A path, defined as anything that, when coerced to a
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string, starts with a slash. This includes derivations.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>types.package</varname></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>A derivation (such as <literal>pkgs.hello</literal>) or a
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store path (such as
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<filename>/nix/store/1ifi1cfbfs5iajmvwgrbmrnrw3a147h9-hello-2.10</filename>).</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>types.listOf</varname> <replaceable>t</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>A list of elements of type <replaceable>t</replaceable>
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(e.g., <literal>types.listOf types.str</literal> is a list of
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strings). Multiple definitions are concatenated together.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>types.attrsOf</varname> <replaceable>t</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>A set of elements of type <replaceable>t</replaceable>
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(e.g., <literal>types.attrsOf types.int</literal> is a set of
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name/value pairs, the values being integers).</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><varname>types.nullOr</varname> <replaceable>t</replaceable></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>Either the value <literal>null</literal> or something of
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type <replaceable>t</replaceable>.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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You can also create new types using the function
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<varname>mkOptionType</varname>. See
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<filename>lib/types.nix</filename> in Nixpkgs for details.</para>
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</section>
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