Is builtins.readFile okay?

Is builtins.readFile okay?

[Demi Marie Obenour]

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Is it okay to use builtins.readFile in a Spectrum derivation?  If the
input is a store path that is Import From Derivation and discouraged,
but I don't know if Spectrum's sources will ever be in a store path.
-- 
Sincerely,
Demi Marie Obenour (she/her/hers)

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Re: Is builtins.readFile okay?

[Alyssa Ross]

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Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com> writes:

> Is it okay to use builtins.readFile in a Spectrum derivation?  If the
> input is a store path that is Import From Derivation and discouraged,
> but I don't know if Spectrum's sources will ever be in a store path.

That wouldn't be a problem.  readFile is fine in principle, although it
is rarely what you actually want.  There are very few cases where you
have a string you need at eval time but don't want to inline into a Nix
file, so if you're reaching for readFile I'd take a step back and think
about whether there's a better approach.

Where readFile is used in your sysupdate VM, the build configuration
mechanism[1] might be a better fit, if you don't want to hardcode it.

[1]: https://spectrum-os.org/doc/development/build-configuration.html

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Re: Is builtins.readFile okay?

[Demi Marie Obenour]

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On 11/1/25 08:21, Alyssa Ross wrote:
> Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> Is it okay to use builtins.readFile in a Spectrum derivation?  If the
>> input is a store path that is Import From Derivation and discouraged,
>> but I don't know if Spectrum's sources will ever be in a store path.
> 
> That wouldn't be a problem.  readFile is fine in principle, although it
> is rarely what you actually want.  There are very few cases where you
> have a string you need at eval time but don't want to inline into a Nix
> file, so if you're reaching for readFile I'd take a step back and think
> about whether there's a better approach.
> 
> Where readFile is used in your sysupdate VM, the build configuration
> mechanism[1] might be a better fit, if you don't want to hardcode it.
> 
> [1]: https://spectrum-os.org/doc/development/build-configuration.html

readFile is used only to read the version number.
-- 
Sincerely,
Demi Marie Obenour (she/her/hers)

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Re: Is builtins.readFile okay?

[Alyssa Ross]

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Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com> writes:

> On 11/1/25 08:21, Alyssa Ross wrote:
>> Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com> writes:
>> 
>>> Is it okay to use builtins.readFile in a Spectrum derivation?  If the
>>> input is a store path that is Import From Derivation and discouraged,
>>> but I don't know if Spectrum's sources will ever be in a store path.
>> 
>> That wouldn't be a problem.  readFile is fine in principle, although it
>> is rarely what you actually want.  There are very few cases where you
>> have a string you need at eval time but don't want to inline into a Nix
>> file, so if you're reaching for readFile I'd take a step back and think
>> about whether there's a better approach.
>> 
>> Where readFile is used in your sysupdate VM, the build configuration
>> mechanism[1] might be a better fit, if you don't want to hardcode it.
>> 
>> [1]: https://spectrum-os.org/doc/development/build-configuration.html
>
> readFile is used only to read the version number.

and update-url, which is what I was thinking more about.

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