Re: Is builtins.readFile okay?

Alyssa Ross
2025-11-01T12:21:33Z

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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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